Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu was born on March 1, 1994 in Istanbul. Turkish TV series, cinema and theater actor.
Name: Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu
Date of Birth: March 1, 1994
Place of Birth: Istanbul
Height: 1.79 m.
Weight: 72 kilos
Sign: Pisces
Eye color: Hazel
Siblings: One child
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yigitcemuzmoglu
Family: He was born as the only child of English teacher parents. His parents separated when he was little. “I grew up with strong women. My mother, my aunts, my grandmother, her siblings and my aunt… A family that doesn’t fit inside of us, that we grew up with with our love. Men are generally secondary. Frankly, I like this situation very much because I learned how to drive nails, paint, wash carpets, cook various kinds of food, and use enough needle and thread to sew my patch from the women of my family from the Black Sea region. If it weren’t for them and I hadn’t grown up in so much love, I would never have sought happiness inside. I guess that’s why I’ll always call him.”
Childhood years: When he looks at his childhood years, he thinks that he is happy. “It’s not like a memory, but rather a feeling, a situation. You go back and forth and encounter the things you lived and thought in your childhood. Today, I am struggling with my inner child. My childhood, rooted in myself, does not want to leave me for a moment. I swam with Fenerbahçe Swimming Team for 10 years, I quit shortly after I came in third place in Turkey. Because I knew deep down that what I wanted was not to swim in a lane. After exposing my young mind to enough chlorine and sunlight, I decided to expose it to some literature and life.”
Education: Graduated from Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, Department of Acting. He traveled to Europe by train for three years, he worked on physical theater and modern dance in India and Poland.
The first step into acting: He started his television adventure in 2017 with the character of “Hakan”, which he portrayed in the TV series “Adı Efsane”.
Which project did he shine with? He attracted attention with the character of “Fatih Sultan Mehmet”, which he portrayed in the documentary “Rise of Empires: Ottoman”.
Personality traits: A very assertive, stubborn character, but also extremely perfectionist. “While preparing for the filming of Rise of Empires: Ottoman, I took my father, whom I invited to a coffee with Viktor Levi, as a prisoner for hours and read the entire script of the six episodes of ‘Ottoman’ to the dot comma. “My parents, who taught me English, have an undeniable role in my ability to use a foreign language so well. I wanted to play with a clean English in the documentary, but without losing the melody that Turkish fell in love with. I am playing an Ottoman sultan. I’m playing a Turk. I need to stay local. I was very careful not to detach that melody of Turkish from the language.”
Personal development: She is doing his master’s degree in theater criticism and dramaturgy at Istanbul University. He intends to take the job all the way to his doctorate. He wants to spend his life learning, he can’t get enough of learning.
Mindset: In his own words, ‘this world’ does not live. He believes in the importance of trying to die happy. “I just want to do my job right. I don’t mind being the biggest in the world. I’m not a very social person. I am not a person who can think and evaluate with today’s social values. I look at many things more animalistic. Many things are not right for a dog, he is fighting for it. Alpha shows his alpha or becomes a member of a gang and eats as much as he eats. He does not eat what he does not eat. He eats as much as he eats, and withdraws when he is full. Maybe the right is a little something like that. We can talk about right when we can be more equal. But I do not believe that there is a right in such a world order.”
His view of love: “My parents are separated. Growing up with a mother may have made me better understand some things about women. When I was a kid, I thought I got along better with girls, and it really was. They would sound more emotional and complex. At the time, I thought I understood my girlfriends, now I realize I didn’t understand anything.”
Source of happiness: He feels very happy when he runs in Beyoğlu in the morning. “Istanbul is a very difficult city. I’m still trying to adapt to this city. Sometimes you live in such a moment that the tiredness of the whole day comes out. You get on the ferry and drink tea, eat simit. If you are not busy with your phone, headphones, book and looking around, life can be so beautiful. Or I jog in Istiklal around 6-7 am, almost every day. I live in Tophane and there is no park around us. I’m running on that floating Istiklal. And at that hour, there are always people who stay overnight, municipal employees, as well. A very lively yet dead clock. I love. For example, there is a man running like me. We’ve been running together for a year, but we never chatted, we just greet.”
His outlook on life: He sees acting not as a profession, but as a way of living life in a different way. “We all have a social identity. We have our own identities. We have masks. There is something we cannot say. We have something to say. In fact, it is the thing that keeps people alive and clings to life: Trying to search for questions that you can’t say or don’t know the answer to. Because if everything is perfect, then nothing is good. If there’s a problem, you’re as present as you have the strength to uncover it, dig it up, make yourself better, and keep you alive. Likewise, I found that existence in the theater. I found it, I won’t say. But at least I can say that I understand that my search for existence is that way”.
Perspective on business life: He loves his job, making money is secondary for him. “I do my job because I love my job. Making money and being famous may be the result of my profession in line with certain factors, but I think there are easier ways to make money and become famous. Theater is as valuable to me as anything else in life, but not more valuable than life. That’s why when I’m on stage, I play with blood and soul to death. But I never kill myself. My dream for 10 years later; To be alive.”
Career plan: Wants to do a PhD abroad. I am currently doing a master’s degree in Theater Criticism and Dramaturgy. If I do a PhD abroad, it seems like maybe I can chase something there. Let’s see.”
Future Dream: While graduating from school, her dream was to open a theater in Anatolia and operate there. “But neither my financial situation nor my personal circumstances were suitable for this. I still have it in the back of my mind; I want to establish a campus where I can do theater research, where we can all go back to our childhood and play games.”
Role model: It sees actors who have both been successful and have not surrendered to the dynamics of the industry as role models. “For example, Keanu Reeves is one such person. I don’t know of course, but that’s what I saw. For example, Haluk Bilginer is a very big man. Still King Lear playing, game 120. I want to play too. About an idol… Haluk Bilginer is a very good example.”
Concerns: He interprets the current state of the theater as ‘too dark’. “Before this pandemic, things like ‘the golden age of theatre’ were spoken. However, it wasn’t. It wasn’t, and it never was. There were some things that were always popular, sometimes those popular ones were good, sometimes they were bad. So ‘Devekuşu Cabaret’ was good and popular at the same time. At the moment, I see the theater in a very bad condition, I see it very badly. So, of course, there is always a future, it is not clear what kind of future it will be. But the theaters are closing one by one. The state allocated an allowance of 12 million liras to the theaters. In fact, he gives this allowance not so that they can pay off their debts, but so that they can make a new game. On the other hand, they are able to control those games because of the allowance they give. As far as I learned from the Theater Cooperative, the majority of the theaters they gave were theaters established before these funds were issued. It is not only the actors who will keep the theater alive. As long as the audience does not realize this, the theater will hardly survive. So a lot of theaters will start to close. I hope people get the right awareness as soon as possible. Theaters have started in many parts of the world and they are actually playing. At least state, municipal support, institutional support, audience support and so on. But the state does not support you here, you do not have the financial and moral power to support yourself with the pandemic. What can you do when the audience is not supportive? We played in Freedom Park. The ticket price was between 20 lira and 40 lira. The capacity was full, but since Kadıköy Municipality was able to give us an allowance, those tickets were sold at that price.
The criterion of attractiveness in women: He finds outgoing and intelligent people strong and attractive.
TV SERIES
2020- Rise of Empires: Ottoman / Fatih Sultan Mehmed
2018 – Hakan: Muhafız / Emir
2017 – Adı Efsane / Hakan Şahin
CINEMA MOVIES
2021- LCV (Lütfen Cevap Veriniz) (RSVP)
2021- Kin/ Tuncay- Emre (TV Film)
THEATER PLAYS
2021- Hamlet/ Prens Hamlet
2019 Evlat / Nicolas
2018 – Kalp / Felix
2018- Salto
2016- Troas / Astyanax
AWARDS
2017- 21. Yapı Kredi Afife Theater Awards/ The Most Successful Young Generation Artist of the Year