Trivia

Grew up in the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz.

Has a degree in architecture from the University of Munich.

In 1996, he and Florian Simbeck created the comedy duo "Erkan und Stefan", two yobs living in a Munich suburb and speaking their neighborhood's typical Bavarian-Turkish slang, for a show on Radio NRJ Munich. As the audience loved the characters, they successfully performed their program on stage. After graduating from university, the comedians became popular nationwide due to their first movie Erkan & Stefan (2000) directed by Michael Herbig.

After he and Florian Simbeck aka John Friedmann and Florian Simbeck uncovered their true identities in a TV interview for the first time on 2 December 2005, Friedmann announced that he wanted to be a "serious" actor in the future (19 February 2007).

Romantically linked to Bettina Zimmermann (2002).

The character Erkan Maria Moosleitner was born on 24 December 1979 in Munich as son of Bruce Moosleitner, which refers to Bruce Boxleitner, and his wife Ayse. Even on imdb.com, the actor's faked date of birth was added, until he had uncovered his true identity.