YUSUF

Born in İzmit in 1983. He studied Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University and Philosophy at Anadolu University. He attended Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Cinema as a guest student, and during this period, he worked as an actor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor in many short films. He worked in the crew of Zeki Demirkubuz’s film 'Envy'. He took theater and drama lessons from Ali Kırkar and acted in the 'Mozaik' theater troupe. He performed in the plays 'Teklif' (The Proposal), 'Ali Loves Ayşe', 'Rumuz Goncagül', and 'Kadınlık Bizde Kalsın.'
He directed the short films 'Nezarethane' and 'Şenliğimiz Var' which was a finalist at the Poland International Film Festival and official selection at Lulea International Film Festival. He directed the creative documentary Movement Museum: 'Dansistanbul' and the documentary Aladağ: 'Bir Yürek Yangını'.
With the Aladağ documentary, he received the Special Jury Award at the Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. It was also screened in special selections at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, Polish International Film Festival, Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival, Luleå International Film Festival, Cine Paris Film Festival, and Stockholm City Film Festival. He wrote the screenplay of the feature film 'Fire'. He worked as cinematographer and editor of the feature film 'A Day of Love'. He directed the theater plays 'Toros Monster', 'Diary of a Madman', and 'Perfect World'
In 2014, he founded the Independent Cinema Collective Turkey, and worked at Ayla Algan Workshop, Theater Research Laboratory, Istanbul Drama Art Academy, Deep Martial Arts Academy, Pera Performances, and Hata Yapım Atölyesi, where he taught acting in front of the camera and conducted studies on acting theories. He has been an acting coach for many cinema and TV actors. He also plays guitar and banjo in the Uninvited Jazz Band.