Cüneyt Türel was born in Istanbul in 1942. He studied at Istanbul High School for Boys in Cağaloğlu. In 1958, he started theater as an amateur. He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Sociology. Metin Türel, former technical director of the A National Football Team, is Cüneyt Türel's older brother.
Cüneyt Türel started acting in theater as an amateur in 1958 at Yeşil Sahne and in 1959 at Gençlik Theater. He practiced pantomime in a working group founded by Oğuz Aral. In the same period, he joined the Istanbul University Turkish Student Union Youth Theater. Here, he received an internal education at the conservatory level and also appeared in front of the audience practically. In 1960, when he was still a high school student, he participated in the Erlangen Festival in Germany with Müsahipzade's play 'Behind the Cage', and then went to Italy and participated in the Messina Festival.

In 1963, with the encouragement of Tuncel Kurtiz, she became a professional at the "Gülriz Sururi, Engin Cezzar" Theater in the play "The Game of the Mind" by Russian writer Leonid Andreyev. Later in 1964, she worked at the Lale Oraloğlu Theater.

In 1965, with the play Cimri, he joined the City Theaters where he worked for 30 years. In 1995, he left Istanbul City Theaters and played the play Sanat for a season in Theater Istanbul.

Cüneyt Türel sang a duet to Ajda Pekkan's song "Palavra palavra" in 1975.

In 1995, Cüneyt Türel founded the Aksanat Production Theater with Işıl Kasapoğlu and Tilbe Saran and acted in every play of this theater until its closure in 2007.

He starred in many plays such as "Yunus Emre", "Fatih", "Romeo Juliette", "Vanya Dayı", "The Cherry Orchard", "Wild West", "Curse of the Hungry Class", "Tartuffe", "Interview-Celebration-Call", "Caligula", "M. Butterfly" and "Art". He directed plays such as "The Leg Leg Factory", "The Little Prince", "Mad Honey", "Daughter of the Republic" and "Oedipus".

Türel has also worked in various cinema, television and voice-over works since 1979.

In 2004, she joined Kent Actors as a guest actress and starred in three plays. In 2007, she again guest starred in the play Dead End Street Children at Theater Istanbul.

In 2008, she was a guest of Theater Dot with the play "Karatavuk". Starting from 2007, her play "Rumi" (In the Blink of the Eye), directed by Robert Wilson, was performed in Athens, Warsaw and Ravenna Festival. In the summer of 2009, as part of the special project of the Istanbul Theater Festival, he starred in the play "The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness" directed by Amos Gitai and staged in Rumeli Hisarı with the famous French actress Jeanne Moreau.

Awarded the Avni Dilligil Award for Best Actor and the Ulvi Uraz Award for Best Director, Türel received the 1996-1997 Avni Dilligil Theater Awards for Best Actor and the 2000 Afife Jale Theater Awards for Best Actor for his role in "Abélard and Héloise", the first play of the Prodüksiyon Theater, which he contributed to the formation of.

Cüneyt Türel has a daughter, Elif Türel, from his marriage to Nükhet Turhan.

Cüneyt Türel, who had been undergoing cancer treatment for some time, passed away in the morning hours of May 1, 2012 at the American Hospital.

In 2012, Cüneyt Türel was preparing a show called "Elim Elinde" for the 18th International Istanbul Theater Festival to be held between May 10 and June 5. The artist was to receive the Honorary Award together with Başar Sabuncu at the festival.