Ata Demirer

Ata Demirer (born 6 July 1972) is a Turkish filmmaker, stand-up comedian, actor, and musician. He is known for his live comedy sketches as well as for writing and starring in a string of Turkish box-office hits including Eyyvah Eyvah (2010), Eyyvah Eyvah 2 (2011), Berlin Kaplanı (2012) and hit sitcom series Avrupa Yakası. Biography His maternal family is of Meskherian Turk descent. His paternal family is of Albanian descent.Demirer, who demonstrated a talent for singing and music at an early age, studied at Bursa Boys' High School before transferring in his final year and graduating with honours from Çelebi Mehmet High School. After leaving school he found work, with the help of his brothers, as a night club pianist. In 1991, he moved to Istanbul after being accepted on Turkish music department of State Conservatory of Istanbul Technical University. During his studies he started performing stand-up in bars and befriended Gökhan Semiz of Turkish comedy troop Vitamin Group and sang on their single Turkish Cowboys. His first professional performances were organised with the assistance of E.Ş.EK Theatre Group founder Uğur Uludağ and while performing in musical theater with the group in Assos he was offered the lead role in the 1995 production of Funny Money (Komik Para) at the Dormen Theatre. That same year he also founded and toured with the Ege Kumpanya orchestral group as well as continuing to perform stand-up. In 1998 he impressed the organisers at Leman Kültür with recordings of his earlier shows and they staged his show Tek Kişilik Dev Kadro which consisted mostly of impersonations of Turkish celebrities such as actor Kadir İnanır and singers Bülent Ersoy and Emrah. After more than 1000 performances the show transferred successfully to television with Star TV's 42-episode run of Korsan TV (2001) written, produced and presented by Demirer. He subsequently joined the cast of Star TV's Tatlı Hayat (2001–04), the Turkish version of US television sitcom The Jeffersons (1975–1985) and began his film career, alongside future Eyyvah Eyvah co-star Demet Akbağ, in the supporting cast of Where's Firuze? (Neredesin Firuze?) and Vizontele Tuuba (both 2004). His greatest success came with a three-season run from 2004 to 2006 as the loveable Volkan in the popular Atv sitcom Avrupa Yakası, which also led to his first cinematic lead role as Güngör in Neco Çelik's Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika (2006).