
Cem Yılmaz
While studying at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of Bogazici University, he started drawing comics for the Turkish humor magazine Leman. In August 1995 he did his first stand-up comedy show in "Leman Culture Center" performing with no serious career intentions as a comedian. However, after the positive response of the audience, he continued his show to attract larger crowds in Besiktas Cultural Center where he has appeared in over a thousand stand-up comedy shows since, becoming so popular that tickets have sold for 250TL (approx. US$140). His movie career started in 1998 with a co-starring role in the comedy Everything's Gonna Be Great (1998), directed by Ömer Vargi, and continued with a role in Vizontele (2001), directed by Yilmaz Erdogan and Ömer Faruk Sorak. He achieved his greatest success by starring in and writing big-budget science-fiction parody G.O.R.A. (2004), also directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, which despite spending several years in production because of financial and other technical problems became a box-office hit and described by Rekin Teksoy as a strong sign that showed that popular cinema was successful in appealing to wide audiences. He maintained this success with a starring role in the comedy feature movie Magic Carpet Ride (2005) AKA 'Magic Carpet Ride', also directed by Yilmaz Erdogan, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 11th Sadri Alisik Awards, and his directorial debut with The Magician (2006), co-directed by Ali Taner Baltaci, for which he won Best Actor at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival and 12th Sadri Alisik Awards. He has since repeated his box office success with a sequel to G.O.R.A. (2004) called A.R.O.G (2008), also co-directed by Ali Taner Baltaci, and comedy Western parody called Yahsi Bati - The Ottoman Cowboys (2009), directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak. That same year, he co-starred, alongside veteran actor Sener Sen, in the police drama Hunting Season (2010), written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, and made a special appearance in drama Zefir (2010), written and directed by Belma Bas. After two years he also acted in Ferzan Özpetek's A Magnificent Haunting (2012). After he filmed his last stand-up comedy show CM101MMXI Fundamentals (2013) directed by Murat Dündar, he announced that for the next few years he will stop his stand-up comedy shows to have a rest. Along his professional career, he has won numerous awards and appeared in more than 4000 stand-up comedy shows, took part in 10 movies and contributed as a dubbing performer in 4 movies.
33
Films
15
TV Shows
26
Crew Credits
Known For
48 Credits
The European Side
as Himself
2004

Golden Butterfly Awards
as Self - Winner
1973

Golden Butterfly Awards
as Self - Presenter
1973

Tonight with İbrahim Selim
2019

My Dear Family
2008

The Water Diviner
as Sgt. Jemal
2014

Phi
as Himself
2017

Vizontele
as Fikri
2001

The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri
as Erşan Kuneri
2022

Kral Türkiye Müzik Ödülleri
as Presenter
1995

Iftar Soda
as Cibar Kemal
2016

CMYLMZ
as Self
2008
Behind the Camera
26 Credits
The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri
Director, Writer, Producer
2022

CMYLMZ
Writer
2008

CMXXIV
Writer, Director
2025

CM101MMXI Fundamentals
Writer
2013

G.O.R.A.
Writer
2004

Yahşi Batı
Writer
2009

A.R.O.G
Director, Producer, Writer
2008

Arif V 216
Writer
2018

GORA 4 GORA
Writer

Ali Baba and the 7 Dwarfs
Producer, Director, Writer
2015

Everything's Gonna Be Great
Writer
1998

The Magician
Director
2006