Biography
Name: Engin Akyürek
Date of Birth: October 12, 1981
Place of Birth: Ankara, Turkey
Height: 1.91 m (6’3″)
Marital Status: Unmarried
Instagram: @enginakyurek
Early Life
Engin Akyürek was born on October 12, 1981, in Ankara, Turkey. His family comes from Tercan, a district of Erzincan province in eastern Turkey. His father worked as a civil servant, and his mother was a homemaker. He has one younger brother.
Akyürek never trained formally as an actor. He studied history instead, graduating from Ankara University’s Department of History, part of the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography, in 2002. Writing had interested him since he was young, but acting wasn’t part of his original plan.
That changed in 2004, when he entered Türkiye’nin Yıldızları (“Turkey’s Stars”), a televised talent competition for aspiring actors, and won first place. One of his fellow contestants was Beren Saat, who went on to become one of Turkey’s best-known actresses. The win led directly to Akyürek’s first professional acting job.
Career
Akyürek’s contest win led to a supporting role in Yabancı Damat (2004–2007), a long-running series about a relationship between a Turkish man and a Greek woman. He appeared in all 106 episodes, and the show became one of the first Turkish series to build an audience outside the country, especially in Greece.
He made his film debut in Kader (“Destiny,” 2006), directed by Zeki Demirkubuz, which won him a Most Promising Actor award from both the Turkish Cinema Awards and the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD). He followed it with Karayılan (2007–2008), a historical drama set during the French occupation of Gaziantep, before landing his first lead role in Bir Bulut Olsam (“If I Were a Cloud,” 2009), playing a man obsessed with his cousin, played by Melisa Sözen.
His breakout international role came with Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne? (“What Is Fatmagül’s Fault?,” 2010–2012), in which he played Kerim Ilgaz opposite Beren Saat. The series, which centered on the aftermath of a sexual assault, became one of the most-watched Turkish dramas of its time and built Akyürek a large following across the Middle East and Latin America.
After the film Bi Küçük Eylül Meselesi (“A Small September Affair,” 2014), he kept his momentum going with Kara Para Aşk (“Black Money Love,” 2014–2015), playing police officer Ömer Demir opposite Tuba Büyüküstün. The role won him Best Actor at the Seoul International Drama Awards in 2015 and a nomination at the International Emmy Awards, making him the first Turkish actor ever nominated in that category.
A shorter series, Ölene Kadar (“Until Death,” 2017), ran for only 13 episodes but still sold to broadcasters across the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Latin America. Akyürek later took the lead role of Sancar Efeoğlu in Sefirin Kızı (“The Ambassador’s Daughter,” 2019–2021), starring opposite Neslihan Atagül and, later, Tuba Büyüküstün.
In 2022, Akyürek starred in the Netflix film Yolun Açık Olsun (“Godspeed”) alongside Tolga Sarıtaş, then made his streaming series debut with Kaçış (“The Escape”), the first original series produced for Disney+ in Turkey. He both starred in and wrote the story for the show, which follows a war photographer taken captive while reporting from a conflict zone. In 2023, he co-starred with Demet Özdemir in Adım Farah (“My Name Is Farah”), a Turkish-Iranian adaptation of the same Argentine series that inspired the U.S. show The Cleaning Lady.
His most prominent recent role is Osman in Old Money (2025), a Netflix original also known in Turkey as Enfes Bir Akşam, co-starring Aslı Enver. The series follows a self-made businessman whose life becomes entangled with the heiress to a declining shipping fortune, and it became one of Netflix’s most-watched non-English-language series worldwide shortly after its October 2025 release. Netflix renewed it for a second season, with production expected in 2026. That same year, Akyürek also led Bereketli Topraklar on Show TV, playing Ömer Bereketoğlu in a family drama set in Adana; the series was canceled after five episodes due to low ratings.
Beyond acting, Akyürek has written two books, Sessizlik (“Silence,” 2018) and Zamansız (“Timeless,” 2023), both published by Doğan Kitap. He is also a brand ambassador for Shell Turkey and Disney+ Turkey.
Personal Life
Akyürek is known as one of the more private actors in Turkish entertainment. Over the years, tabloids have linked him to several co-stars, including Tülin Yazkan, his Sefirin Kızı castmate, and more recently fashion designer Nevbahar Doyuran, but he has never confirmed a relationship publicly, and at one point directly denied the rumors involving Yazkan.
As of now, Akyürek has never married and has no children. He tends to keep that part of his life out of interviews, so most of what the public knows about him still comes from his work rather than his personal affairs.
Interesting Facts
- He won first place in Türkiye’nin Yıldızları (“Turkey’s Stars”), the same talent contest that helped launch Beren Saat’s acting career.
- In 2015, he became the first Turkish actor ever nominated for an International Emmy Award, for his role in Kara Para Aşk (Black Money Love).
- He wrote the story for Kaçış, Disney+’s first original series in Turkey, in addition to starring in it.
- He has published two books, Sessizlik (2018) and Zamansız (2023), through the Turkish publisher Doğan Kitap.
- He studied history at Ankara University and never received formal training as an actor.
- His 2025 Netflix series, Old Money, reached the No. 2 spot on Netflix’s global chart for non-English-language series and was renewed for a second season.
- His Instagram account has more than 2 million followers.
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