Berkan Şal was born on May 6, 1970 in Ankara. Turkish TV series, cinema and theater actor.
Name: Berkan Şal
Date of Birth: May 6, 1970
Birthplace: Ankara
Height: 1.77 m.
Weight: 72 kilos
Sign: Taurus
Eye color: Brown
Wife: Eylem Çalı
Siblings: He has two siblings
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berkansal/
Family: He was born and raised in Ankara, Yenidogan. His mother is a tailor and his father is a bus company operator. He got married to Eylem Çalı in 2012. “I grew up in Yenidogan, Ankara. It’s called the Castle. It’s a place where drugs fly and people get shot in the street. Three brothers grew up there. My mother was a tailor. My father had a bus company. When he went bankrupt, he entered the State Hydraulic Works.”
Childhood years: He worked in many jobs from his childhood, his love for acting started after high school years. “Nothing is difficult as a kid. Because for you everything is a game. He’s trying not to make you feel in your family. You are already in a suburb. You don’t compare yourself to others. I am proud that I grew up there. It is a situation that increases my immunity to life. I was probably the only child who couldn’t answer the question ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Until the age of 21, I worked as a peddler, selling water in the market, toilet, bodyguard, graphic design, DJ and tonmaister. Then I had a girlfriend who studied acting. I met acting and went to the theater courses of Altındağ Municipality. In the first year, I could not take the exams because I went to work as a bartender in Bodrum. Then I tried my luck again. I worked for 10 days and entered the Theater Department at Ankara University Language and History.
Education life: He left Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Theater and Acting in his last year. “The year I entered, 900 men took the exams. Only four men were taken. I studied up to 3rd grade. My means were not enough and I left school. I was working in the bar at night and coming to class at 8:00. After a while, when the teachers caused problems, I quit because I couldn’t keep up. Me because I preferred to make money from music and sound engineering before. I haven’t acted in 15 years. Such a rabbit was upset with the mountain, and I was a little offended. And that was the reason why I dropped out in senior year. “I stayed away from acting and theater for a while. I was more interested in music, tonmeister and dj. Then, when I got together with Erdal (Beşikçioğlu) again, I started again.
The turning point of his career: He worked in various jobs until he was 21, then he met acting with the theater courses of Altındağ Municipality. He won the Department of Theater and Acting at Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, but dropped out in the third year due to impossibilities. While continuing his life as a sound director, DJ and operator in various venues, his paths crossed with Erdal Beşikçioğlu and he returned to acting with a theater play at Erdal Beşikçioğlu’s insistence. In 2008-2009, we were running a nightclub with Erdal Hoca (Beşikçioğlu). I was the sound engineer (tonmeister) of the place. Erdal Hodja wanted to put a act there, no matter how hard I tried to escape, it didn’t work. A role fell to me. Since that day, I have returned to acting again. I had already read the acting school. I was an apprentice in sound engineering and tonmeister. I returned to acting after 15 years with Mojo, a act by Jez Butterworth directed by İlham Yazar. Then came the TV series “Behzat Ç: Bir Ankara Polisiyesi”. “
First step into acting: His television adventure began in 2010 with the character of “Akbaba”, which he portrayed in the TV series “Behzat Ç, Bir Ankara Polisiyesi”. This role made him widely known.
Personality traits: “I’m just an ordinary person like everyone else, I’m a stubborn person who just lost his heart to theater, I am extremely meticulous when it comes to my job even though I can’t be in my daily life. Actually, I am a person who loves to read, a little bored, a little shy, wondering what to do when not working, but when it comes to theater and acting, I am a man who is not burdened at all.”
Mindset: “Life is already a flow of emotions. There is no such thing as I came here, I cry, I went here and I laugh with laughter. The flow of emotions in life is never interrupted. Even if you are crying, there are factors that prepare you to cry, it did not occur all of a sudden. It came with a certain amount of emotion. After all, acting education is an education on this. That’s why we’re getting this training for him. You are trained to use what you have accumulated in acting when you need it. This is the gateway of acting to that schizophrenia. In fact, it becomes a very schizoid situation when you lose control of this a little bit. As I said, this is a schizoid situation for some. According to some, if you have received this training and made sufficient observations, if you have the ability to perceive and can transfer it to your own body, then this is what you have. “Wow!” everyone says.
First feature film: Serdar Akar / Behzat Ç. Seni Kalbime Gömdüm
His view of love: “We have been together with Eylem for 14 years. She was already my wife. We got married just because we wanted a baby. We didn’t have a problem showing legitimacy to anyone. We wanted to give that baby our last name. We’re thinking of having a baby.”
Perspective on business life: In his profession, he never had the worry of “the same role would stick to me” “Obviously, I didn’t have a problem with it. ‘Vulture’ is a very special role for me too, because he is my first eyeball, my first teardrop. So that’s my first job in front of the camera. In this sense, a very important character for me is the ‘Vulture’ character. Behzat C. So is the series. Frankly, I don’t have any concerns that the same role sticks to me, because that’s acting. Today they will adopt this role, tomorrow they will adopt something else, this will definitely happen. This is about my performance. Until today, I took part in productions that Turkish televisions are not accustomed to. I do this consciously and willingly because I am a man who has coded life to produce. In other words, the more and the more different things I produce, the more successful I feel. I also like to feel that way. That’s why I try to choose as many different characters and types as possible. I think the ones I’ve chosen so far have all been different from each other. At least it was for me.”
Career plan: Professionally, he always sees the theater as a priority. “The theater is always more important to an actor. Theater has always been important to me. Because I believe that the place where I can act best is the theater. Yes, I also work in front of the camera, but it is the theater that makes me happy and has a unity. Because you shoot episode by episode, it goes through a lot of stages. It is very difficult to find this unity in a place other than the theater. That’s why my first eye pain has always been theater, so I always keep it going.”
Concerns: He thinks that there is not enough quality work done in theater and television, and he finds this worrying. “Theatre is an expensive art. The costume, the decor, the stage. Unfortunately, together with television, theater is a situation that does not have much production anymore, but it is actually the main branch that feeds both cinema and television. It’s the core of the business. You can say that if there is no theater, there is no cinema, or you can say that there is no quality work in cinema or television. It is not translated, it is not written. Since people cannot earn a lot of money, everyone from this job has indexed themselves to television and the conditions of the day. If I write for television, I will earn money, if I write for the theater, I will starve. Do not think that yes, I write for television, there is no need for theater. That’s what people are wrong about. If there is no theater, here you see the state of television. But you do marriage shows, you make game shows. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m insulting, but I discuss quality. I mean, I sit with every channel and discuss this state of television. I don’t let anyone get up and say no, I’m fine, I argue, I even talk very harshly. I can go even to the king of the king. That’s the point. Education is a must.”
His advice to those who want to be an actor: “If you say acting, this job cannot be done without education. But master-apprentice, but elsewhere, but a university. Regardless, education is not good or bad. What you can learn is profit. What can you learn. Even knowing the wrong is a profit, at least you know what is wrong. I would say so. Otherwise, there are millions of beautiful girls and millions of handsome men in Turkey. There has to be a distinction between them. These jobs are not jobs made with easy money, but jobs in which billions are invested. You cannot say ‘I am beautiful’ and make a promise to a person. That person would not sacrifice their billions for anyone just because you are beautiful and handsome. A training will look for a data in you. He will look for a background on this job. Education is the only way. School, conservatory, tutoring. Education only.
Hobby: Related to music, playing guitar and drums. “I play the guitar, I play bass and a little bit of drums on my own. I already make music for myself. But frankly, I didn’t try to set up a group at all.”
TV SERIES
2010/2019- Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi / İsmet Arif Karasu (Akbaba)
2014- Reaksiyon / Ceset Tayfun
2016 – 46 Yok Olan / Salim
2017- Payitaht Abdülhamid / Hiram
2017 – İsimsizler / Hatem
2018- Mehmed: Bir Cihan Fatihi/ Toraman
2019 – Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi / İsmet Arif Karasu (Akbaba)
CINEMA MOVIES
2011 – Behzat Ç. Seni Kalbime Gömdüm /İsmet Arif Karasu (Akbaba)
2013- Behzat Ç. Ankara Yanıyor / İsmet Arif Karasu (Akbaba)
2015- Havva/ Father (Short Film)
2016 – Biz Bir Dolaşalım / Bekir
THEATER GAMES
2019- Koleksiyoncu / Actor / Director
2017- 1806 Laveyn / Actor
2015- Woyzeck Masalı / Actor
2014- Mezarsız Ölüler / Clochet
2013- Mojo