Olgun Şimşek

Olgun Şimşek was born in the village of Yenice in Büyükorhan, Bursa. His father is an Alevi Kurd from Bingöl^[1]; his mother is a Sunni Turkmen from Bursa.^[1][2] His father was a primary school teacher and his mother was a housewife. He graduated in theatre from the Istanbul University State Conservatory and began acting professionally in 1993.^[3]

Şimşek acted in the play Otogargara with Demet Akbağ and Yılmaz Erdoğan. He had a small parts in the films Tersine Dünya in 1993 and Yer Çekimli Aşıklar in 1995. In 1998, he acted in the film Karışık Pizza for which he won the Most Promising Actor award at the Ankara Film Festival.^[4] In 2004, he starred in the film Yazı Tura directed by Uğur Yücel where he played a disabled soldier. For this, he won several awards including the Golden Orange for Best Actor as well as Best Actor awards at the Ankara Film Festival, Istanbul Film Festival, Adana Golden Coccoon Festival and the SİYAD awards.

Şimşek also had appearances in television series such as Sihirli Ceket, Beşik Kertmesi ve Alacakaranlık. He played in hit youth comedy Yedi Numara alongside ex-wife Şebnem Sönmez. He played two different roles in hit sitcom series Yalan Dünya.^[4][5][6][7]