Biography
Kaya Yanar was born in Frankfurt/Main on May 20 1973. He majored in phonetics, American literature and philosophy at Goethe University, Frankfurt, but quit before graduation in order to focus on his blossoming career as a stand-up comic, and In 1999, he presented his first stage show at the Cologne Comedy Cup.
He later gained nationwide popularity with his successful TV show "Was guckst Du?": Between 2001 and 2005, he hosted 120 episodes of the programme and also starred in most of the skits, which made fun of clichés and stereotypes associated with different ethnicities and nationalities. Yanar himself appeared in recurring roles, including bouncer Hakan, Italian womaniser Francesco, Turkish patriarch Yildirim and Indian Ranjid. The show spawned several stage shows, DVDs and audio recordings, as well as the book "Made in Germany".
In 2001, Yanar received the German Television Award, the German Comedy Award, the CIVIS Media Award and the "Golden Romy" for Best Original Concept. In 2005, Yanar was awarded the "Green Palm", which was created by the magazine "GEO" in order to honour exceptional efforts for international understanding. Yanar was also the host of "Kaya Yanar testet Deutschland – die Multi Kulti Show", a programme on integration which aired in 2007.
Since January 2011, Yanar and fellow comedian Paul Panzer co-host the show "Stars bei der Arbeit" for TV network RTL, which also aired his stage programme "Die Kaya Show" in February 2012.
In 2008, Yanar played one of the leads in the feature-length TV comedy "Dekker & Adi – Wer bremst verliert!". He made his screen debut in the 2012 release "Agent Ranjid rettet die Welt". In this spoof of spy movies and Bollywood productions, Yanar again embodies several characters.