Murat Yıldırım (born 13 April 1979) is a Turkish actor.

Early life

Murat Yıldırım was born in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

, Turkey. His father is of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

origin and was a teacher of literature. Yıldırım's father speaks Turkish and Kurdish. His mother is of Arab descent and speaks Arabic as well, but Murat Yıldırım is neither fluent in Kurdish nor Arabic. Due to his father's job Yıldırım grew up between

and

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 ...

. He has two sisters. Yıldırım graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the

Yıldız Technical University Yıldız Technical University ( Turkish: ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent public technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences, as well as social sciences recentl ...

in Istanbul, Turkey and he has a keen interest in mathematics. His interest in music and theatre started early on in his life as well. As a student, Yıldırım played drums in a band. During his studying period he also started performing with his University's theatrical team and attending acting lessons.

Career

After performing three years in theater, a writer who watched him perform in a comedy recommended him to attend a casting in Beşiktaş Cultural Center.

Television

Thus he played his first minor role in ''Ölümsüz Aşk'' which was written by

Yılmaz Erdoğan Yılmaz Erdoğan (born 4 November 1967) is a Turkish filmmaker, actor and poet who is most famous for his box-office record-breaking debut comedy film '' Vizontele'' (2001) and the television series ''Bir Demet Tiyatro'' (1995–2002/2006–2007 ...

. Later he performed in ''Bütün Çocuklarım'' and in ''Büyük Yalan''. His first leading role was in the series ''Fırtına'' where he met his future first wife,

Burçin Terzioğlu Burçin Terzioğlu (born 9 March 1980) is a Turkish actress. Biography Her family works in the cinema industry. Terzioğlu began acting at the age of five as a child actress, appearing in 45 films and 16 television series until the age of t ...

. In 2007 he starred in '' Asi'' which was nominated for the ''International TV Audience Award-Best Drama TV Series'' at the 51st

Monte-Carlo Television Festival The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is held every year in June in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum, under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert II of Monaco. The opening ceremony ...

alongside

Tuba Büyüküstün Tuba Büyüküstün (; born 5 July 1982) is a Turkish actress. She is the recipient of several awards and one of Turkey's most popular and highest paid actresses. Personal life Büyüküstün is Muslim. Büyüküstün's parents are from Erzuru ...

. After the end of ''Asi'' Yıldırım agreed to act in ''

Aşk ve Ceza ''Aşk ve Ceza'' (English: ''Love and Punishment'') is a Turkish television drama series that aired in 2010 and 2011. Nurgül Yeşilçay, Murat Yıldırım and Feride Çetin starring, the series were shot in Van, Bodrum and Istanbul. Since 2011 ...

'' alongside

Nurgül Yeşilçay Nurgül Yeşilçay (born 26 March 1976) is a Turkish actress. Biography Nurgül Yeşilçay was born in Afyonkarahisar in 1976. She studied drama at the State Conservatoire of Anadolu University in Eskişehir. Since her graduation, she has perfor ...

. Yıldırım's next role, in 2012, was ''Ecevit'' in the hit series '' Suskunlar'' which the first Turkish drama sold to the USA market for remake alongside

Aslı Enver Aslı Enver (born 10 May 1984) is a British-born Turkish Cypriot actress. She is best known for her roles in several TV series including as Mine in '' Kavak Yelleri'', as Ahu Kumral in '' Suskunlar'' and as Süreyya in ''İstanbullu Gelin''. She ...

. In middle 2015 Yıldırım signed a contract with O3 productions and

MBC Group MBC Group (), formerly known as Middle East Broadcasting Center (), is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Riyadh region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 and to Riyadh in 2022. It is majority ...

for an upcoming series, which eventually premiered in early 2016 under the title ''Gecenin Kraliçesi''. In 2017, together with his wife Iman Elbani, he played in a music video for American singer

Jessica Sutta Jessica Lynn Sutta (born May 15, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and former actress. She is a former member of the girl group The Pussycat Dolls. As a solo artist, Sutta shelved her first attempt with a debut album, ''Sutta Pop'' ( ...

's single, "When a Girl Loves a Boy". From 2019 to 2021, he starred as the titular character in the crime-mafia action series ''

Ramo {{other uses A ramo (Kwaio: ''lamo'') was a warrior-leader among certain tribes on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. A ramo was recognized when he had killed an adversary in personal combat, and established an intimidating reputation. This was also ...

'', alongside co-star

Esra Bilgiç Esra Bilgiç (; born 14 October 1992) is a Turkish actress. She is best known for portraying the role of Halime Hatun in the Turkish historical adventure television series '' Diriliş: Ertuğrul'' from 2014 to 2018. Among other roles, she st ...

. From 2021 to 2022, he shared the leading roles with

Damla Sönmez Tilya Damla Sönmez (born 3 May 1987) is a Turkish actress and voiceover artist. She gained worldwide recognition for her movies '' Sibel'' and ''I Am You''. Her prominent TV roles include Ceylan in '' Bir Aşk Hikayesi'', Gülru in ''Güllerin ...

in the period drama ''Aziz'' on Show TV. He currently stars as one of the lead roles in the

TRT1 TRT 1 (''TRT One'') is the first Turkish national television channel, owned by state broadcaster TRT. It was officially launched on 31 January 1968 as a test broadcast, becoming regular by the early 1970s. It was the only channel Turkey until 15 ...

series '' Teşkilat'' about

Mit The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Film

Yıldırım also had a brief appearance in the Turkish film '' Organize İşler''. He got nominated for Golden Orange Award for Best Actor for his leading role in the film ''Araf''. During the filming of ''Asi'' he starred opposite

Beren Saat Beren Saat (; born 26 February 1984) is a Turkish actress. Since the beginning of her career, she has received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for her acting. While studying at Başkent University, she participated in the acting competi ...

in the movie '' Güz sancisi'' about

Istanbul pogrom The Istanbul pogrom, also known as the Istanbul riots, were a series of state-sponsored anti-Greek mob attacks directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955. The pogrom was orchestrated by the governing Democrat ...

. In late 2014, Yıldırım returned on screens, after a break of one a half years, portraying Lieutenant Sadık Turan in the movie ''Kırımlı'' based on the autobiographical novel ''Korkunç Yıllar''. In 2015, he appeared as Sinan in the film adaptation of Turkey's 2014 best-selling novel ''Kocan Kadar Konuş''. The romantic comedy was released on 20 March 2015, to positive reviews. Due to its commercial success, a sequel was announced shortly after the film's release. The sequel, named ''Kocan Kadar Konuş-Diriliş'' was released on 1 January 2016.

Personal life

Yıldırım met his first wife,

, while filming the TV series ''Fırtına''. They were married from 2008 to 2014. On 10 March 2016, he married former beauty pageant title holder of Morocco and actress Iman Elbani. Elbani, who was pregnant with the couple's child, suffered a

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

in 2019. The couple suffered another miscarriage in 2020. Elbani has suffered a total of five miscarriages. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in October 2022.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yildirim, Murat Living people Turkish male film actors Turkish Muslims Turkish people of Arab descent Turkish people of Kurdish descent Turkish male television actors People from Konya Yıldız Technical University alumni 1979 births