Onur Tukel (born August 5, 1972) is a Turkish-American actor, painter, and filmmaker. A notable figure in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

independent film community, Tukel's films often deal with issues of gender and relationships.

Career

In 1997, Tukel wrote and directed his first feature film ''House of Pancakes''. His subsequent film, the vampire drama ''Drawing Blood'', was completed in 1999. In a 2014 interview with ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'', Tukel recalled that ''Drawing Blood'' was "the only time emade money on a movie." His next film, the comedy drama ''Ding-a-ling-Less'', was completed in 2001. In 2005, Tukel (credited as Sergio Lapel) also wrote and directed the comedy ''The Pigs'' about a group of middle age men who arrange to have their wives murdered. In 2012, Tukel wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the comedy drama film ''

Richard's Wedding ''Richard's Wedding'' is a 2012 comedy/drama film written, edited, and directed by Onur Tukel. Among the film's ensemble cast are actors Josephine Decker, Randy Gambill, Lawrence Michael Levine, Jennifer Prediger, and Tukel himself. The film ...

'', which featured such other independent filmmakers as

Josephine Decker Josephine Decker (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress, filmmaker, and performance artist. As of 2020 she has directed four experimental feature films: the psychological thriller '' Butter on the Latch'' (2013), the erotic thriller '' Thou ...

, Lawrence Michael Levine, and Jennifer Prediger. Despite an overall mixed critical response, the film was praised by David DeWitt of ''

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'' as "a slice of the

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and '' ...

and Richard Linklater life." Tukel's next film, the 2014

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and sp ...

'' Summer of Blood'', received a warmer response from critics. In a positive review of the film, Eric Kohn of ''

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' praised Tukel as possessing "contemptible goofiness" and being "the broke, post-9/11 version of an early

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

character." More recently, Tukel wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy/horror film ''

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'', which premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

on April 19, 2015. As an actor, Tukel has also appeared in the 2011 film '' Septien'',

Alex Karpovsky Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975)Rick PorterAlex Karpovsky - Apple TV ''Apple TV'' is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer and film editor. He is best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on the HBO comedy-drama series ''Gi ...

's 2012 romantic comedy ''Red Flag'', and ''

Ping Pong Summer ''Ping Pong Summer'' is a 2014 American independent coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Michael Tully. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. Gravitas Ventures acquired the distribution ...

'' in 2014.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tukel, Onur American male film actors Living people American people of Turkish descent American film directors 1972 births American male screenwriters Film directors from North Carolina