Mahir Günşiray

Mahir Günşiray was born on August 10, 1960 in Istanbul. He started to show his talents at a young age when he stepped into both the stage and screen worlds. While he is known as the founder of Theater Oyunevi, he also portrayed unforgettable characters in cinema and television. He became widely known for his performances in productions such as Deaf Room, Bıçak Ridge, Hanının Çiftliği and Fazilet Hanım and Daughters.

Günşiray, who spent her childhood years on film sets under the influence of her father, had her first acting experience at the age of five in the movie Oğlumoğum. His father Orhan Günşiray and Filiz Akın were among the players in the same squad. The artist, who completed his high school education in hotel management, worked as a bellboy at the Sheraton hotel and then worked in different jobs such as encyclopedia marketing and DJ.

With the offer he received while working as a DJ, he stepped into film acting and starred in the 1979 movie Bebek. After this experience, he took the conservatory exams and studied at Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory Theater Department.

Günşiray, who completed his master's degree abroad at Leeds University, The Workshop Theatre, also obtained a proficiency degree in performing and visual arts at Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts. He started teaching at various universities and private institutions since 1987. He took part as an actor in different platforms such as Bursa State Theatre, Istanbul State Theatre, Theater Studio and Theater an der Ruhr in Germany.

In 1996, he founded the Theater Oyunevi with artists such as Ayşe Selen, Claude Leon, Çetin Sarıkartal, Selim Birsel, Şehsuvar Aktaş, Taner Birsel and Turgay Erdener, who came together for Brecht's play Adam is Adam. He staged many plays as both actor and director at the Istanbul Art Center at Anarat Hığutyun School, which was the first address of the Theater Oyunevi.

At the same time, he staged the five plays he chose in response to Amnesty International's call for plays with the theme of "theatre against forgetting" in 1996, at the Theater Playhouse in 2002 under the name Unutmak, and was deemed worthy of the Ankara Art Institution's Best Director Award for this work.

Productions in which he took part

He took part in 33 productions in total; 12 of the most well-known are listed.

• Strawberry Scent (2015) — Nihat
• Fazilet Hanım and Her Daughters (2017) — Hazım Egemen
• The Lady's Farm (2009)
• Şahmaran (2023) — Ural
• Heartache (2021) — Adnan Sancakzade
• Lost Years (2006) — Şeref
• Winter Sun (2016) — Mazhar
• Rookie (2003) — Taner
• İffet (2011) — Ali İhsan
• Urfalıyam From Eternity (2014)
• I Miss You So Much (2005) — Günther
• Sağır Oda (2006) — Girayhan Kırımlı

Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.