Engin Akyurek maybe the best actor in the world ever-BIO/Updates pg4&a - Page 9

L'Officiel Hommes Interview ~ 2015 ~ Engin Akyurek

(Rportajn Trkesi iin ltfen aadaki resimlere baknz.)

"He chooses characters and roles that can become his friends. With every choice he makes, he quietly takes another step up the ladder, coming closer and closer to the pinnacle of his career. He is very different from all the actors we have come to know. He looks on with love and speaks with his eyes. He is supremely talented as well as lucky. In his 10-year career, he has been given the opportunity to work with the best in the business. He doesn't ignore how lucky he has been, though, and the chances he has been given. He talks about his colleagues as his fans talk about him, with admiration and respect. He also doesn't know the effects of his charismatic looks and great ability to portray emotion so effortlessly.

I noticed all the secret Engin Akyurek fans when I finally voiced own deep admiration and respect for the actor. Of course, there are more fans who are not so secret! He has become one of the most talked about actors recently. Actually, he has the entire world entranced and under his spell. Beginning first with all the Arab nations, then, Azerbaijan to Brazil, England to Argentina, he has fans in almost every country you can think of. Despite the fact that he stays away from magazines and talk shows and the media and prefers to live a quiet, simple life, we can definitively say that he has become a social media sensation. Every step he takes becomes a major event on Twitter. Either he, or his show manages to become a "trending topic" on Twitter every week. Furthermore, he does all this just with his acting abilities and the roles he chooses.

For you to understand all that I am saying, you must first watch him on the screen. Because, he is the type who changes when he gets in front of the camera. In fact, they call him the "man who talks with his eyes."

Whatever role he plays, whether an epileptic man, consumed by his love, or a character too shy to talk, he plays it faultlessly, completely in character. His self-confidence, his ability to instantly portray different moods, flirtatious actions which make every woman fall in love with him, his sweet smiles which makes one think that he is one of our own children, his temper tantrums, angry rants, which make one look for a corner to hide all make him one of the truly special and original actors. Despite his friendliness, there is an air of holding something back, something secret makes him a mysterious man. Because of all this, I didn't know what kind of a person I was going to meet up with when I met EnginAkyurek. He was a little distant when he first came in and shook my hand. Then, when filming started, he became the consummate professional, intent on doing his best for the required role.

When we started the interview, then all walls came down and he the warm, friendly Engin Akyurek, the man who has made everyone fall in love with him on screen. He is an optimist, always thinking of good things in the future, but also one who carefully chooses roles to make sure he has no past regrets. But, he doesn't have any idea how the emotions he is able to portray with his eyes affects people. I am telling you all this as a woman. Despite everything, the man in front of me is one of the most handsome and attractive men on screen."

LH: Let's go back to the past a little. How did a History major choose to become an actor? Was this something you always wanted to do?

Engin: I have been interested in theater since high school. I used to act in amateur plays and read various roles and plays. I just didn't see myself going to a school to formally train as an actor. Actually, I don't think the choices we make as a 16-17 year old before one even goes to university are very realistic. If you think about it, many people aren't even in the same field they studied. Cetin Altan has a great saying regarding this. He calls Turkey "The country without a career." And, rather than go to acting school, I chose to go to university and study something that interested me more, either literature or history. After my exams, I started at Ankara University as a history major. It was only during my second year, as I was playing in an amateur play, I realized I actually wanted to become an actor.

LH:What changed in two years that you so suddenly decided that you decided to become an actor?

Engin:That is an indescribable emotion. Maybe, it was what I was going through..or perhaps, as one gets older, maybe one is able to see more clearly what we want to do with our lives. Everything seems to come together, your current choices, what you want in the future, etc. And, during this time, I realized, that I was able to be more myself when acting, that I could explain myself better. Personally, I think everyone should be doing what they are passionate about and what makes them truly happy.

LH:As an actor, what made you happiest?

Engin:Oh, of course the ability to create, become a different person with each character, take on the personality of each role, be someone outside of myself, become emotionally involved with the character. And, these feelings are no left the actor, we share ourselves, our emotions with the audience. Their responses, their acceptance of us as these characters also make us happy. Furthermore, when I was a child, I used to ask myself, "I wonder if I can do this." To be able to do what I dreamed of doing is also a great feeling.

LH:Okay, weren't you ever afraid, or excited, especially in the beginning? Especially, considering that you entered this world through a contest and then found yourself among legendary greats such as ErdalOzyagcilar, SumruYavrucuk, ZekiAlasya?

Engin:Of course I was excited, and afraid! Nothing came easily. I was frightened to be among so many great actors. And, it wasn't just the actors! There was a super screenwriter, director and producer! The young actors were also some of the best! Among such great talents, one has to make sure that you also do well, that you don't screw up. You are new, you are going to be on TV for the first time. Additionally, it is a drama but with a comedic tilt. To be able to showcase both drama and comedy to the audience is extremely important. "Foreign Groom" (YabanciDamat) for me was a test in which everything was included in the role. It was a great beginning to my acting career. But, for me, how one continues a journey is just as important as how one begins one. How you further yourself, what you bring to the table, how what you produce now affects your future can't be ignored. Acting isn't something one learns by reading between four walls, or watching films and movies. You only learn by doing. You are always in a give and take position. You take something away from each role, everyone you work with, you learn from them. I was really lucky regarding this. I was always able to work with people from whom I learned a lot.

LH:In Turkey, generally, every actor has a specific role forced onto him by his fans. And, actors, because they want to keep their fans happy, usually gravitate to the same type of roles as before, refusing to go outside of the characters forced onto them. But, this is not the case for you. Every role you play is different, so different that each one makes the audience forget the character you played before.

Engin:I prefer to choose roles that make me grow and learn new things. Of course, one's age has an impact, too. The roles one gets offered at 32 are different than the roles offered at 22. Furthermore, how I look at life, at this sector, what I want out of life, all change as I get older. And, all this affects how I play a character, and while I bring all of these changes, or views to how I play a role, it affects how I come across to the audience, as well.

LH:Do you have different criteria for choosing a movie role versus one in a soap or TV show?

Engin:Actually, the most important thing for both types of roles is whether it excites me, and if I can add something to role or character. Since a TV show is longer lasting, you have to be very careful and very selective when choosing a role on a long-lived show. In the end, you have to live with the character you are playing for two years, keeping the same hairstyle, beard as you wander the streets. If there is a negative of TV roles, it is that it can affect one's social life. In fact, you can become bored with the character.

LH:Did you ever become bored with a role?

Engin:No, never. But, it is because I don't want to become bored that I am very selective about the roles I choose to play. I choose characters with whom I can become friends during our time together and I prepare myself accordingly from the very beginning.

LH:When you are preparing to play a new role or character, do you prepare for that role together with the screenwriter and director?

Engin:Sometimes, you are involved from the very beginning, and the writer writes the screenplay and character with you in mind. Sometimes, you have to take on a pre-written role and have to prepare yourself for that character. In both cases, I try to understand the man they have imagined, then I try to bring the character to life using my own feelings and personality, add something of myself to the character.

LH:Is the length of time you prepare for a role the same in each case?

Engin:No, it changes from role to role, character to character. The specifics of each character or role one plays is always at the forefront. In Kara Para Ask, the character of Omer is a police officer. To be able to play this role, I had to know learn how what a police officer does, all the technical details associated with such a role. What kind of terms they used in their daily lives, how they act during interrogations, how to hold a gun, how to put on handcuffs.

LH:The police officer character, Omer Demir, you are playing, has become a television phenomenon! He is very different than all the police characters we are used to seeing...

Engin:I agree with what you are saying. He is nothing like the police officers we see on the streets, on TV shows, or in Hollywood movies. He is an original character and person. He has a world that belongs only to him. He acts with his intelligence and his emotions. He is a man of this country. Someone we all know, a person who is affected by life's trials and one who changes because of everything he has lived.

LH:Do you think that the popularity of an actor has an affect on the role or character he plays?

Engin:Well, actually, people believe you are the character you portray. ErolTas... how many of us really know him? But, everyone talks about how he has been stoned or attacked on the streets because of the "bad guy" roles he portrayed. It is also true of the opposite, how an audience views a character we play is how they view the actor. It is an emotional give and take...

LH:In Turkish TV, it seems that the characters people really like are the ones who love unconditionally. Your characters also, even if they are very different from each other, are all ones in which the character makes the woman he loves the center of his world.

Engin:There is a saying from our forefathers... "No one knows who is really rich or who really believes in God and is a true believer..." Just like no one knows how much one person loves another. Some people love greatly, but are not able to express themselves. Some people love lightly, but exaggerate their emotions. It is really hard to understand this. Each of my characters have loved and tried to make the women they love part of their lives in different ways. But, they have all been motivated by love for the women they have fallen in love. As you know, if there is romance involved, then there is no magic... Even in all the war movies, there is romance and love. This is what the audience wants, because everyone wants to be loved. Especially now. The realities of life, responsibilities, tend to isolate us ever more each day, and make it difficult for us to express our emotions and love. To see a character on TV who loves unconditionally, wants someone, someone who fights for that person regardless of consequences is good for the audience. In fact, it makes them happy.

LH:Well, then? Are you really a romantic man? Or, are you just someone who plays these romantic characters we see on TV?

Engin:I can't tell you if I am a very romantic person, or give you any examples. You know the coffee that is "three in one?" I am like that. I have a little bit of everything. But, I can say this. I think every man who loves a woman should make her the center of his world, just like the characters I play. If he can't, I think there is a problem.

LH:You aren't a very public person. If you look at any information about you in the media, there are only a handful of articles. But, despite this, you are one of the most talked of actors on social media. What is your secret?

Engin:I am an actor. I get up every morning and go to work like everyone else. Live my life during my free time. There is nothing that I am hiding, actually, no secrets. I have a life of which I am not ashamed or embarrassed. The gossip magazines and writers and I just don't have much in common. But, social media is a completely different world. You can't control what people write about you, nor assist in what they write. It truly is reality.

LH:There have been over 10 thousand tweets about you just in the last month. Do you follow all these?

Engin:I don't have a social media account. But, I try to keep up with all that is being said or written through the account my managers at Artistanbul have set up. As it is, social media is really the only way to figure out what the fans and viewers want or what they are saying. I don't just mean Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. There are many fan sites and types of forums.

LH:Then, you also know that you are called "The man with the most beautiful gaze." Do you think this a gift from God?

Engin:Actually, I don't know. I guess some of the magic of the storyline, the character, the screen also plays a part. In the end, when one plays a character, the first place the audience looks to is an actor's eyes. During scenes in which there is no speech, we convey all our emotions through our eyes and glances. How we do that reveals a character's inner world. When I am playing that character, I show that emotion. It's not something I practice in front of a mirror. It is something that happens automatically. Now, because I am just Engin with you, there is no such emotion.

LH:Have you ever read what is written about you and said, "Wow, I never knew that I was loved this much?"

Engin:I can tell you that I am really shocked and that it makes me happy. It's something that gives one a lot of joy. Forget being an actor, even if a friend of a friend says something good about you, you feel good. Because they say this of some of my characteristics and my acting capabilities makes me even happier.

LH:It's been ten years since that contest. When the results were revealed, you had said in the following interview that you believed good things were going to happen in your life. To actually achieve what you dreamed of then must be a good feeling.

Engin:For me, the future is truly beautiful, not scary. I always think that tomorrow will be a good day. This isn't because I am trying to convince myself or a way to force me to think positively, either. This is truly how I believe. There may be things that we don't want to experience in our lives, painful things. Not to experience any tragedy or bad things is virtually impossible. But, in such situations, what is important is how you look at things, how you resolve the issue, what you gain from it, how you let it affect your life. If you look at things as a learning experience and view them positively, then things go that way. Negative things are learning experiences. There is good even in the most horrific of things, at least, that is how one must view things. Because of this, I don't really let bad things affect me very much, or obsess over such things. I dreamed of what I wanted for myself, and now I am living my dreams.

LH:If I understand correctly, you are not one who constantly plans or schedules your life?

Engin:There is nothing mathematical or scientific about what I do. I don't work at a huge corporation or bank. As an actor, I can't say, "this is what I want to do, this is where I want to be, and to get there, I am going to do this." Our future can only be directed by our actions and our lives. The only thing required to be continually successful is motivation. If you continue to be motivated then everything falls into place and you get to where you should be.