Boran Kuzum has spent more than a decade moving between Turkish television, cinema, theater, and streaming productions, gradually building a career that now extends beyond Türkiye. His international breakthrough came in 2026 with Netflix’s Big Mistakes, but the role of Yusuf is better understood as the latest chapter in a career that began with historical dramas and developed through films, digital series, and demanding character roles.
Born in Ankara on October 1, 1992, Kuzum graduated from the Theater Department of Istanbul University State Conservatory in 2015. Before becoming widely recognized on screen, he had already developed an interest in theater and performance. His parents were also involved in the arts: his father, Bora Kuzum, worked at Ankara State Theatre, while his mother, Fatma Zehra, is an artist. IMDb’s biography and ICON’s interview with Kuzum both describe the artistic environment in which he grew up.
From Economics to Acting
Kuzum’s route into acting was not completely straightforward. He initially enrolled to study economics in Ankara but soon realized that it was not the direction he wanted for his life. In his interview with 1883 Magazine, he explained that he discovered his passion for acting partly by experiencing what did not feel right for him.
The decision eventually took him to the Istanbul University State Conservatory, where he trained as an actor. That theatrical foundation would become an important part of his career. Rather than entering the entertainment industry simply as a television personality, Kuzum developed his craft through stage work before establishing himself in film and television.
His early screen credits included the short films Aşka Dokunmak and Bir Adam Yaratmak. He then appeared in the 2015 television drama Analar ve Anneler, playing Suat. The following year, he joined Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, portraying Sultan Mustafa I. These early roles gave him experience in period productions, a genre that would become particularly important to his career.
Boran Kuzum’s Breakthrough in Vatanım Sensin
The role that significantly changed Boran Kuzum’s profile was Leonidas Papadopoulos, better known simply as Leon, in the historical drama Vatanım Sensin (Wounded Love).
Kuzum’s path to the role is an interesting part of his career story. In his ICON interview, he explained that he initially had difficulty getting considered for the production. He continued pushing for an opportunity, eventually auditioned, and secured the part.
Vatanım Sensin ran from 2016 to 2018 and became one of the defining television projects of Kuzum’s early career. He played a Greek lieutenant opposite Miray Daner, with the show’s historical setting providing a very different acting challenge from the romantic and contemporary characters he would later portray.
The production also demonstrated one of the qualities that would become characteristic of Kuzum’s career: his willingness to move between different genres and character types. According to ICON, the series ran for three seasons and 59 episodes, with episodes lasting more than two hours. Kuzum later said that the demanding schedule made him reconsider spending years at a time on long-running television productions.
That decision would influence the direction of his later career.
Cingöz Recai and the Move Into Film
While television established Kuzum as a recognizable actor, cinema gave him an opportunity to explore different characters.
In 2017, he appeared in Cingöz Recai: Bir Efsanenin Dönüşü, playing Cüneyt. The movie was based on the famous Turkish fictional thief Cingöz Recai, created by writer Peyami Safa.
Kuzum continued expanding his film work with Biz Böyleyiz in 2020, where he played Emrah. The film brought together several established and younger Turkish performers and represented another step away from the long historical drama format that had helped launch his career.
His later filmography became increasingly varied, including romance, comedy, drama, fantasy, and literary adaptations.
The Protector and the Netflix Connection
Kuzum entered the Netflix ecosystem through The Protector (Hakan: Muhafız), one of the productions associated with Netflix’s expansion of Turkish-language original programming.
He played Okhan/Hekim Efendi in the series, appearing across its later seasons. The role introduced him to an international streaming audience and placed him in a fantasy-action production rather than the historical drama and romance projects for which many Turkish viewers knew him.
His filmography also includes The Way We Are (Biz Böyleyiz) and the digital crime drama Respect (Saygı).
Respect: A Different Side of Boran Kuzum
In Respect, Kuzum played Savaş Kaya, a character considerably different from the romantic figures associated with some of his earlier work.
The series, which ran across 2020 and 2021, revolves around crime, justice, and characters who operate outside conventional ideas of morality. Kuzum’s performance allowed him to work in a darker dramatic environment and further demonstrated his interest in playing contrasting personalities.
According to IMDb’s filmography, Kuzum appeared in 16 episodes of Respect across its two seasons.
The project also helped establish an important pattern in his career: rather than staying attached to one type of leading-man role, he increasingly chose shorter productions and characters that allowed him to experiment.
Doom of Love and a New Kind of Leading Role
In 2022, Kuzum starred in Doom of Love (Aşkın Kıyameti) as Fırat, appearing alongside Pınar Deniz.
The romantic drama follows a man whose professional and personal life has collapsed and who finds himself on a journey of self-discovery after meeting a singer at a yoga retreat.
The movie gave Kuzum another opportunity to lead a contemporary romantic story, but his filmography around this period was not limited to romance. He also appeared in Treasure (Hazine) as Musa and in the ensemble comedy New Year’s Eve (Yılbaşı Gecesi) as Togay.
These projects showed the breadth of his work during a period when he was deliberately moving away from the relentless schedule of traditional television.
Bihter: Taking on Behlül
One of Kuzum’s most recognizable film roles came in 2023 with Bihter, Netflix’s adaptation of the famous Turkish literary story associated with Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil’s Aşk-ı Memnu.
Kuzum played Behlül, one of the central characters in the story, opposite Farah Zeynep Abdullah as Bihter.
The role carried an unusual challenge because Aşk-ı Memnu is already deeply familiar to Turkish audiences through earlier adaptations. Taking on Behlül therefore meant entering a character that audiences had strong expectations about.
Rather than repeating the exact screen identity created by previous actors, Kuzum brought his own interpretation to the role, further reinforcing his interest in characters who come with an established cultural history.
Mucize Aynalar and Intoxicated by Love
Kuzum’s 2024 film work continued his movement across genres.
He appeared in Mucize Aynalar (Miracle Mirrors), playing Kerim Ongun. The movie belongs to the science-fiction/fantasy side of his filmography and offered another departure from the historical and romantic dramas that had defined earlier stages of his career.
He also appeared in Intoxicated by Love (Mest-i Aşk), playing Ala ad-Din Muhammad II. The production has a historical and Persian literary context, again bringing Kuzum back into a period setting while allowing him to work within an international production environment.
His filmography is documented across databases including IMDb, The Movie Database, and Beyazperde.
Thank You, Next: Boran Kuzum as Feyyaz
For a newer generation of international viewers, one of Kuzum’s most recognizable roles is Feyyaz in Netflix’s Turkish romantic comedy-drama Thank You, Next (Kimler Geldi, Kimler Geçti).
The series stars Serenay Sarıkaya as Leyla, a lawyer navigating modern relationships after the end of a long-term romance. Kuzum’s Feyyaz enters the story as one of the potential romantic interests.
His character is introduced as a chef with an appealing but complicated personality. He is charming and mysterious, but his tendency to disappear or “ghost” people becomes part of the relationship dynamic.
ICON’s profile of Kuzum describes Feyyaz as one of Leyla’s potential love interests and notes the contrast between the character’s appealing exterior and his tendency to disappear.
The show’s success helped expose Kuzum to audiences outside Türkiye. The series continued with a second season in 2025 and a third season in 2026, with Kuzum remaining part of the cast. Current television databases list him as Feyyaz across the series’ three seasons.
Big Mistakes: Boran Kuzum Goes to Hollywood
In 2026, Kuzum took the biggest international step of his career with Big Mistakes, the Netflix crime comedy created by Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott.
The eight-episode series follows siblings Nicky and Morgan after an attempted theft pulls them into the world of organized crime. Kuzum plays Yusuf, a volatile character whose shop becomes part of the siblings’ increasingly complicated situation.
Netflix’s 2026 lineup identifies Kuzum among the principal cast, alongside Dan Levy, Taylor Ortega, Laurie Metcalf, Jack Innanen and Abby Quinn.
What makes the project particularly significant for Kuzum is that Yusuf represents his English-language debut in a major American production. In Man About Town’s May 2026 interview, Kuzum explained that he had moved to the United States several years earlier, gone through the visa process, and begun auditioning there. Big Mistakes was among his first U.S. auditions.
The character was originally written as being of another nationality. After Kuzum was cast, the character was rewritten as Turkish, allowing the actor to bring elements of his own language and culture into Yusuf.
That creative adjustment becomes visible in the performance. In his 1883 Magazine interview, Kuzum explained that Yusuf’s angry reactions sometimes naturally pushed him toward Turkish, and the production embraced those moments because they added cultural specificity to the character.
Türkiye Today likewise reported that Kuzum spent years preparing for the move to Los Angeles, including improving his English, obtaining representation and securing a U.S. talent visa before beginning auditions.
Why Yusuf Is Different From His Earlier Characters
Yusuf is particularly interesting when placed beside Kuzum’s previous roles.
Leon in Vatanım Sensin was a historical military figure. Feyyaz in Thank You, Next was a romantic interest and chef. Behlül in Bihter was a character drawn from a famous literary tradition. Yusuf, by contrast, is aggressive, unpredictable and connected to organized crime.
Kuzum himself has emphasized the difference.
In Türkiye Today’s interview, he described Yusuf as a major departure from the controlled, emotionally driven characters he had previously played. He also noted that the character yells frequently, something he said was unlike his own personality.
The actor has also said that parts of himself inevitably appear in Yusuf. Speaking to 1883 Magazine, he explained that some of Yusuf’s reactions and gestures resemble his own, while the role also made him think about vulnerability and the emotional “mask” people can wear.
Is Boran Kuzum Married?
There is no reliable public evidence that Boran Kuzum is married.
More importantly, Kuzum has generally kept his private life separate from the promotional side of his career. Recent interviews with Man About Town and ICON focus extensively on his acting career, family, artistic background and approach to relationships, but do not identify a wife or marriage.
Some celebrity-dating websites describe him as single, but those databases are not strong enough sources to establish a person’s private relationship status on their own. For that reason, the safest wording is that Boran Kuzum is not publicly known to be married rather than presenting an unverified “single” status as a confirmed fact.
Is Boran Kuzum Gay?
There is also no reliable evidence in the sources reviewed for this article that establishes Boran Kuzum’s sexual orientation.
Searches of his recent interviews, including Türkiye Today’s 2026 profile, do not contain a statement from Kuzum identifying himself as gay.
Likewise, his 1883 Magazine interview and Man About Town interview discuss his career, acting, moving to the United States, Big Mistakes, culture and personal philosophy rather than providing a self-identification of his sexual orientation.
It is therefore not appropriate to infer his sexuality from the characters he plays, romantic scenes, photographs, fashion shoots, friendships or online rumors. A fictional relationship or an on-screen romance is part of a performance and does not establish an actor’s private sexual orientation.
From Turkish Leading Man to International Actor
Kuzum’s career is notable not because Big Mistakes represents a sudden beginning, but because it places more than a decade of Turkish acting experience into a new international context.
His journey moved from conservatory theater training to Analar ve Anneler, Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem and Vatanım Sensin. From there came films such as Cingöz Recai, Biz Böyleyiz, Doom of Love, Bihter and Mucize Aynalar, alongside streaming projects including The Protector, Respect and Thank You, Next.
Then came Yusuf.
In interviews published around Big Mistakes, Kuzum repeatedly describes the move to the United States as something he had wanted for years rather than an overnight career decision. He told Man About Town that he had already built a career he loved in Türkiye but wanted to open a new chapter in the United States.
His international move also meant starting again. Türkiye Today reported that he left behind an established position in the Turkish entertainment industry and rebuilt his professional network in Los Angeles.
For Kuzum, that transition has become part of the story surrounding his work. The actor who once fought to convince producers that he belonged in Vatanım Sensin was now auditioning in another country and another language for a Netflix production.
And that makes Big Mistakes more than another title on his filmography. It marks the point where Boran Kuzum’s Turkish career and his international ambitions began occupying the same screen.
