Can Yaman was a guest at the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, held last weekend, from 9 to 12 June. After being mobbed by fans at the airport, the actor reached the event venue, where he had the opportunity to talk in-depth about his book and his association, Can Yaman for Children, for whose social commitment he received an award. Can Yaman was also the subject of a lengthy interview, which the actor published on his social profiles and which we reproduce below.
After being warmly introduced by the organizer of the event, Tiziana Rocca, Can Yaman gave himself up to a long interview, starting by talking about his autobiography, It Seems Strange Even to Me, on which he revealed a few details and curiosities. Indeed, when the interviewer asked the Turkish actor what prompted him to write an autobiography at the age of 32, Yaman replied:
"The book is about my first 24 years. I wanted to tell another side of the person I am, because the people who follow me fall in love or know the character I create, perhaps confusing it with who I really am, and when you do this job there is always the risk of not being known too well, and when you reach such popularity so quickly, people get curious: they look for you, they investigate, and maybe if they don't find information about you, they invent it.
When I searched for Can Yaman myself on the internet, I found information that was totally false, that did not reflect me, that did not represent me, and that bothered me.
There is very little information of the real person I am. Receiving love, affection, internationally, or doing something as drastic as changing countries and filming in another language, people then want to know about you, who you really are, so I wanted to reciprocate this attention to explain to everyone once and for all who I really am: the environment I grew up in, the teachings of my parents, what schools I attended and what difficulties I had, so that they could see themselves in me and identify with me so that my relationship with the public could be even healthier. That is why I felt this need to explain myself".
Can Yaman was then asked about his connection with Italy, which the actor never ceases to mention and praise as a turning point and apparently a true life leitmotif:
" I described Italy also in my book as providential. I grew up in Istanbul, which is a somewhat peculiar city because it unites two continents, and having grown up there I always dreamed of being a citizen of the world. I did not want to be defined only as a Turk. My mother wanted so much for me to learn other languages and other cultures.
I wanted to study Italian because it was more 'unique', I always liked Italy. The language, the culture, even at that age I was aware of how important it could be to learn a language, so I became Italian.
Then I enrolled in law school and later started to be an actor. I no longer spoke Italian for more than 10 years. But as I have already said, this destiny is a bit ironic: after years it brought me to Italy, and it made me shoot in Italian. All the things I did during my childhood paid off. That is why Italy is important. I don't know if it was by coincidence or the irony of fate that I became particularly popular in Italy, I wouldn't know about that.
Can Yaman recounted how spending time in the US helped him achieve his goal of becoming a world citizen, and also helped make him the person he is today:
"For my senior year of high school, there was this competition in Turkey at the time when horrible things like 9/11 had happened in America. They started this initiative of sending the best students from Muslim countries to create a bridge of peace. Turkey was among these countries [...] my school chose me and I went to America to study there for a year.
It was an opportunity for me to find out more about American culture and get even closer to my goal of being a citizen of the world. [...] It was one of the best years of my life because to this day, the things I learned from this experience still determine and define the person I am.
In the interview it is pointed out to Can Yaman how one word, in particular, is of some recurrence in his book, 'change', something towards which the actor said he feels very open:
"Yes. You can say I've had many lives, I've had many phases, ups, and downs. I have experienced many changes in my family, also in terms of my economic status, that is why I have had scholarships in my life. [...] In my book I talk a lot about how I was able to get various scholarships because everything for me was a struggle, a fight. For me every year was a competition. [...] I could also call myself a brave person because of that. Even to come to Italy: I decided it in one night, I got up and said 'I'm leaving'. The life I led in my childhood prepared me to be like that. If I had not done all the studies I undertook, I could not be so brave in making decisions today.
As for Viola come il mare, the Mediaset drama in which the actor stars alongside Francesca Chillemi and will be aired next autumn, Can Yaman said:
"For me Viola come il mare was a turning point, a challenge. [...] Even though I already knew Italian, I had to have a coach who prepared me, for three hours a day, it was a very important experience for me. We filmed for seven months, I was able to experience a set environment in another country and that is definitely a very important thing for me. I can't wait for it to air and to share it with the world".
Can Yaman and Can Yaman for Children
A video tribute to Can Yaman and his commitment to his charity, Can Yaman for Children was then sent to the question "What does Can Yaman for Children mean to you?", the actor replied:
"It means everything to me. What you have seen is just the beginning, we have very important plans for the children still. The job I do, that of an actor, is always to share. We share and transmit emotions, it is a continuous sharing. For example, in Viola come il mare, while we were shooting I was already going crazy because I wanted it to air: I wanted to see it, I wanted to share it immediately, and I wanted to have the audience's review.
Sharing is very important and even in these cases, I want to share my fame because God has given me everything and if I don't share what kind of person am I? I would be selfish. In my book I talk about my childhood, a childhood in which one suffers, in which one has difficulties, struggles, one fights. I believe that every child should have opportunities, if they do not have them it is not good. I created this association because I care about children having an opportunity. I want to share the love I have received, which I don't want to keep only for myself. I want to reciprocate, I want to do something and we want to do more".
Finally, as a closing question, the actor was asked how he could imagine a future autobiography and how he envisions himself in a few years' time. Can Yaman replied thus:
"I don't think about writing another book. I could because I haven't revealed everything, I have a period I haven't told yet, but in my book I explained what kind of person I am by giving people the opportunity to think like me, so that for example someone who reads a false news story about me can think like me and will understand, knowing me, whether this news is false or true. I wanted to give myself this opportunity. A future book I don't know, maybe in 10 years' time'.
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