Engin Akyurek maybe the best actor in the world ever-BIO/Updates pg4&a - Page 4

Road to Emmy's! Part 4 - 'KARAYILAN'

Few months after the end of Yabanci Damat in June 2007, Engin Akyurek's third project came - the series Karayilan' or Black Snake, which was the second highest-budget drama of Turkey. It was a period drama made on the French occupation of the Turkish city of Gaziantep in the early 20th Century. Karayilan was a Sis Yapim production and was directed by Durul and Yagmur Taylan. The lead character of Karayilan (commander of the rebellion Gaziantep Forces) was played by the renowned Turkish actor Bulent Inal. Engin had a supporting yet important character of Halim/Nizipli. Halim was his name, but he was often called Nizipli after the town of his belonging. Karayilan's first episode went on-air on November 19, 2007.

As Halim, Engin played a pure, innocent, loyal, ignorant, but at the same time very funny and tough freedom fighter who is a conservative Muslim and who unknowingly falls in love with a Christian girl - Sona (Nargis Ozturk)!

He is an orphan who grew-up doing odd jobs, but had the valor of fighting the French and liberating his city. In this quest Halim travels to the place where the freedom fighters are joining arms against the occupiers. Although an illiterate he joins the writers for increasing the awareness for freedom. One day while distributing those verses in the bazaar - two things happen with Halim. First he sees a beautiful woman and immediately falls in love with her beauty. Second, he is caught by French soldiers red-handed for spreading word against them.

Halim is thrown in prison. There he meets an elderly man (Avni Yalcin) who is actually a member of Karayilan's forces. Apparently, this old man is irritated by the talkative Halim, and also rejects his escape plan, but saves him from being beaten to death by the French soldiers, when they catch him fleeing. Finally, Karayilan's men come to get their Agha (the old man). While escaping now, this old Agha takes the young Halim with him as well. They reach the secret headquarters of Karayilan. Halim has now discovered the true identity of the Agha and also comes face-to-face with the warrior commander called KaraYilan'. He insists upon joining them. At first the Agha is not willing, but seeing that what a great shooter Halim is, he and Karayilan take him in!

The story moves ahead and Halim discovers the faith of the woman he loves. He gets the shock of his life to know that Sona is a Christian. He who cannot trust the Christians as his occupiers are also them, cannot stand the fact that he loves one of them... He has to interact with Sona though, as she is a spy of his freedom-fighter gang, and is working with the French as a Turkish teacher. Sona gives the secrets of the French Army to the Muslims. At first, Halim decides to kill all his feelings for her, but fails. One day he declares to the Agha that no matter what, he loves Sona!

Eventually, Sona also falls in love with Halim and even saves his life by donating her blood when he gets shot during an encounter. But the tragedy of their relation was that they never got a chance to confess their feelings to each other.. However, Sona knew that Halim loved her, but Halim never knew that Sona also loved him ...

Then there is one General Laros (Ilker Aksum), with whom Sona interacts often and steals the next French moves from him and transfers them to Karayilan and his men. Gen. Laros confesses his love for Sona! He invites her to his quarter. Sona discusses this with her comrades. And finally for the sake of helping her Muslim brothers with whom she grew-up, Sona instead of confessing her love for Halim, unwillingly decides to pretend to be in love with the General and goes to him. Halim is unaware about all this. This move of Sona further helps the rebelling forces as she alerts them about the French plans. One night when Halim is on patrol in the streets, he sees Sona being dropped at her house by the General himself - and believes what Sona is pretending to do!! Halim is heart-broken.

The French are about to attack the rebelling forces. But their mission fails due to Sona's help and the Muslims are victorious. Karayilan's men are prepared and repulse the attack successfully. In the last episode of the series, Halim encounters Sona and calls her the General's beloved'. She is hurt. Right after that Halim discovers the truth about the whole situation.

Even though Karayilan had a strong story, a good script, great direction and even better acting, the series could not gain high-viewership due to its war theme at a time when romantic dramas were the trend.

The gritty non-glamorous drama like Karayilan with a war theme was not of much interest for the viewers. In Karayilan (with three love couples and one love triangle), romance was philosophical while other series had their love scenes as their central theme/ingredient. Thus, this missing factor caused its rating to be low. And with a high budget of $300,000/ per episode, Sis Yapim could not continue it further without any profit. Therefore, this project was finished at its eighteenth episode in March 2008. Karayilan and his men were shown to be proceeding ahead with all their people supporting them!

If it had continued as the writers planned, viewers might have seen Halim and Sona's love blossoming :)

Engin's character of Halim/Nizipli was a mixture of his previous two characters. Halim was comic like Kader and aggressive like Cevat. Nevertheless, he performed all the phases of Halim with brilliance. Due to the low-ratings of Karayilan, one of Engin's great-performance passed unnoticed.

All 18 episodes of Karayilan are available on Youtube with English subtitles.

Road to Emmy's! Part - 5 'ROMANTICA MUZIKALI'

In 2007, going back to his initial days in field of acting in Ankara, Engin Akyrek acted in the original Turker Inanoglu Theatre production of "Romantika Muzikali," directed by Sakir Gurzumar.

It was a well-made and executed piece of work. Engin acted and sang for his performance of the leading role of Ceto, the brave neighborhood guy.

Road to Emmy's! Part - 6 'BIR BULUT OLSAM'

One year after Karayilan ended, Engin's third television series started on Kanal D Channel on February 23, 2009 called - Bir Bulut Olsam (BBO) - If I were a Cloud. This was Engin's first project as a lead actor! BBO was written by the veteran Turkish writer Meral Okay (writer of Mustehsam Yuzil - Mera Sultan) - who also acted in the series, and was directed by Ulas Inan Ina. It was produced by Timur Savci of TIMS Production.

Engin portrayed Mustafa Bulut, the eldest among four children of the town Guzelyurt's mayor. This story was about the feudal traditions that are still common in the less-urban parts of Turkey. Mustafa has been married to his young cousin Narin (Melissa Sozen) forcefully in childhood.

As they grew older Mustafa fell literally "madly" in love with Narin, yet Narin did not love him and did not accept him as husband. Unrequited love and his first love's rejection made him very short-tempered, impulsive and obsessive about Narin. Due to the unresponsiveness of his wife, Mustafa subjected Narin to torture and captivity with chains tied to her feet so she would not run away. Both Mustafa and Narin suffered emotional and physical scars of this unconsummated marriage. While Narin's physical torture was witnessed by the town, Mustafa's pain was never understood. The series reflects the life of the town bordering a violent Syrian border full of mines where life is slow, traditions backward and women under privileged.

It is said that once Engin read the script of BBO, he claimed about Mustafa Bulut, 'This role is written for me!' and indeed it is the finest and most intense performance by him which still lingers with you even after the series has ended.

Moreover, Mustafa was epileptic - suffered from hysterical fits whenever his anger or frustration was at its peak. Throughout the series, Engin performed a total of 14 scenes in which he shivered/shook his entire body to show hysterical epileptic fits and uncontrollable movements. His brilliance as an actor was demonstrated in the very first episode of BBO in the scene where Mustafa has an epileptic stroke, just after torturing Narin for her rejection.

Mustafa Bulut's character was a well-created and a thought-provoking one. He depicted a person who was brought-up by a rich father, mustafa is a wife beater and severly obsessive to the limit of self destruction.His mother was from a lesser background and therefore, remained one-step behind her husband in decision-making. Mustafa's mental health and his unfilled love made him an aggressive person, who beat and insulted women whenever a situation arose. But at the same time he loved his parents and siblings a lot.

Bir Bulut Olsam ended on its 29th episode in December 2009.

After the success of Fatmagulun sucu ne?, Bir Bulut Olsam was sold to many countries where Engin's fan base increasing. His performance was lauded and many became more a fan of Mustafa Bulut than of Kerim Ilgaz. As Mustafa, it is difficult to believe Engin as the same soft Kader or Nizipli. Engin produced expressions that made viewers fear his presence. In the scene where he beats his newly-wed wife Asiyae (because she is not Narin).

Engin perfectly depicted the cruelty of an abusive husband in his expressions. To-date, Mustafa Bulut is a character that had a performance margin in every scene for Engin. Even if it was a silent performance, Engin stole the show with the excellence of his expressions. Engin himself rates this performance of his as the best till now. Even though it was a negative character, its shades of grey and undying unrequited love for Narin made him a complex and loved character amongst fans who wanted to see him being paired as the hero of the show, getting him more attention than the established lead actor.

Engin said in an interview, that he was stopped on the roads by elderly ladies who cursed at him to leave Narin alone, while others feared his presence due to believing his character to be real. The character became iconic and an inspiration for future shows such as Halil in Feriha. The shocking response of fans who refused to hate Mustafa even though he was a wife beater and rapist convinced the makers of fatmagul to have Engin audition for Kerim, for his ability to invoke a positive response for a character with negative charactaristics.

BBO was dubbed in Urdu and on-aired as Nijaat in Pakistan on Urdu-1 Channel in 2014 shocking fans with his intense performance.

Story of BBO:

Mustafa's parents in order to get him away from Narin (as she was not accepting him as a husband leading him to have uncontrollable fits and epilepsy attacks) marry him for the second time to his mother's niece - Asiyae (Aslihan Gurbuz). Asiyae loves Mustafa unconditionally but Mustafa (who cannot accept any woman as his wife other than Narin), subjects Asiyae to torture as well, whenever she tries to come near to him.

Then one Dr. Serdar is posted to Guzelyurt. Due to some events created by Mustafa himself, Serdar and Narin come close to each other, but the doctor doesn't confess it. Narin is proposed by a teacher Haroon, and Mustafa's father forcefully makes him divorce Narin and gets her married to Haroon. Mustafa, not accepting all this, kidnaps Narin on her wedding day and rapes her. He is shot by the police. But instead of sending him to prison, Serdar and Narin's lawyer plan to send him to a 'mental hospital' for getting him cured. But even staying there at the hospital for months and getting electric shocks, Mustafa's love for Narin doesn't die and her absence from his life turns him catatonic, only remembering narin while forgeting even who his parents are!

Meanwhile, a daughter is born to him with Asiyae. He names her 'Nar'. Though, Mustafa never wanted a child from Asiyae and wanted to abort the baby, but the moment his daughter is put into his arms, the fatherly love erupts and Nar becomes the most important person in his life. Engin's scenes and his acting with his on-screen daughter are a treat to watch. He talks to his baby about his love for Narin.

During this time, Mustafa also has an illicit relation with his father's girl friend Bahar (Sukran Ovali). He is taking revenge from his father for separating him from Narin.

Narin also gives birth to Mustafa's son but tells everyone (even her mother) that it is of her husband Haroon. Only Serdar knows the truth. Haroon dies in an accident. Serdar and Narin come closer. Mustafa's father suffers from an attack after Asiyae shoots Bahar, when she knows about her affair with Mustafa. During all this Narin and Serdar are married while, Mustafa and Asiyae are sent on vacation.

Finally, in the last episode Mustafa accepts the bitter truth that Narin can never be his, and succumbs to the unrelenting love of Asiyae. Months pass, and Serdar tragically gets killed in a mine blast, in front of Mustafa's eyes. But it all ends on a positive note, as even after knowing the truth about Narin's son Ates to be his, Mustafa never insists Narin to marry her after Serdar's death. He just convinces her to stay in Guzelyurt as his cousin and not to separate his son from him. Narin agrees to this.

In the last scenes, we see a satisfied Mustafa with his wife Asiyae and three kids (Asiyae gives birth to another daughter in the last episode)!

Road to Emmy's! Part - 7 'FATMAGULUN SUCU NE?'

In June 2010, at the finale party of Ask-i-Memnu, its director Hilal Saral announced that Engin Akyuek will be the male lead with Beren Saat in her next television project - Fatmagulun sucu ne? (FGSN) (What is Fatmagul's Fault?)

Hilal might have not realized then that what master piece she was about to give to the Turkish Drama Industry in the form of her next project. This project not only had the most powerful theme but also a powerful male character that was to over-shadow the female-oriented story of the project. And Engin was chosen for doing this strong role!

During the end of BBO, Engin had got depressed at media's attitude in one particular personal case of his that involved a fake claim. He was taking time away from showbiz intentionally. But Beren Saat, who was Engin's friend of six years since Turkiye'nin Yildizlari days, convinced him to return to acting. She asked Hilal Saral to audition Engin for the male lead with her. Beren was too impressed by Engin's performance as Mustafa Bulut, so she wanted to be with him on-screen! He was selected for Kerim Ilgaz's role. Engin was therefore, employed by Kerem Catay, the producer at the top Turkish Production Company -Ay Yapim.

During this 8-month break, Engin had changed in his physical appearance! He was healthier than Mustafa Bulut, had shaved of the mustache and - had longer hairs!! His outlook was perfect to be that of a humble yet modern boy of Izmir for FGSN.

FGSN was based on a novel by Vedat Trkali and was written by Ece Yorenc and Melek Genolu. It was directed by Hilal Saral. The music was composed by the Turkish great -Toygar Isikli. This formidable group of writer-director-producer-composer had just given the blockbuster series - Ask-i-Memnu. So the shooting started in early August 2010 and the first episode was on-aired on Kanal D Channel on September 16, 2010.

The story started from a lower-class dairy-farm girl - Fatmagul (Beren Saat) who lived in the Turkish town of Izmir, with her too simple brother, his son and his wife Muqadas who hated her for no reason. Fatmagul is about to get married to her childhood love Mustafa, who is a fisherman. They are just waiting for Mustafa to earn much money to complete their house before marriage. Then there is the Yasaran family, the rich upper-class business men and their political social elites. Yasaran Family is in Izmir for the engagement ceremony of the son of the elder brother Resat Yasaran to the daughter of a politician. Selim is his son and Erdogan his nephew. These cousins have a third friend Vural who also belongs to their class. All these three have spent their childhood in Izmir but as the business of their fathers grew, they moved to Istanbul. They have a childhood friend in Izmir, whom they meet on yearly basis when they come there for summer vacations. This fourth friend of theirs is our hero - Kerim Ilgaz (Engin Akyurek)!

Kerim is a well-mannered decent boy, who is away from the glamour of the rich society. He has been brought up by a respectable lady -Meryem who is the homeopath of that area. Kerim was orphaned during childhood so Meryem brought him up as her own son. He works as a carpenter in the workshop of his father's friend. Kerim though unlike his rich friends, is over-powered by their presence. He considers himself important with them and hence, enjoys their company.

Although, it was a story of justice sought by a raped woman, the strength of Kerim's character gave it another dimension. To enjoy and love Kerim-Fatmagul's love story, one has to watch their hatred as well. Engin through his brilliant expressions, great dialogue delivery and acting, stole the show from Beren and made Kerim more popular than Fatmagul :)

Engin became one of the most famous actor of Turkey during FGSN's telecast. His fame spread at speed of light across the globe. He was loved both as Engin and Kerim as many NGOs working for rape victims termed Kerim's character as a hope and at the same time adored Engin for doing it with such perfection.

Engin's versatility was prominent as the persevering Kerim, because he was the opposite of the aggressive Mustafa that used to force himself over things that belonged to him or which he wanted.

Kerim was the soft-spoken, guilty-torn boy who loved his wife with such sincerity that he was ready to live with her without any physical relationship, because she was a rape-victim! Engin and Beren's romantic scenes were of such intense chemistry that even the ones with silent expressions are rated higher than those with physical contacts in other Turkish dramas. In one scene, Engin's expressions and acting surpassed Beren's performance, where Fatmagul comes to her husband and tells him that she wants to be close to him but cannot as she cannot separate him in her mind from the attacker from that night...

FGSN had a happy end and Turkish episode 74 is the most watched episode across Turkey and the world ending with Engin's brilliant performance.

Engin won the following awards for Kerim Ilgaz in the 'Best Actor' category:

• Fatmagul'un Suu Ne?2011Kerim"Best Actor to Represent Turkey in Hollywood" Ucankus
• Ucankus Trkiye'yi Hollywood'da En yi Temsil Edebilecek Oyuncu (Viewer Surveys/Polls)
• Fatmagul'un Sucu Ne?May 2011Kerim"Best Male TV Actor"
• Televizyondizisi En yi Erkek Oyuncu (Viewer Surveys/Polls)
• Fatmagul'un Sucu Ne?Sept 2011Kerim"Best Looking Actor Under 30" Ayakligazete
• Ayaklgazete 30 Yasn Altndaki En Yakskl Oyuncu (Viewer Surveys/Polls)"
• Fatmagl'un Suu Ne?June 2011Kerim"Best Looking Actor on TV "Habershow
• Habershow Dizilerin En Yakskls (Viewer Surveys/Polls)
• Fatmagul'un Sucu Ne?June 2011Kerim"Best Actor" Dizifilmbook '(FGSN First Season)
• Dizifilmbook 'FSN 1.sezon En yi Oyuncusu (Viewer Surveys/Polls)
• Fatmagul'un Sucu Ne?March 2012Kerim"Best Actor in a TV Series in 2011" Has Awards, Kadir Has Universitesi "2011 En Has Erkek Dizi Oyuncusu"
• (Viewer Surveys/Polls)
• Fatmagul'un Sucu Ne?May 2012Kerim"Best Drama Male Actor in 2011" Ayakligazete,
• Ayakligazete "2011 En yi Drama Erkek Oyuncusu" (Viewer Surveys/Polls)

Fatmagulun sucu ne? is still making world records for Turkey. It has secured highest ratings in foreign countries and is the most sold drama of its country. It was dubbed in Urdu and was first on-aired in Pakistan on Urdu-1 as Fatmagul - Akhir Mera Qasoor Kya from December 2012 to June 2013 and was then further re-telecast 3 times on fan demand.

It was a great story of how two people learn to love each other who are bound by a marriage only on paper and hatred in heart!!

STORY OF FGSN: *spoilers removed*

Fatmagul is desperate to be married-off to Mustafa, not only because she loves him but also to get rid away from her nagging sister-in-law. Her desire for Mustafa and an independent married life is growing with time as Muqadas's hatred is growing towards her. Except for Mustafa, she has no one to share her feelings with. While in Izmir, Erdogan, Selim, Vural and Kerim see Fatmagul and the three rich tease her as young boys of their class do. Kerim doesn't like this. Then at Selim's engagement, Keirm comes face-to-face with her as she is working their for her dairy farm.

After the event, all these four boys are drunk and also under the influence of drugs. They are partying near the sea. Mustafa is leaving for a night fish-catch. Fatmagul is coming to see him off, as he is the only one she has as her own. Fatmagul passes from the area where these boys are singing. Kerim sees her and shouts to his friends 'Guys! Its that same girl'!! Then when she tries to run, Kerim is the first one to get hold of her while the other three come near her...

The tragedy occurs.

Fatmagul is gang-raped.. all four are shown to be involved in the crime as she faints when Kerim appears on-screen. The next morning she is found by Kerim's mother who is there to collect some herbs!

Finally with the course of events, the Yasarans save their sons and forcefully marry Kerim and Fatmagul. Muqadas is their accomplice in all this. Mustafa is primarily hurt because of his fiance becoming impure burns their house in front of Fatmagul but afterwards believes Yasarans false stories of Fatmagul being involved in Kerim.

The story starts when both Kerim and Fatmagul's families move to Istanbul. Fatmagul hates Kerim. She insults him, abuses him, spits at him, tries to kill him, etc. Kerim is not sure whether he really raped her, as he was drunk and drugged. But Fatamgul believes that he did it as his was the last face which she saw before fainting. Then Vural who is having little traumas of guilt, tells Kerim what he knows... Kerim did not rape Fatmagul!

In fact, when she laid their, fainted under open sky, he just sat beside her. He tells this to her. She believes it but it is of no importance for her as she hates him and considers him as much as culprit as the other three. Kerim initially wild and exhausted with her behavior, is ready to leave her and divorce her -as she desires. But when he is leaving, Kerim realizes that he loves Fatmagul, and that this was love at first sight!! Before leaving he writes a letter to her, telling her to move on in her life and that one day he will come and ask for forgiveness from her.. Fatmagul reads this letter. Fatmagul's hatred for him gradually turns into an intense love of a wife for her husband!

Road to Emmy's Part 8 - 'BI KUCUK EYLUL MESELESSI'

In August 2013, after returning from his Greek vacation, Engin went to Bozcada Island of Turkey for shooting his movie 'Bi Kucuk Eylul Meselesi' (BKEM) -A Small September Affair. This was Engin's second movie after Destiny and the first in a lead role. FGSN's producer Kerem Catay wanted Engin to do BKEM's lead. This movie was written and directed by veteran drama scenarist Kerem Derem and was an Ay yapim production. Music was yet again composed by Toygar Isikli. The British-based Turkish actress Farah Zeynep Abdullah shared the lead with Engin in this movie. BKEM was a romantic movie and was released on February 14, 2014 - Valentine's Day!

The movie starts with an accident of a girl Eylul (Farah) in Istanbul. She survives it but just one problem - Eylul cannot remember the past one month of her life that happened to be September!! On her insisting, her friends take her to Bozcada Island, where she was for summers in the previous month. Eylul just wants to know that what was all in that past September which she cannot remember. There in Bozcada, she meets a native man called Tekin or Tek. Tek is a very innocent soft-spoken and decent islander who is a cartoonist by profession. But he has a drawback - he is not beautiful. And this outer ugliness of his throws his inner beauty behind. Tek immediately claims to Eylul that they both fell in love with each other in the previous month. Eylul does not believe this, as she cannot accept the fact that she being a pretty Istanbul girl can fall in love with a dirty and ugly man like Tek! She runs away from him feeling scared, but Tek follows her. When he reaches her he calms her down telling her that he will not hurt her and that he is telling her the truth. As Tek hears Eylul's friend coming, he leaves after asking Eylul to remember him. When Eylul asks him that why does he wants her to remember him, Tek replies 'Because I am not just a memory..' and leaves. Eylul's friends try to convince her to returning to Istanbul but she wants to stay. The viewers are shown in flashbacks, what actually happened.

Due to being a cartoonist, his hands are always stained with paint. But he tells his mother that he has fallen in love with one from this different kind, a girl who is pretty. Tek is scared that she might reject him but also feels at the same time that Eylul will fall in love with him as well. Because of these flaws in his appearance and due to his quite nature, Tek forced himself to live in a faraway island, so that he is away from the fast world, where he is a mis-fit.

There Eylul tells him that she is a big fan of his paintings and had decided to marry the person who drew them. But she quite insultingly exclaims that she expected someone better looking than him!! Tek is hurt and looks himself in the mirror and thinks that he is ugly and how can a beautiful girl like Eylul love him?

These all flashbacks and Tek reminding Eylul of their times spent together in the present day in are shown simultaneously. Tek tries to make her remember through a book in which he compiled all their meetings through his artistic drawings. He reminds her of the sunset they watched together.

In the past scenes, we see that Eylul has fallen in love with Tek even though in future she does not remember him due to the accident. She loves his pure nature, his creativity and enjoys his company. They explore the island together, draw paintings and watch movies together with Tek's puppy and the little girl. but Tek is hurt and insecure that Eylul is not telling her people about falling in love with him. He says to her melancholy that he wishes that he was a handsome man with unstained hands so that Eylul could have introduced him to her people with pride.

The movie ends on a sad note and shocking revelation which left the audiences in the cinemas sobbing..

BKEM was a much hit movie and won many awards including the Kristal Mouse Award for Best Movie of 2014.

Engin was praised a lot for Tek's character for which he lost weight, cleanly shaved, got the worst haircut and applied heavy makeup to appear disheveled. Engin had no qualms about appearing disgusting looking for his character at a time when actors were building muscle and looks to build bigger fanbase. He acted perfectly as an unloved naive islander suffering from complex of being ugly.

Road to Emmy's Part 9 - 'KARA PARA ASK'

In this last part of Road to Emmy's, we shall discuss the project of Engin which brought us to travel here.

When Fatmagulun sucu ne? was nearing its end, in June 2012, Engin was offered another Ay yapim project by Kerem Catay. It was a police story to be written by Sema Ergenekon and Eylem Canpolat - writers of Turkish hits; Gumus and Sila. Engin signed then, a project which script wasn't written yet. The series was to be Ahmet Katiksiz's first directorial venture as well. And it was to be Engin and Toygar Isikli's third project together! Engin was lured to the story due to its police-detective nature and because his character was to be different from his previous ones. It would be the first time since 'Yabanci damat' where the girl would chase the hero's love than the other way around.

Engin Akyurek is said to be not so ambitious about his career. He takes a project, works whole-hardheartedly in it, earns his salary and then enjoys his life without caring about the competition in the showbiz industry. Thus, having now established himself as one of the famous Turkish actor, Engin after FGSN, just vanished from the screen. He took rest and vacationed in England and Greece and came back to screen after 2 years.

Fans were hungry for Engin's performance and comeback on television and not just in the domestic market. The career break he took turned in favor of Engin as his series FGSN was aired dubbed in over 50 countries and he suddenly during this time became a global hearthrob and global sensation. The fans in Turkey missed him and the global fans were eager to see his new project.

In early February 2014, the trailers of Engin's new drama Kara Para Ask (KPA) - 'Black Money Love' got on-aired. Renowned Turkish actress Tuba Buyukustun was sharing the lead with him. The series also had veteran actors Erkan Can and Nebahat Cemre in its cast. At BKEM's premiere on February 14, 2015, it was announced that KPA was to start from Wednesday March 12, 2015 on ATV Channel. Before being on-aired, Kara Para Ask was already sold to 20 countries due to Engin's name being attached to it. In Pakistan fans heavily requested its airing to the channel urdu1 from the day its 1st promo in Turkey was aired! The series became a huge success in both domestic and international market and was garnering highest ratings in its time slot in Pak wheras Omer-ELif became the most well liked couple of the year. KPA was the biggest hit in Turkey drawing in highest ratings.

Omer Demir was yet again a very different character of Engin. He portrayed a soldier - an aggressive one who always beat first and talked later. He was a responsible family man and above all - an intense lover. Engin enjoyed doing this role a lot.

Till now, although, Engin's every character is different from the previous one, there has been one similarity in all of them: they were all Great Lovers, who carried infinite love for their beloveds. Omer Demir was no different in this context!

Engin, got what he deserved when he won the Best Actor category in the Seoul Drama Awards (South Korea) beating his Oscar Winning competitors such as Adam Brody - and becoming the first Turkish actor to achieve this!

Then Engin also became the first Turkish Male Actor to be nominated for the 43rd Emmy Awards to be held in New York. Although he did not win the emmy, the nomination brought Turkey's actor on the map, he is the only male actor from his country to earn this honor. The award ceremony was flocked by Engin's Global fans from indonesia to peru, greece to nigeria and one spectator reports, everyone else was invisible only Engin and his screaming fans were everywhere.

With his international award nominations, hit series FGSN airing in Spanish, English and Latin speaking world simultaneously along with his Hit Series KPA airing simultaneously in the Arab, Muslim, and eastern european world he was earning legions of fans and became the most influencial Turkish figure across the globe in the year 2015 till 2016. Infact the year 2015 is known as the year of 'Engin-Fever' in the southern hemisphere of the globe who was catching up on FGSN and KPA. He has now earned the number 1 Actor from Turkey position in the world, being the most recognized and well liked Turkish face globally, and only through his talent without any reliance on social media tools.

Apart from the above mentioned awards, Engin won the following as Omer Demir:

• TV Series Awards 2014 Best Actor Engin Akyrek
• RaniniTv of 2014 Best Actor Engin Akyrek
• Turkey Electrical Electronics and Service Exporters Association Cultural Service Awards Stars of the Export Engin Akyrek
• " festival Marconi Odlleri ", organized by Bursa University " radio and television branch " in Turkey Best Actor Of The Year 2015 Engin Akyrek
• TV Series Awards 2015 Best Actor Engin Akyrek
• Kristal Mouse Award 2015 Best Actor Engin Akyurek

The 43rd Emmy Awards Ceremony was held at Hilton Park Hotel - NYC, Engin Akyurek was wished the Best of Luck to win by fans and very proudly attended the ceremony and represented his country. He has already won millions of hearts of his fans all over the world and is referred to as 'KING AKYUREK', 'KING OF HEARTS', 'KING OF VERSATILITY' and 'KING OF EXPRESSIONS' to name a few.

Hope this was informative and helped you connect better with your favorite actor. Thank you for being with us in this journey!

KPA STORY:

The story started with Police Officer -mer Demir (Engin Akyrek) - a devoted and honest officer of the homicide bureau, posted at Van. Omer's elder brother Husseyn (Burak Tamdogan) is also a police officer posted in Istanbul's homicide bureau. Both brothers have joined the police force because of a childhood scar: their father was murdered and the case was closed as an unsolved murder-case. Omer has decided not to let any killer walk freely, like that of his father. After putting another criminal gang in jail, he happily heads off to Istanbul to get engaged to the girl he loves - Sibel. Little does he know that his life is about to change for ever.

Then there is one Elif Denizer (Tuba) a rich, upper class jewelry designer based in Rome. To celebrate her birthday, she heads to her family in Istanbul where her world turns up side down.

On this very night, a tragedy occurs that brings Omer and Elif to a single point. Omer's fiance and Elif's father are found murdered in the same car at a cliff!!

After the death of his fiance he suffers great pain. With the shock of her sudden death and the accusations of his love cheating on him, Omar realizes that there is more behind her suspicious murder. He decides that he will do anything in order to find his fiance's murderer and to prove to everyone that she was not cheating on him. On the other side, Elif, the middle child of three girls of Ahmet and Zerrin Denizer (Nebahat Cemre), loses her father to a murder where his body was found in the same car as Omar's fiance.

While still grieving after her father's death, Elif is threatened by dangerous men who kidnap her younger sister and ask her to find millions of dollars worth of diamonds that her father had stolen from them. Elif does not know that the man behind all these doings is her father's close friend - Tayyar Dundar (Erkan Can). Thus, while searching for the diamonds, Elif discovers that her father was involved in the 'black money' market industry, and unwillingly gets herself involved in it under the threats from the bad guys. Omer suspecting Elif of hiding something, follows her and also helps her sister to be freed from the culprits. During this companionship, Elif falls in love with Omer!

Though, there is a huge difference between their class, educational background and lifestyles -but as both are of pure and honest nature, Elif is pulled towards Omer's sincerity. On the other hand Omer, who treasures Elif a lot, cannot realize his liking for her as he is still emotionally committed to his dead fiance.

The second season of KPA started from September 03, 2014. It focused the strong love of Omer and Elif surviving during the turmoils and shocks in their lives while getting the criminals caught. In the end, Omer's love for Elif wins against any other priorities in his life!! Kara Para Ask was shot at Istanbul, Van and Rome and ended on a happy note with an open ending suggesting a possible season 3. It ended on July 15, 2015 at its 54th episode. Due to the open ending fans are still requesting for season 3 even after a year its stopped airing and leads moving onto new projects.Perhaps in the future we may get a movie on the adventures of 'Omer -Elif'. 😉

• Deep Sea Diving,
• Writing articles and stories for magazines,
• Acting and theater.
• Reading books

• International Emmy Award nomination 2015,
• Seoul International superstar award 2015,
• most poplar/Recognized Turkish Actor in the world.
• published author for 9 articles in 'Kafasina Gore' magazine.