Barış Falay

Photo Source: kuruluş Orhan, Atv, bozdag film

Barış Falay (Real Name: Tarkan Falay) is a Turkish actor. He acted in Dadı (Adaptation of The Nanny), Aliye, Ezel (also: Kıvanç), Al Yazmalım (The Girl with the Red Scarf, also: Özge), Medcezir (Ebb and Tide, also: Çağatay & Aybüke), Paramparça (Broken Pieces, also: Simay), Menajerimi Ara (Call My Manager, also: Ahsen), Ömer (also: Merve), Yalı Çapkını (The Golden Boy, also: Afra, Mert, Ali & Cemre), Kardelenler (Snowdrops, also: Zeynep), Uykucu (The Sleeper, also: Elçin), İyi Adamın 10 Günü (10 Day of a Good Man, Netflix), as Şahinşah Bey in Kuruluş: Orhan (Establishment: Orhan, also: Alina, Belgin, Semih, Faruk, Cemre, Mert, Mahassine & Şükrü) and more.

Facts:

• describes himself as a blend of Bosnian, Cretan and Central Asian Turkish heritage, very much a mix and also the son of a civil servant
• grew up in a four-person family: his mother was a literature teacher, his father an electrical–electronics technician at TRT (and civil servant) and he had one sister
• has been married to Esra Ronabar for 19 years and together for 21 and says their relationship keeps getting better
  • however, being two actors in Türkiye comes with challenges, especially long TV shooting hours that make them miss each other
• has a son named Rüzgar Mavi, born in 2009
• has performed in 18 theatre plays, including Hamlet, Mahmud and Yezida, The Threepenny Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Black Comedy and others
• looking back on his journey from Edremit to Diyarbakır, Malkara, Ankara, Kocaeli and eventually from theatre to the screen, he sees someone who never stopped striving, someone who worked with determination to fulfil his beliefs and enjoyed the effort it took to become himself
  • says the most exhausting part of his journey has been adapting to a world where appearances have become more important than substance; growing up in a diverse Ankara apartment where people minded their own lives, he now finds it tiring to stay true to himself in an environment that often values the opposite
• was a playful child and his sister always told him he should become an actor, but he never imagined he could do it until years later, when he was working in publishing and joined a theatre group as a lighting technician
  • then stepped in for someone who didn’t show up and that moment became the start of his acting journey
• says his 20s were marked by rebellion and strong ideologies, but now he feels all “isms” go against human nature
  • turning 50, he expected his energy to decline, yet thanks to sports and healthy living, it hasn’t
• never aimed to live like a “star” he prefers to live according to his own beliefs and values, seeing labels like “star life” as meaningless
  • to him, everyone has the right to choose their own way of living and true artists must remain free
• says he likes to transform himself; where impatience once defined him, he is now surprisingly patient, though he still has flaws and sometimes draws energy from his inner anger
  • above all, he loves his family and everything else feels secondary
• he’s aware that today’s world prioritises followers and appearances over real substance, which makes it harder to practice his craft according to his own principles, since the system doesn’t reward that
  • though he excludes the audience from this critique
• feels the world has lost its balance and become overly judgmental, with social media amplifying labels, polarization and snap judgments
  • this pressure to take sides and “hand out verdicts” troubles him most, as it feels neither humane nor meaningful
• if he could change one thing, it would be ending all forms of discrimination
• believes the industry is absolutely valuable, built over the years by hardworking actors, writers, directors and visionary producers, transforming Türkiye from watching foreign series to exporting its own worldwide
  • still, he finds the working conditions, long episode durations and lack of royalties deeply unfair, stressing that these issues urgently need to be fixed