#EnginAkyürek: A Turkish Actor’s Global Celebrity

Carolina Acosta-Alzuru (2026). “#EnginAkyürek: A Turkish Actor’s Global Celebrity,” in McIntyre, J & Taylor, J. (Eds.) The Routledge Companion to Gender and Celebrity. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003290582

Abstract: Engin Akyürek is an award-winning Turkish actor who, unlike his peers, gives few interviews and did not have social media accounts until 2021. This reticence to be in the public eye contrasts with his widespread presence in social media, thanks to the intense activity of his sizeable global fandom who work tirelessly to heighten his visibility. This chapter centers on Akyürek’s fans, who identify mostly as women, their activities, and the gendered affective relationship between them and their admired actor. The study, located at the crossroads of celebrity studies and third-wave fandom studies, is based on a survey, in-depth interviews, social media analysis and participant observation. I focus on the fans’ role in manufacturing Akyürek’s celebrity, without losing sight of his manifestation of the other building blocks of celebrity culture: Akyürek himself, the media, and the celebrity production industry. This study suggests that Akyürek’s visibility, a key ingredient of celebrity, is largely the product of his fans’ labour. It also underscores that he personifies the celebrity paradox: for his fans he is both a ‘god’ that they ‘worship’ and, at the same time, an ‘ordinary’ man who they feel they know well and to whom they feel close.