Cansel Elçin was born on September 20, 1973, in İzmir, Turkey, but his family moved to France when he was 9 years old. He has grown up trilingually and can speak French, English and Turkish. He studied in the Ecole Florent in Paris where he was classmates with Audrey Tautou. He has French citizenship.

In 2009, he directed his first feature film, Kampüste Çıplak Ayaklar. In 2016, he wrote, produced and directed his second feature film, Melekleri Tasiyan Adam (Angel's Shepherd).

1999 Harem suaré
2000 Route de nuit
2000 Le coeur à l'ouvrage
2001 L'art (délicat) de la séduction
2002 La crim'
2002 A+ Pollux
2005 Tu vas rire, mais je te quitte
2005 Navarro
2006 Kirik kanatlar
2006 L'équilibre de la terreur
2006 Küçük Kıyamet
2006 Hatırla Sevgili
2008 120
2008 Cennetin Çocukları
2010 Gönülçelen
2011 Yalancı Bahar
2012 Kötü Yol
2015 Bizim Hikaye
2015 Where Atilla Passes (Là où Atilla passe…)
2015 Eve Dönüş
2017 Dayan Yüreğim
2018 Ağlama Anne