Sincere Statements from Kenan Imirzalioglu

Interview with Hankan Gence; Posted by Haberler.com on April 12, 2020

Due to the epidemic, we could not meet with Kenan Imirzalıoglu so this interview was conducted in a video call. Kenan tells us he is spending time with his wife Sinem Kobal at home, watching films of his favorite directors, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and Gaspar Noé, and reading lots of books. Although his days are calm, this year has been one of his busiest periods. He is the face of a brand and his face is on posters and billboards. He returns to the screen with a new series and continues to host and present the Turkish TV program “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”.

Question: There is an epidemic throughout the whole world. What do you think this virus tells us?

Kenan: It tells us about the fragility of life, that health is the most important thing, and that we can lose the beautiful things we have all of a sudden.

Question: What value did you understand during this period?

Kenan: Being able to breathe comfortably, meet our loved ones, and talk to people face to face.

Question: How does this situation affect art?

Kenan: Despite all the difficulties, art will find a way to express itself. At this time, people will express their changes and feelings with art in some way.

Question: Do you have fears like the time is getting longer and I can't do my job?

Kenan: I worry about social issues rather than individual concerns. Let this malady go from our country and from all over the world and let people get better. We all live with the anxiety that our elders could catch this virus. People come first. It doesn't matter about making that TV show or movie; it is about being human.

Question: How do you spend time at home?

Kenan: I care for my bonsai trees and flowers. We are in a pot replacement period. I change some pots and some get vitamins. I have a passion for music and collect records of the artists I love. Now as soon as I wake up in the morning, I put on a record and start the day like that.

Question: What are you listening to?

Kenan: Classical music in the morning. Then the rhythm accelerates towards Noon with Metallica or King Crimson, Led Zeppelin or even nostalgic music like Carmen McRae or Ella Fitzgerald. Then I either go to jazz or rock. I also do sports at home, watch movies, read books, and Sinem and I read poems to each other.

Question: Which poet’s poems do you read?

Kenan: We both love Cemal Süreya. We read Nazım (Wisdom), Necip Fazıl, Edip Cansever, and Turgut Uyar.

Question: Oh, you are a very romantic couple. How does being together at home 24/7 affect the relationship?

Kenan: Since I married Sinem, we have already spent most of our time together. We are used to being together between these four walls; it is very pleasant.

Question: Handsome, talented, successful and famous. How is it to be Kenan Imirzalıoglu?

Kenan: There are many advantages, some limitations, and also responsibilities with these benefits. You have to pay attention to every step you take. But its curve coincides with the line. I am at peace with the position I am in.

Question: You are hard on the outside. But when you laugh, you show warmth. You are unraveling. Can you tell you us about what we don’t see?

Kenan: This is the most difficult part of me; to explain himself.

Question: Let's go step by step. What is the reason you are always sheltered?

Kenan: I'm happy in my own little world.

Question: What makes you crazy?

Kenan: Unluckiness and injustice.

Question: What can you say that will surprise us?

Kenan: I am much more emotional than I seem. If I am very impressed by something I am watching, my eyes will fill-up.

Question: Don't you have a macho side?

Kenan: Maybe when I was in my 20's but this started to change in my 30's.

Question: Let's divide life into periods.

Kenan: In their 20s, people are much more confident than they think. My limits were sharp and my anger and loyalty were great. In my 30s, I started to doubt the things I thought and saw some things that I idealized that were not true. Life teaches you some things. In my 40s, the main issue is this: Rather than growing angry or sharpening the boundaries, how much deeper can you understand the people in front of you? Understanding reduces anger. My inward discoveries continue.

Question: What do you question?

Kenan: What kind of life did I live? What do I want to do? Will I be able to live as long as I live this? Actually, I got the first fruit of these inquiries when Sinem fell into my heart. Thank God that love turned into a marriage.

Question: You won your first title as “Best Model of The World” in Turkey. Despite this, we have never seen you topless in a role. Now main actors on the screen definitely have a habit of regular gym workouts. What connection is there between good acting and a good body?

Kenan: It's good that they pay attention to their physical side. But the professional actor does what the character requires. If he needs to be physically fit for a role, he gets fit. If he needs to gain weight for a role, he gains weight. If you just needed muscles, the best actors would be bodybuilders. Muscle is just a visual condition; what matters is how you give emotion.

Question: Do you agree that chemistry and libido between screen partners brings success?

Kenan: These seem to me like muscular sentences (laughs). If the screenwriters want a partner with chemistry, they write it like that and professional actors make it work. That’s what acting is.

Question: What is your biggest dream about this profession?

Kenan: On a Yavuz Turgul set, it would not be bad to hear the fresh brush of the teacher (laughs). Or it would be nice to enter the world of Nuri Bilge Ceylan. But even if these happen, the dreams of the player do not end. This is a bit of player cheek and appetite. I hope Allah never closes our appetite.

Question: Has anything happened in your career in the UK?

Kenan: Çagan Irmak offered me “'My Father and My Son”'. I couldn't accept it because I had another job at that time.

Question: You were born in Üçem Village in Ankara. What is the first thing you remember about your childhood?

Kenan: The smell of thyme I got when grazing sheep in the village, and those white lambs.

Question: Would you think you would be one of the biggest stars in the country at that time?

Kenan: No, I wouldn't have thought of it.

Question: While living in a small place, you earned a degree in mathematics engineering at Yıldız Technical University. Were you a hardworking student?

Kenan: Actually, I didn't win when high school was over. I was in adolescence with poplar wind in my head. My father gave me a farming course in the village one year – how is the soil processed? How is the fertilizer poured? How are the animals taken care of? After this year-long farming “workshop”, my mother decided to send me to Istanbul next to my brother (laughing). There is a saying that "Geography is your destiny". The issue is changing that fate.

Question: Was Istanbul scary?

Kenan: As a young man with roots in Ankara, I was saying I would finish my university and return to Ankara. But it is very difficult for those who come to Istanbul to return. A friend would say, "Istanbul is my paradise city, my city of insanity." Indeed, Istanbul is one of the rare cities where you can experience these two things.

Question: You have played characters that marked history in Turkish television. Say you enter room and in front of you are Ezel, Miroglu, and Mahir Kara. Which one would you hug first?

Kenan: I would greet all of them but I would hug Miroglu and say, "Without you, these friends would not be here."

Question: Now you are returning to the screen in “Alef” with the character of Kemal.

Kenan: Yes, the series will be released on BluTV in eight episodes. The characters I previously portrayed are worried about others. They were men trying to save their neighborhood, their father, their loved ones. The character of Kemal is not trying to save someone else; he is trying to save himself.

Question: What does the story tell?

Kenan: The character of Kemal has suffered a heavy loss; a hard blow from life. He cannot live in England and returns to his homeland. He is a cop. Due to the education he received, he looks at his profession with a Western head. His adventure is that of solving a serial murder case working with Settar (actor Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan), a man who thinks with an Eastern head.

Question: Earthquakes, virus epidemics, other disasters – what does the world we live in make you feel?

Kenan: I see the reaction of nature to insensitive people. Glaciers are melting and earthquakes and viruses are increasing. Whatever are we doing to this world! It is responding now. As long as we respect the society we live with, that respect will surely return to us.

Question: One of the problems on Turkey's agenda is violence against women. What do you think about women's rights?

Kenan: As I got older, I started to become a woman’s rights activist.

Question: How did this change happen?

Kenan: When I was in my 20s, I would say, "In this world, the male order is dominant. Men hold this world. How else would it be,” I would say. Now I know that there is serious injustice in these words. Men use their power to bully women. This is an issue that has not been discussed. We can raise our level of civilization not by suppressing women but by giving women their rights, and even by discriminating positively. I don't like the word "stretching arms for women". Our women do not need it. If we leave them alone, they will already get their own rights.

Question: Do you have any questions about bringing children to this world?

Kenan: I want this if God gives it. I say "Maybe our children will correct this world" for those who say "Is there a child in this world?"

Question: What do you think of being called one of Turkey's most handsome men?

Kenan: If you take good-looking seriously, it will be a burden. I prefer not to take it seriously because this is the act of God, not something I do.The late Neset Ertas had a saying: "There is only one thing that humanity can boast of, and that is their labor". I can only brag about my profession and myself.

Question: Were you always a popular man?

Kenan: I did not find myself very handsome in adolescence. But my friends at the university used to say, "Why don't you model?" So something changed then.

Question: Your height is 1.91 cm (6 feet 4 inches). Have you had difficulties in your life being so tall?

Kenan: When my height grew, I was a tall man who was still a little thinker. I would hit my head somewhere. In the past, shoes were up to size 45 and I used to put my feet hard. Therefore, my shoes always seemed small for a while and my pants were always short.

Question: Do you have a fake account. (Kenan İmirzalıoglu is not on social media.)

Kenan: Not at all. When I started to work, there was no social media in my life. I remain old-fashioned when it comes to social media.

Question: How much of a priority was your reputation when starting in this business?

Kenan: Although I was chosen Best Model of the World in 1997, I had already earned a reputation. Osman Sinav offered me "Crazy Heart" at that time. As a man who does not know acting, I would say it was not for fame but to fulfill my responsibility. I do not think that anybody's only purpose is fame anyway because it only brings you temporary recognition.

Question: When you become a good and popular player, you are billed for keeping a job or not. How true is this?

Kenan: False! A job does not hold only because of Kenan, nor does it sink only because of Kenan. This is a team job. The leading actors are locomotives, scenarios are rails. If screenwriters lay those rails properly, locomotives also pull those wagons along very strongly.

Question: What did you learn from this job?

Kenan: Empathy. Nobody should judge anyone without experiencing their fate.

Question: Your values have not deteriorated for years. What is the secret of not being driven away?

Kenan: My family planted seeds of conscience and common sense when I was a child. Fame really is a shirt of fire, Hakan. It will burn you if you don't realize what you're wearing. I always thought it was a chance for me. I remained calm and did not compromise myself. If you make those concessions, you cannot sleep peacefully at night. In my life, I have always thought of being able to put my head peacefully on the pillow at night.

Question: You are in your fourth year of marriage. What is the secret of this marriage without any negative news?

Kenan: While we were signing at our marriage ceremony, we took an oath and set off. If Allah allows, our lives will end like that. Love is very important, but not forgetting mutual respect. Not being me but being us and acting like that make everything easier.

Question: What changed after you signed?

Kenan: At first, we were concerned about entering typical husband and wife roles. Then, as we were both players (actors), we noticed this and immediately found our way. We've been together for five years, and we've spent 90 percent of that time side-by-side. We are very good.

Question: What is the most important thing you have learned from Sinem?

Kenan: Accepting people. I have learned to accept people as they are from Sinem.

Question: There is a saying, "The life of love is three years". Does love really change shape after three years?

Kenan: Its initial state is very difficult, sharp and erect. You cease to be you. It has to evolve to spread it to life or love is a waste of mind.

Question: How did it evolve now?

Kenan: We found our balance with deep love and respect.

Question: What are the effects on the relationship of being in the same job?

Kenan: I have been doing this for 20 years. Every time I start a new project, I feel helpless again. In such cases, it is a great chance for me to have a colleague like Sinem who gives me an opinion from the outside.

Question: How neutral are you when you criticize each other?

Kenan: Sinem doesn't hurt herself or me (laughs) but tells it to my face. We are clear with each other.

Source: Hürriyet Magazin

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