Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg's College of Fine Arts in 1994. His collaboration with Wueste Film also dates from this time. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, "Sensin - You're The One!" ("Sensin - Du Bist Es!"), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, "Weed" ("Getuerkt", 1996), received several national and international festival prizes. His first full length feature film, "Short Sharp Shock" ("Kurz Und Schmerzlos", 1998) won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: "In July" ("Im Juli", 2000), "Wir Haben Vergessen Zurueckzukehren" (2001), "Solino" (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Award s "Head-On" ("Gegen Die Wand", 2003), and "Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul" (2005).

Is a fan of Jim JarmuschMember of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2001Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005His wife Monique gave birth to their first child, a son (2 September 2005).His parents emigrated from Turkey to Germany in the 1960s.Brother of Cem Akin .Sometimes appears as "DJ Superdjango" in clubs.Two of his films were submitted for the Best Foreign Langugage Film category of The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV): Auf der anderen Seite (2007) (as director, writer and producer) for Germany and Takva (2006) (as producer) for Turkey (September 2007).Studied at the School of Visual Arts from 1994 to 2000.His father worked in a dry cleaning company, his mother was an elementary school teacher.Started writing short stories and scripts in his youth.