Bayraktar was born in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1975, into a family of Iraqi-Turkish origin. As a child he began performing in gymnastic competitions. During the final days of the Iran-Iraq War, a body double of Sadam Hussein visited Bayraktar’s schools in order to recruit boys into the army; when Bayraktar was chosen to serve in the army his family decided to smuggle him into Turkey.[1] He started working at the Turkish State Theatre after graduating from Hacettepe University in 2000.[2]