Birol Ünel

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Birol Ünel (18 August 1961 – 3 September 2020) was a Turkish-German actor who appeared in German and Turkish films, television, and theater. He was born in Silifke, Mersin, Turkey, and his family moved to Brinkum near Bremen in 1968. Ünel studied acting at Musikhochschule Hannover and started on stage at Berlin Tacheles, where he led and directed the play Caligula. He made his film debut in The Passenger in 1988 and later appeared in Dealer and In July. He became internationally famous for playing the alcoholic Cahit Tomruk in Fatih Akin's Head-On, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004 and earned him the German Film Prize for Best Actor. He also acted in Hırsız var! and movies such as Transylvania, Seven Heroes, and Soul Kitchen. In later years his career was affected by alcohol problems, and he faced homelessness and legal troubles. Ünel died in a Berlin hospital on 3 September 2020, aged 59, after battling cancer and alcoholism.