Safak Sezer

Sincan, a father's introduction, and Haldun Taner

Erol Şafak Sezer was born on 10 October 1970 in Sincan, on the western edge of Ankara. The route into acting was a family one: his father, Polat Sezer, put him in front of Mehmet Karagöl, one of the founders of Ankara Halk Tiyatrosu, and the company gave him his first stage work in 1989 in Haldun Taner's Eşeğin Gölgesi.

He stayed in Ankara repertory for years after that, at Halk Tiyatrosu and at Ankara Ekin Tiyatrosu, in productions including Devri Yalan and Saddam'ı Kim Öptü, alongside translated Dario Fo. That grounding is worth noting mainly because of what he is doing now — the 2026 work is a deliberate return to the room he started in, not a first experiment with it.

Supporting parts, then a franchise of his own

The 1990s and early 2000s were spent in other people's films. He appears in Vizontele, in G.O.R.A. — which Box Office Türkiye credits with 4,001,711 admissions in 2004 — and in the Hababam Sınıfı revivals, where Hababam Sınıfı Askerde took 2,587,824 admissions in 2005 and Hababam Sınıfı 3,5 took 2,068,165 in 2006. Kutsal Damacana followed in 2007 and became the second series he would keep returning to, as Fikret.

The lead came with Kolpaçino in 2009, playing Özgür. It produced sequels in 2011 and 2016 — Kolpaçino 3. Devre sold 1,412,639 tickets — and a fourth instalment in 2024. Television ran in parallel: Bir Baba Hindu in 2016 as Ejder Ejdergil, then Türk Malı in 2017 as Erman and Eymen Kuzu. Gürbüz: Hadi Allah'a Emanet arrived in 2018 and Hep Yek 4 in 2021.

Two episodes outside the work are part of the public record. In 2012 he was taken to court after assaulting a camera assistant on the set of Alemin Kıralı. In 2013 he issued a public apology to the then prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for having taken part in the Gezi Park demonstrations.

The arithmetic of a franchise career

The recent numbers show a performer who still opens a film, with a wide spread. Kutsal Damacana 4 sold 1,147,111 tickets in 2023. Kolpaçino 4 4'lük sold 2,115,894 in 2024, his strongest result in years. Kutsal Damacana 5: Zombi managed 561,730 in 2025 — a sharp drop for the same franchise one year on.

The most recent release is Ketenpere: Dalavere, out on 9 January 2026, directed by Doğuş Onur Karasu for Poll Films and distributed by CGV Mars, with Sezer credited among the four screenwriters alongside Aydın Emre Ertemoğlu, Taylan İrfanoğlu and Ömer Faruk Küçüksüslü. He plays Kalender, a film producer who takes an investment offer from a businessman's wife in order to get at the gold he believes is hidden in the house, and discovers the trap was laid for him from the start. It runs 98 minutes and co-stars Uğur Aslan, Toygan Avanoğlu, Orhan Aydın and Aslı Bekiroğlu.

It opened to 66,956 admissions and ₺14,638,073, and finished its seven-week tracked run on 214,749 admissions and ₺45,953,863. That is under the 299,180 admissions Box Office Türkiye logs for the first Ketenpere in 2017, the film this one revives eight years later.

Twenty years away from a stage

In mid-August 2026 Hürriyet reported that Sezer was going back to the theatre after two decades away, his last play having been Şen Makas. The vehicle is Karanlıkta Kumpas, written by Ali Erkan Ersezer and directed by Ebru Kara, with set and costume by Candan Günay and lighting by Kemal Yiğitcan. The company is eight strong: Sezer with Şebnem Özinal, Zeynep Kankonde, Özgür Özgülgün, Burak Alkaş, Deniz Oral, Ömür Arpacı and Bensu Begoviç.

The world premiere was on 29 August 2026 at the third Aliağa Sanat Günleri, run by Aliağa Municipality in İzmir province, where the mayor, Serkan Acar, thanked the company from the stage. Istanbul followed on 7 October 2026 at Trump Sahne in Mecidiyeköy, an opening night heavy with television faces; Erhan Yazıcıoğlu, who was there, made the point that theatre is what feeds film acting, and Ebru Şallı said the country needed the laugh.

Istanbul performances continued through October, including a date at the same venue on 22 October, with tickets from ₺1,400.

Komiser Aslan, and a format that needs the room

The premise is a locked-house mystery played for laughs. A snowstorm has shut the roads; inside an isolated luxury house a birthday party is under way; someone is killed. Sezer plays Komiser Aslan, the inspector who has to work out which of the guests did it — and the interrogation is run partly from the seats, with the audience putting questions to suspects, weighing what they are told, and steering which ending the company plays.

That makes it a different proposition from the films, where the comedy is built in the edit. Here the second half depends on what a given house decides, which is also why the production is sold on Sezer's name rather than on a script anyone can summarise in advance. It carries a 12-and-over age guidance.

Where it stands, late October 2026

As of the end of October 2026 the advertised run is domestic and Turkish-language. Ticketing lists İzmir's Bostanlı Suat Taşer Salonu on 3 November, Antalya's AKM Aspendos Salonu on 8 November, the Merkezefendi Belediyesi Kültür Merkezi in Denizli on 9 November and the Selçuklu Kongre Merkezi in Konya on 10 November, all at 17:30, with the booking window running to late December. Prices sit between roughly ₺1,000 and ₺2,000 outside Istanbul. No dates outside Turkey are on sale.

Critical coverage is thin so far — the autumn reporting has been local press and listings rather than reviewed notices, with the regional write-ups describing a high-tempo evening and an ensemble that drew applause. What exists in the way of verdicts is audience scoring: 4.3 out of 5 from 13 ratings on Biletinial, and 9.3 out of 10 on the listings site exdb. A fuller picture will have to wait for the November tour.

The screen side has not stopped for the stage. Ketenpere: Dalavere is his twenty-seventh theatrical release since 2000, and he now has a writing credit on it, which — together with a play built around his own interrogation scenes — suggests a performer taking more control of the material than the franchise years required.