Cem Yılmaz

Cem Yılmaz (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈd͡ʒem jɯɫˈmaz], born 23 April 1973 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, filmmaker, scenarist, and cartoonist, best known for his films G.O.R.A. (2004), A.R.O.G (2008) and Yahşi Batı (2010), who has won two Sadri Alışık awards for his roles in Organize İşler (2005) and The Magician (2006).

While studying at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of Boğaziçi University, he started drawing comics for the Turkish humor magazine Leman. In August 1995 he did his first 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 Beşiktaş 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 family is originally from Sivas, Turkey.

Movie career

His movie career started in 1998 with a main role in the comedy Everything's Gonna Be Great (1999), directed by Ömer Vargı, and continued with a role in Vizontele (2001), directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan 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, according to Rekin Teksoy, "showed that popular cinema was successful in appealing to wide audiences". He followed this success with a starring role in the comedy film Organize İşler (2005), also directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 11th Sadri Alışık Awards. He made his directorial debut with The Magician (2006), co-directed by Ali Taner Baltacı, for which he won Best Actor at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival and 12th Sadri Alışık Awards. He has since repeated his box office successes with a sequel to G.O.R.A called A.R.O.G. (2008), also co-directed by Ali Taner Baltacı, and a Western parody called Yahşi Batı (2010), directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak. That same year, he co-starred, alongside veteran actor Şener Şen, in the police drama Hunting Season (2010), written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, made a special appearance in drama Zephyr (2010), written and directed by Belma Baş. In addition, he appeared as Cemal in the movie "Water Diviner" (2014) directed by Russell Crowe. He directed, produced, wrote and starred in the movie Ali Baba ve 7 Cüceler (2015).

Stage artist

Cem Yılmaz is a very renowned stand-up comedian in Turkey. He started doing stand-up shows in the bars of Leman Kültür in early 90s. He has since created four stand-up specials and has even done a tour in the United States. In addition, he has directed the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra twice.

Television commercials

During the course of his career, Cem Yılmaz has been the commercial face of different brands, including Panasonic, OPET, Türk Telekom, Türkiye İş Bankası and Doritos.