Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ is a Turkish actor, model, and former basketball player. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Turkey and has won many awards, including three Golden Butterfly Awards and a Yeşilçam Cinema Award. Tatlıtuğ won the pageants 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, Aşk-ı Memnu, Kuzey Güney and Cesur ve Güzel, all of which garnered him critical acclaim and international recognition.
Early life and family
Tatlıtuğ was born on 27 October 1983, in Adana, to Erdem and Nurten Tatlıtuğ. During an interview he has stated that his father is Albanian from the city ofPristina. He has said that he was born and raised in Adana 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. Due his father's illness, the family moved to Istanbul 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. A sculpture of Tatlıtuğ has been displayed in Madame Tussauds Istanbul.
Career
Kıvanç hosted some pageants and shows. He starred in Gümüş as the character Mehmet Şadoğlu. He acted in the comedy film Americans at the Black Sea, which was directed by Kartal Tibet. 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. He provided the voice of Ken for the Turkish dubbed version of Toy Story 3. 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 Ddrama seriesKuzey 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". 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 Usl. He later acted in the TV seriesKurt Seyit ve Şura with Farah Zeynep Abdullah in 2014 and in Cesur ve Güzel with Tuba Büyüküstün in 2016–2017 as Cesur Alemdaroğlu.
