Bertan Asllani

From the stages of Macedonia to the sets of Turkey

Bertan Asllani was born in 1990 in Skopje to an Albanian family, and his first contact with art had nothing to do with acting. At thirteen, he was already recording his own songs in the studio he set up at home. In 2003, he released his first album, which brought him instant fame in the Balkans.

But music soon felt too small for him when Turkish production companies came knocking, eager to tap into his image and his ability to convey emotion. In 2011, he accepted a role in the youth series Pis Yedili. That shoot forced him to learn Turkish at breakneck speed so he could keep up with his castmates.

Music was never a plan B.

He kept composing for other artists while looking for roles that would move him beyond the teen heartthrob stereotype. In 2021 he appeared in Öğrenci Evi, and in 2022 he joined the cast of Gecenin Ucunda. His strategy has always been clear: choose projects where the soundtrack and the acting intersect in some way.

The Year That Changed the Board

In 2023, the actor landed the role of Alaz Soysalan in the series Yabani. It was a complex character that demanded a much darker register than he was used to. The audience responded with ratings that exceeded the network's expectations in its first weeks on air.

And the gamble paid off.

Because Asllani understands that the pace of Turkish television is relentless, he prefers to focus on the technical craft of his characters. In 2024, he joined the cast of the Netflix series Kimler Geldi Kimler Geçti alongside Serenay Sarıkaya. In this production, he plays Cem, an architect who clashes head-on with the lead character in a plot of trials and modern relationships.

Filming for the first season of this Netflix series wrapped in Istanbul, with a production that managed more than sixty different locations across the city.