Cem Yılmaz

Cem Yılmaz

Born 1973-04-23 (age 53) Istanbul, Turkey
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Biography

While studying at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of Bogazici University, he started drawing comics for the Turkish humor magazine Leman. In August 1995 he did his first stand-up comedy show in "Leman Culture Center" performing with no serious career intentions as a comedian. However, after the positive response of the audience, he continued his show to attract larger crowds in Besiktas Cultural Center where he has appeared in over a thousand stand-up comedy shows since, becoming so popular that tickets have sold for 250TL (approx. US$140).

His movie career started in 1998 with a co-starring role in the comedy Everything's Gonna Be Great (1998), directed by Ömer Vargi, and continued with a role in Vizontele (2001), directed by Yilmaz Erdogan and Ömer Faruk Sorak. He achieved his greatest success by starring in and writing big-budget science-fiction parody G.O.R.A. (2004), also directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, which despite spending several years in production because of financial and other technical problems became a box-office hit and described by Rekin Teksoy as a strong sign that showed that popular cinema was successful in appealing to wide audiences. He maintained this success with a starring role in the comedy feature movie Magic Carpet Ride (2005) AKA 'Magic Carpet Ride', also directed by Yilmaz Erdogan, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 11th Sadri Alisik Awards, and his directorial debut with The Magician (2006), co-directed by Ali Taner Baltaci, for which he won Best Actor at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival and 12th Sadri Alisik Awards. He has since repeated his box office success with a sequel to G.O.R.A. (2004) called A.R.O.G (2008), also co-directed by Ali Taner Baltaci, and comedy Western parody called Yahsi Bati - The Ottoman Cowboys (2009), directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak. That same year, he co-starred, alongside veteran actor Sener Sen, in the police drama Hunting Season (2010), written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, and made a special appearance in drama Zefir (2010), written and directed by Belma Bas. After two years he also acted in Ferzan Özpetek's A Magnificent Haunting (2012). After he filmed his last stand-up comedy show CM101MMXI Fundamentals (2013) directed by Murat Dündar, he announced that for the next few years he will stop his stand-up comedy shows to have a rest.

Along his professional career, he has won numerous awards and appeared in more than 4000 stand-up comedy shows, took part in 10 movies and contributed as a dubbing performer in 4 movies.

Photos

Known For

The Water Diviner
The Water Diviner

2014

as Sgt. Jemal

Magic Carpet Ride
Magic Carpet Ride

2005

as Müslüm Durulmaz

G.O.R.A.
G.O.R.A.

2004

as Arif / Komutan Logar / Erşan Kuneri / Komutan Kubar

Comidark Films 2: Insane
Ali Baba and the 7 Dwarfs
Ali Baba and the 7 Dwarfs

2015

as Ali Şenay / Boris Mancov

Arif V 216
Arif V 216

2018

as Arif Işık / Erşan Kuneri

Coming Soon
Coming Soon

2014

as Zafer Yıldız / Beşir

A.R.O.G
A.R.O.G

2008

as Arif / Komutan Logar / Kaaya / Koobar / Enigma

A Magnificent Haunting
A Magnificent Haunting

2012

as Yusuf Antep

Comidark Films: The Getaway
Yahşi Batı
Yahşi Batı

2009

as Aziz Vefa

Deli Aşk
Deli Aşk

2017

as Şefik Ercan

Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb

2023

as Ayzek

Hunting Season
Hunting Season

2010

as İdris

Comidark Films: In Between
Iftar Soda
Iftar Soda

2016

as Cibar Kemal

Vizontele
Vizontele

2001

as Fikri

GORA 4 GORA
GORA 4 GORA

2027

as Arif Işık

CMXXIV
CMXXIV

2025

as Self

The Magician
The Magician

2006

as İskender Tünaydın