After graduating from Robert College in 1955, Cezzar was accepted to Yale School of Drama in USA the same year, studying there for two years. After acting the leading role in A. Strindberg’s Charles XII, he was invited to the Actor’s Studio in New York where he took the leading role in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Again in New York he played a part in F. Kafka’s Warden of the Tomb at Piscator Theatre in Broadway.

In 1959, he came back to İstanbul and played Hamlet at İstanbul City Theatre upon Muhsin Ertuğrul’s request, breaking a world record with 200 performances in one season. After the coup d’état on May 27th, he did his military service as a Reserve Officer-Teacher at Mazmahor village of Gaziantep and on his return got married with Gülriz Sururi with whom he founded the Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Theatre staging plays of leading and local authors. This theatre operated for 25 years without receiving any financial support; however had to close its curtains for the last time in 1990 due to financial problems.

Engin Cezzar was invited to State Theatre in 1991 and contributed to very important plays such as Budala (The Idiot, Dostoyevsky), Kadı-Bir Akdeniz Müzikali (Cadi-A Mediterranean Musical, Musahipzâde Celal-Ülkü Tamer) and Ayaktakımı Arasında (The Lower Depths, M.Gorky).

Among the plays Cezzar directed and played the leading role at the Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Theatre are Othello (W. Shakespeare), Midas’ın Kulakları (Midas’s Ears), Canlı Maymun Lokantası (Live Monkey Restaurant, G. Dilmen), Keşanlı Ali Destanı (Keşanlı Ali’s Epic, H. Taner), Ferhat ile Şirin (Ferhat and Shirin, N. Hikmet), Teneke (The Drumming-Out, Yaşar Kemal), Palto (The Overcoat, N. Gogol), Kurban (The Victim, G. Dilmen), Düşenin Dostu (Fortune and Men’s Eyes, J. Herbert), Hair (Rado, Ragni, MacDermott), Kabare (Cabaret, C. Isherwood-E. Cezzar), Halide (Bilgesu Erenus) and Kaldırım Serçesi (The Sidewalk Sparrow, Başar Sabuncu).

Engin Cezzar died in 28 Ocak 2017.