Kenan Işık
He served the theater as an actor, playwright, director and administrator. 1996-2000 He was the General Art Director of Istanbul City Theatres. In 2005, he worked as a news presenter on a television channel. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? which he presented between 2011-2014. He became known to the masses with his television program. The artist remained in a coma for 10 years after an accident in 2014.
Vital
Kenan Işık was born in 1947 in Yeşilyurt district of Malatya. He was the middle son of a family of 5 children. He is the child of a retired officer from the State Railways. He started doing amateur theater at Malatya Community Center when he was a secondary school student. When his father died at an early age, the family moved to Ankara.
Işık studied high school in Ankara. As a result of Yıldırım Önal's admiration for him, he started acting professionally at the age of 17 on the Meydan Stage.
He completed his higher education at Gazi University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration. In 1972, he became an artist of the General Directorate of State Theatres. He retired from his position at the State Theaters in 2000. In 1995, he was appointed as the General Art Director of Istanbul City Theatres. He performed this duty for 5 years.
Işık performed in the film "Was There or Was There No Ivan Ivanovich?", which he staged at Bakırköy Municipal Theaters in 1992. The play was deemed worthy of the Theater Critics Association Play of the Year Award.
He served as the General Art Director of Istanbul City Theaters between 1996 and 2000. Between 2007 and 2012, he served as the art consultant of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş.
He wrote many plays during his theater career. He was deemed worthy of the Ministry of Culture's Best Playwright Award and the International Theater Institute's European Award for his plays Baby Sleep and The Woman Who Wasn't. He won the İş Bankası Game Competition with Behçet Bey's Sombrero. The play named Keloğlan ve Zülfüsarı was deemed worthy of an honorable mention in the Turkish Grand National Assembly children's games competition.
In addition to the plays he wrote, the artist has adapted and staged Tanpınar's Huzur, Karen Bilxen's 'Immortal Story' and Turhan Selçuk's comic book 'Abdülcanbaz'.
Kenan Işık has been a columnist since the 1990s. He wrote in Yeni Yüzyıl (1995-1998), Yeni Binyıl (2000) and Akşam (2000-2002) newspapers. She starred in the television series Dadı, which was broadcast between 2001 and 2002, starring Gülben Ergen and Haldun Dormen. He presented Star Haber between 4 April and 12 June 2005.
With the guidance of Osmantan Erkır, he hosted the television competition named Who Wants 500 Thousand (later its name was changed to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) starting from 2001 and became known to a wide audience. Işık, who participated in Sedef Kabaş's program on March 27, 2002, made the following statements about Turkish theater.
- ''Turkey has failed to become a culture and art society. Of course, there is great negligence here by both the bureaucracy and the artists; We could neither force nor they opened the door for us. As such, the society inevitably shifted from being a society of culture and arts. It didn't happen, naturally everything goes on in this chaos...
He fell into a coma after falling to the ground on March 21, 2014. It was learned that Işık fell ill in the sauna of a gym, lost his balance and hit his head on the ground. Işık, who was taken to the hospital unconscious and suffered a brain hemorrhage, was immediately taken into surgery.
death
Kenan Işık, who lived in a coma since March 21, 2014, died at the age of 76 on July 29, 2024, in the hospital where he was treated in Istanbul. His body was brought to Ankara 2 days later and buried in Karşıyaka Cemetery.
Filmography
- 1986 — Pain
- 1993 — Super Dad — Mahir Şehsuvaroğlu
- 1994 — Liberation — Kâzım Karabekir
- 1995 — Love in the Greenhouse
- 1997 — Hot Hours — Rıfat Hazal
- 1998 — Republic
- 2000 — Ties of Life — Himself
- 2001-2002 — Nanny — Ömer Giritli
- 2002 — Green Light — Ali
- 2002 — La Dolce Vita — Himself — Guest actor
- 2004-2005 — Dear Minister — Ergün Yurdakul — Leading Role
- 2005 — Love Game — Judge — Guest actor
- 2005-2006 — Troubled Sister-in-Law — Faruk Kahraman — Leading Role
- 2006 — Commander Emret — Himself — Guest actor
- 2007 — The Thin Rose of My Idea — Mehmet Ali — Leading Role
- 2008 — Instant View Show — Himself — Talk show
- 2000-2004 — Who Wants Five Hundred Billion? — Himself, Presenter — Show TV / Kanal D
- 2004-2005 — Kasa — Himself, Presenter — Kanal D
- 2005 — Star News — Himself, Presenter — Star TV
- 2005-2006 — Who Wants Five Hundred Thousand? — Himself, Presenter — Show TV
- 2007-2008 — Who Wants a Million? — Himself, Presenter — Star TV
- 2009 — The World is a Play Stage — Himself, Presenter — atv
- 2010-2011 — The Power of Words — Himself, Presenter — atv
- 2011-2014 — Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? — Himself, Presenter — atv
Voiceovers
- In 1979, he voiced Magnificent Durukan in the movie Memoirs of a Criminal Lawyer: Retired President.
- In 1990, he voiced Bulut Aras in the TV series Hanının Çiftliği.
- In 1990, he voiced Kadir İnanır in the movie Dear President.
- In 1997, he voiced Murat Soydan in the TV series Canısı.
- In 1998, he voiced Kuzey Vargın in the TV series Sırılsıklam.
theater plays
The games he directed
- Lovesick: Kenan Işık - Ankara State Theater - 2012
- Immortal Story: Karen Blixen\Kenan Işık - Istanbul City Theater - 2006
- Was there Ivan Ivanovich or not? : Nâzım Hikmet - Bakırköy Municipal Theater - 2000
- Lovesick: Şeyh Galib - Istanbul City Theater - 1999
- Peace: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar - Istanbul City Theater - 1998
- In the Waters of Doomsday: Civan Canova - Istanbul State Theater - 1995
- The Woman That Doesn't Exist: Kenan Işık - Istanbul State Theater - 1994
- Abdülcanbaz: Turhan Selçuk - Istanbul State Theater - 1993
- Macbeth: William Shakespeare - Istanbul State Theater - 1992
- My Ahmets: Necati Cumalı - Istanbul State Theater - 1990
- Yaşar Neither Yaşar nor Yaşar: Aziz Nesin - Istanbul State Theater - 1989 - Ankara State Theater - 1992 - Istanbul City Theater - 2008-2013
- Baby Sleep : Kenan Işık - Istanbul State Theater - 1988 - Bursa State Theater - 1991
- Mademoiselle Helsinka : Georgas Astolas - Ankara State Theater - 1987
- Afife Jale: Nezihe Araz - Ankara State Theater - 1987 - Istanbul State Theater - 1991
- Turkmen Wedding: Ali Yörük - Adana State Theater - 1986
- Such A Love: Loleh Bellon - Ankara State Theater - 1985
- Beyond the Taurus Mountains : Orhan Asena - Ankara State Theater - 1984
- Beautification of the Steppe: Nezihe Araz - Ankara State Theater - 1983
- A Letter of Recommendation: Ephraim Kishon - Bursa State Theater - 1973
- Strindberg Play: Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Bursa State Theater - 1973
Plays he starred in
- Wake Up One Morning Laughing: Necati Cumalı - Istanbul State Theater - 1985
- Three Sisters: Anton Chekhov - Ankara State Theater - 1982
- King Lear : William Shakespeare - Ankara State Theater - 1980
- That Beautiful Creamy Ice Cream Colored Dress: Ray Bradbury - Ankara State Theater - 1980
- Marius: Marcel Pagnol - Ankara State Theater - 1975
The scripts he wrote
- 1991: Smiling for Tomorrow
- 1991: Female Saints of Anatolia
- 1992: The Secret of the Stones
Awards
- 2016: 53rd International Antalya Film Festival - Yıldırım Önal Memorial Award
- GYTE Turkish Community, “Award for Using Turkish Beautifully and Effectively”, (November 2, 2009)
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 16 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- La Dolce Vita (2001)
- Dear Minister (2004) — Ergün Yurdakul
- Kral Türkiye Music Awards (1995) — Presenter
- Kurtuluş (1994) — Gen. Kazim Karabekir Pasha
- Drenched (1998) — (Kuzey Vargın Voice)
- Hot Hours (1997) — Rıfat Hazal
- Nanny (2001) — Ömer Giritli
- WRONG CONTENT (2000)
- Your Love Travels in the Mountains (1999) — Mızrak Ağa
- Troubled Sister-in-Law (2005) — Faruk Kahraman
- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2011) — Self - Host
- Republic (1998) — Gen. Rejection. Kazim Karabekir
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
📚 Source: Wikipedia
