Levent Özdilek was born in Adana in 1955. He grew up in a crowded family in the Taurus Mountains and highlands of Adana. Since Yılmaz Güney was a friend of his father, he was on the sets of all the movies he shot in Adana from the age of 7-8.
Yılmaz Güney arranged for Levent Özdilek to study at the Ankara State Conservatory. After secondary school, in 1971, Yılmaz Güney said, "Don't go through difficult and winding paths like me, you have talent, act; but get academic training for it, then let's walk together" and he enrolled him in the Ankara State Conservatory.
In 1976, he graduated from the Ankara State Conservatory. He started working at the State Theater.

In 1967, he started working in cinema with the movie "My Name is Kerim" directed by Yılmaz Güney.

He had an affair with Lale Mansur in 1998.

Levent Özdilek has been married and divorced 4 times.