Tuncel Kurtiz

Biography

Tuncel Tayanç Kurtiz (1 February 1936 – 27 September 2013) was a Turkish theatre, movie and TV series actor, playwright, and film director Since 1964, he acted in more than 70 movies, including many international productions.

Since 1958, Kurtiz performed on many stages in Istanbul, in state and private theatres. He was also on the stage at Gothenburg City Theatre, Stockholm Royal Theatre and Swedish Theatre in Sweden, Schaubühne Berlin, Frankfurt City Theatre and Hamburg City Theatre in Germany and at Peter Brook Shakespeare Royal Theatre in England. Kurtiz directed plays for the German-Turkish theatre project "Türkisches Ensemble" in the late 1970s.

During his university years and later the military service period, he became friends with the renowned film director Yılmaz Güney. They made a number of films together. Their 1970 film Umut was prohibited to leave Turkey, but was shown in Cannes Film Festival by a smuggled copy.

His first film role was in Şeytanın Uşakları, shot in 1964. Since then, Tuncel Kurtiz played also in many international productions like Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, French, British, Israel and Indian films and TV series, mostly in the original language.

Known For

The Edge of Heaven
The Edge of Heaven
Çökertme
Çökertme
Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb
Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb
The Legend of the Ugly King
The Legend of the Ugly King
On Fertile Lands
On Fertile Lands
Sawdust Tales
Sawdust Tales
Black and White
Black and White
A cavallo della tigre
A cavallo della tigre

Filmography

2025 All Over the Place - A Portrait of Tuncel Kurtiz
as Self
2017 The Legend of the Ugly King
as Self (archive footage)
2013 Happy Family Journal
as Yıldırım Taşyumruk
2012 My boy, look at the stars
as Deniz Gezmiş(voice) and sings the poems
2011 Magnificent Century
as Ebu Suud Efendi
2010 Black and White
as
2009 Pains of Autumn
as Kamil Efendi
2009 Ezel
as Ramiz Karaeski
2008 Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb
as Said
2007 Asi
as Cemal Ağa
2007 The Edge of Heaven
as Ali Aksu
2006 Hacı
as
2004 Tales of Intransigence
as
2003 Alacakaranlık
as
2002 A cavallo della tigre
as Fatih
2001 The Waterfall
as Kel Selim
2001 O da Beni Seviyor
as Masalcı
2001 In Foreign Soil
as Self
1998 Hoşçakal Yarın
as Ali Elverdi
1998 Vive la mariée... et la libération du Kurdistan
as Uncle Ismet