Born in Istanbul in 1933, stage and film actor Kayhan Yıldızoğlu finished high school in Ankara. 

Yıldızoğlu grew up with art in his family; his mother was a master of the shadow play Karagöz-Hacivat and four of his aunts were Turkish classical music singers. While working as a foreign exchange commissioner at the Istanbul Foreign Exchange Office, he coincidentally met Muhsin Ertuğrul in 1957 and attended an audition, then he worked at the Istanbul Municipal Theatre for 27 years. At the suggestion of Süreyya Duru, he played in his first film, Malkoçoğlu, in 1966. He worked with directors such as Zeki Ökten, Halit Refiğ, Lütfi Ö. Akad, Duygu Sağıroğlu, and Memduh Ün. He usually played supporting roles in Turkish cinema, with many different characters in over 300 films, and dozens of television series after 1986, enjoyed playing "quality villains" from emperors to mafia bosses, and continued stage acting until 2015. 

Among the films and TV series he acted in are Malkoçoğlu (1966), Artık Sevmeyeceğim (1968), Kurşunların Kanunu (1969), Tarkan (1969), You Can't Win 'Em All (1970), Şoför Nebahat (1970), Üç Arkadaş / Three Friends (1971), Çiçek Taksi (1995), Eşkıya / The Bandit (1996), Yabancı Damat (2004), Akasya Durağı (2008), Little Lord (2014), Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu (2015), Arka Sokaklar (2018). He received the Lifetime Honour Award at the Antalya Film Festival in 2015, the Golden Sycamore Award at the Kayseri Film Festival, and the Cinema Honorary Award at the Sadri Alışık Theatre and Film Awards in 2018. He gave masterclasses at Sadri Alışık Cultural Centre. 

Kayhan Yıldızoğlu, who saw theatre as a school, embraced the power of communication and influence of cinema, and never lost the respect and love of the audience by saying ‘love should never be rejected.’