He spent his childhood in Ankara until he moved to Istanbul along with his family. His family is of Kurdish origin. In 1987, he dropped out of his civil engineering studies at Istanbul Technical University and joined the On Duty Theater Staff (Turkish: Nöbetçi Tiyatrosu) managed by Ferhan Sensoy. He also became chief screenwriter at Levent Kirca's long-running television sketch show, Olacak O Kadar. In 1988, he founded his own theatre company, Güldüsündürü, and staged a successful production of his self-penned Suleiman the Magnificent and Rambo (Turkish: Kanuni Sultan Süleyman and Rambo).