Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ (; born 27 October 1983) is a Turkish actor, model, and former basketball player. He has won
several accolades, including four
Golden Butterfly Awards for Best actor for his role in
Ask-I memnu (2009 and 2010), for his role in
Kuzey Güney (2012) and for his role in
Aile (2023), and for his role two Golden Butterfly awards for Best couplea and a Yeşilçam Cinema Award. Tatlıtuğ won the pageants of
Best Model of Turkey and Best Model of the World in 2002.
Tatlıtuğ has established himself as a leading actor of Turkey with roles in several of the highly successful television series, that includes ''
Menekşe ile Halil'' (2007–2008), ''
Aşk-ı Memnu'' (2008–2010), ''
Kuzey Güney'' (2011–2013) and ''
Cesur ve Güzel'' (2016–2017), all of which garnered him critical acclaim and international recognition, portraying researcher Arman in the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
original series ''
Into the Night'' (2021) and ''
Yakamoz S-245'' (2022).
Early life and family
Tatlıtuğ was born on 27 October 1983, in
Adana
Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...
, to Erdem and Nurten Tatlıtuğ. His mother is
Turkish from
Edirne
Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
. His paternal grandfather is an
Albanian from
Pristina
Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district.
In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...
. His paternal grandmother is a
Bosniak
The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
from
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
. He has said that he was born and raised in
Adana
Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...
and that his family has had a bakery business in the city for more than a hundred years. He studied at
Yenice Çağ Private High School, where he excelled in
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
. Due to his father's illness, the family moved to
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
so that his father could receive proper treatment. In Istanbul, he joined the Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, Ülkerspor, "Fiskobirlik", "Güney Sanayi", "Çukurova Kulübü", "Devlet Su İşleri" and "Tarsus Amerikan Kulübü" clubs as a professional
U18 basketball player. Due to a dislocated leg, he left basketball.
He graduated from Istanbul Kultur University in 2013. He married stylist Başak Dizer on 19 February 2016 at the Turkish embassy in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. The couple's first child, a son named Kurt Efe, was born in April 2022. A sculpture of Tatlıtuğ has been displayed in
Madame Tussauds Istanbul.
Career
Film career
He acted in the comedy film ''
Amerikalılar Karadenizde 2'', which was directed by
Kartal Tibet. He provided the voice of Ken for the Turkish dubbed version of ''
Toy Story 3
''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The third installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' series, it was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor ...
''. Tatlıtuğ played the poet Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu in the drama film ''
Kelebeğin Rüyası'' with
Farah Zeynep Abdullah. Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ won Yeşilçam Cinema Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role and other awards for his performance as Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu.
Web series
He played as Arman in the Netflix surreal series
Into the Night and
Yakamoz S-245.
TV-series career
Kıvanç hosted some pageants and shows. He starred in ''
Gümüş'' as the character Mehmet Şadoğlu. He had guest role in fantasy series
Acemi Cadı of Turkish version "Sabrina Teenage Witch" with
Merve Boluğur for second time. He has also starred in other shows such as ''
Menekşe ile Halil'', where he played alongside of Sedef Avcı. In the series ''
Aşk-ı Memnu'', Kıvanç shared the leading role with
Beren Saat.
A turning point in Tatlıtuğ's career was when he played as Sekiz in
Ezel. Since 2011, he has portrayed Kuzey Tekinoğlu in the
Kanal D
Kanal D (English: Channel D) is a nationwide television channel in Turkey that is part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993.
The network has also run an international channel, Euro D, since 1996, whic ...
drama series ''
Kuzey Güney'', which ended in June 2013. He won two Golden Butterfly Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in ''Aşk-ı Memnu'' and "Kuzey ve Güney". He later acted in the historical series ''
Kurt Seyit ve Şura'' with
Farah Zeynep Abdullah in 2014 and in ''
Cesur ve Güzel'' with
Tuba Büyüküstün in 2016–2017 as Cesur Alemdaroğlu. With
Elçin Sangu,
Onur Saylak, he played in crime series Çarpışma.
Filmography
Film
Streaming series
Television series
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Kıvanç Tatlıtuğat the SinemaTürk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatlitug, Kivanc
1983 births
20th-century Muslims
21st-century Muslims
21st-century Turkish male actors
Golden Butterfly Award winners
Living people
People from Adana
Turkish male film actors
Turkish male models
Turkish male television actors
Turkish Muslims
Turkish people of Albanian descent
Turkish people of Bosniak descent