Sometimes they compared me to someone famous and I was flattered, but deep down I always thought that if I ever became an actor, I wouldn’t want to look like anyone: I wanted to be just Can Yaman, myself, not a photocopy of somebody else.
– Can Yaman
SEMBRA STRANO ANCHE A ME | CAN YAMAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Rewinding the thread of memories, it goes back to the distant days of childhood and the tumultuous days of youth to tell everything that happened before popularity. The bond with the family and the economic difficulties, the years of study and the relationship with women: a story that Can is not afraid to reveal, the chiaroscuro of an extraordinary and complicated life at the same time. An unpublished, true and surprising portrait that tells the story of a man, and not the successes of a star.
ABOUT CAN
Can Yaman is a Turkish actor who was born on November 8 th , 1989 in Suadiye district of Istanbul, Turkey. He is the only child of Guven Yaman and his mother Güldem. Even though Can Yaman was born in Turkey his family’s roots are outside of Turkey in the Balkans, specifically in the countries of Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. Some of his maternal family connections also reach out further into Europe, specifically into Switzerland.
Primary and Secondary Education
Can studied at Bilfen Kolej for his primary and middle school education till the age of 14. During this time both his parents gained financial stability, which enabled Can to enrol to the Italian High School, Liceo Italiano of Istanbul. The Liceo Italiano is a private school in Istanbul which focuses on languages, especially italian. Vast majority of the lectures are in Italian, but some are also in German, English and French. This language program has allowed Can Yaman to develop his gift for learning languages.
Unfortunately, in the first year of the Liceo, Can Yaman’s father lost his job and that created high level of uncertainty if Can will be able to continue his studies at the prestigious school. Can used his academic determination, will and focus to gain scholarships year after year in order to graduate. Eventually Can has graduated as the top student with the highest average ever obtained by the student of this institute.
In the senior year, following a set of rigorous exams across the country, Can was chosen as one of the 36 students, from almost 3000, for a foreign exchange student program to USA. Can travelled to Ohio where he studied first semester of his senior year. For second semester he returned to Turkey and thanks to accelerated program he was able to complete all requirements and graduate on time with rest of his year group.
University
Following the graduation from Italian High School, Can Yaman enrolled in the Law Department of Yeditepe University in Istanbul. Can Yaman entered the university with scholarship in basketball. Sports were integral part of Can’s life from early on in his life. Football and basketball were part of his earlier education and this university scholarship allowed him to continue with basketball as well as studies at the same time. Practicing sports has enabled him to stay fit in his body and law studies and its requirements for memorisation were very helpful to him later in his career as an actor. In 2012, Can graduated from the Law Department of Yeditepe University and started his career as lawyer.
Lawyer
Can’s career as lawyer started via internship at the internationally known audit firm Price Waterhouse Coopers. Here Can met his close friends with whom he later decided to establish private law practice which is today still in operation. Here Can focused on work in the area of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and took on writing articles for tax section of Dunya newspaper as well as started acting classes in order to improve his performance as lawyer at court. It was during this time that realisation came to him that he did not want to be stuck in the life of 9-5 office hours and dressed every day in the suit. After summer annual leave in Bodrum Can decided not to come back to the job.
Meeting Manager and new career as actor.
During the faithful summer break in Bodrum Can has met his acting managers Cuneyt Sayil and Ilker Bilgi. Mr Cuneyt owns an acting school and if was there where Can started to take accelerated acting classes in order to audition in TV series. In a short space of time, Can was auditioning for his first TV series family drama “Gonul Isleri”.
01
EARLY CHILDHOOD
02
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
03
UNIVERSITY
04
LAWYER
05
ACTOR
History
New Life
During the faithful summer break in Bodrum Can has met his acting managers Cuneyt Sayil and Ilker Bilgi. Mr Cuneyt owns an acting school and if was there where Can started to take accelerated acting classes in order to audition in TV series. In a short space of time, Can was auditioning for his first TV series family drama “Gonul Isleri”.
2014
First acting breakthrough “Gonul Isleri” – Can went on to his first audition for a supporting character Bedir. The director and production company liked him, but he was too muscly and good looking for the role, so they asked him to go away loose some muscles, grow moustache and make himself a bit less handsome and come back. Can went away did exactly what was required and came back and was hired for the role.
2015
Following his first supporting role in family drama “Gonul Isleri”, Can’s talent has been quickly recognised within the industry and his next casting was into a male lead role in romantic comedy “Inadina Ask” where he portrayed Yalin Aras. With this role his fame in Turkey started to grow.
2016-2017
Can’s next role was a lead role in TRT family series called “Hangimiz Sevmedik” where he portrayed Tarik Cam. This series lasted 2 seasons.
2017
Next Can’s TV series project is the project which increased his popularity in Turkey as well as started his breakthrough internationally. The series was titled Dolunay, internationally known as Bittersweet, in which he portrays character of businessman Ferit Aslan. Here he acted first time alongside Ozge Gurel. Ozge Gurel has already had an established international fan following, especially in Italy, thanks to her previous series. She was the one who actively encouraged Can to start communicating with his foreign fans, especially italian, via his social media. Can’s ability to speak fluent italian has created a great wave of enthusiasm amongst the foreign fans who has started to follow him and the international fanbase of Can Yaman has started to expand. The series yet again lasted 2 seasons with last episode being aired on New Year’s Eve 2017.
2018-2019
Very shortly after the end of Dolunay, Can has signed contract with Gold Yapim for his next series Erkenci Kus, internationally known as Day Dreamer, in which he played lead male character personifying famous photographer and outdoors sports person Can Divit. For this role Can spent 6 months preparing his physical appearance, his clothing style and Can Divit’s character. This series was the door to an incredible international fame. Can Yaman captivated Turkish as well as international audiences across the globe and won numerous national and international awards for this series. Can Yaman became a worldwide phenomenon followed by millions of people. Daydreamer series was sold to and screened in many countries across the world and achieved record breaking audiences. Following the finale of Daydreamer, Can went to promote this series as well as his previous series across the Europe and appeared in TV programs in Greece, Italy, Spain as well as attended MIPCOM in Cannes
2020
In early 2020 Can had to undergo compulsory army service in the Turkish Military. Due to his profession he opted for the short 3-week service. In summer 2020, during the global COVID pandemic, Can embarked on a journey of shooting yet another summer series with all the challenges of what COVID pandemic has brought forward. He portrayed a character of Ozgur Atasoy in internationally acclaimed Series “Bay Yanlis”, internationally known as Mr Wrong, for which he received nomination for Best Actor in Comedy series in Turkey as well as being nominated for LATAM PRODU2020 award. At the end of 2020 Can announced his future work with italian production house LUX VIDE on the new modern adaptation of the classic TV series SANDOKAN.
2021
Due to issues caused by COVID pandemic, international series Sandokan had to be postponed to later date, but that did not stop Can Yaman from progressing in his career. At the beginning of 2021 Can collaborated with famous Turkish director living in Italy Ferzan Ozpetek on shooting advertisements for famous italian brand of pasta DeCecco and appeared in several TV programs.
In September 2021 he signed contract with LUX VIDE to appear in all italian, crime-comedy/drama series Viola Come Il Mare, internationally known as “Violet like the sea”, where he portrayed a character of chief inspector Francesco Demir and stared alongside well known italian actress Francesca Chillemi. It was an intense 7 months period for Can. For this series Can spent lot of time working on his italian diction with his private tutor. The shooting of the series ended in spring 2021.
During 2021 Can also worked on other projects outside his acting career such as establishing his Children Association “Can Yaman For Children Ets“, writing his Autobiography and designing his Perfume. All these initiatives are aimed at raising funds for his association and with that helping those children who are in need.
2022
In early 2022 it has been announced that Can will be the lead actor of a global international TV series project produced be leading Turkish production house Ay Yapim for Disney Plus streaming platform. Shortly after the end of the shooting of the Viola Come Il Mare, Can started his preparation for this very ambitious series El Turco which is scheduled to start shooting in July 2022.
The importance of the women of his life.
An important role in the formation and growth of Can Yaman was his mother Guldem and the grandmothers. During his speech in Venice 78, he thanked all the women who helped make him the man he is today.
Visit the Filmography section for details about all the series, awards and TV interviews.
The Filmography
PERSONAL PROJECTS
canyaman.it
Visit Can Yaman website, the only official source for its association and the safe purchase of the perfume “Mania”
