Hilmi Sözer, born March 9, 1970, in Ankara, Turkey, came to Germany at the age of six and grew up in Tönisberg in the Lower Rhine region. He already started to perform at children"s and youth theatres at the age of fifteen. He then set up the theatre group "Theater-Expedition" and toured Germany with political plays. After finishing school, Sözer went to Duisburg in 1990 where he became a cast member of KONOMA theatre. Four years later, the autodidact made his movie debut as comedian Tom Gerhardt"s mate in the slapstick comedy "Voll normaaal", directed by Ralf Huettner.

After several striking performances in supporting roles in dramatic films like Theodor Kotulla"s ambitious TV crime film "Tod auf der Halde" (1995) and in Rolf Schübel"s racism drama "2 1⁄2 Minuten" (1996, TV), Sözer appeared in three movies in 1997: in Uwe Boll"s campus comedy "Das erste Semester" ("The First Semester"), in Ralph Huettners highly praised crime film comedy "Die Musterknaben" ("Cologne"s Finest"), and in the coarse comedy "Ballermann 6", again alongside Tom Gerhardt.

Although many movie goers associate him with his comic roles in the Tom Gerhardt films, in Peter Thorwart"s crook comedy "Bang Boom Bang" ("Bang Boom Bang – A Sure Thing ", 1999), or as Abahachi"s lover Hombre in "Der Schuh des Manitu" ("Manitou"s Shoe", 2001), Hilmi Sözer again and again proved his acting talent in dramatic roles in films such as Ayse Polat"s road movie "Auslandstournee" ("Tour Abroad", 2000), where Sözer played a gay night club singer, or the boxing drama "Elefantenherz" ("Elephant Heart", 2002). Nevertheless, it is Sözer"s biggest talent to bring out the comic element in dramatic films as well as the dramatic element in comedies, especially in his movies that are situated in the Turkish milieu, like "Kanack Attack" (2000), "Süperseks" (2004), or "Meine verrückte türkische Hochzeit" (2006).

By contrast, Sözer played straight dramatic roles in 2007 in the controversial "Tatort" episode "Wem Ehre gebührt", directed by Angelina Maccarone, and in 2008 in Christian Petzold"s drama "Jerichow": The film about a fatal love triangle sees Sözer alongside Nina Hoss and Benno Fürmann. Besides his numerous movie and TV parts, Sözer is cast member of the crime series "Ki.Ka-Krimi.de" on the children"s TV channel KiKa since 2006.