Cemali Gündoğdu was born in 1977 in Çubuk district of Ankara. After completing his primary and secondary education in Çubuk, he graduated from Uludağ University, Faculty of Theology in 2000. During his faculty years, he was interested in the art of calligraphy and attended the courses of the Ministry of Culture. In 2003, he took thuluth and naskh lessons from calligrapher Kadir Sakoğlu in Ankara, and in 2007 he moved to Istanbul and continued his studies with calligrapher Ferhat Kurlu and in 2010 he was granted thuluth-naskh ijazah (authorisation) from Ferhat Kurlu.

The artist gave lectures as a master instructor at ISMEK and his works were included in various collections. He taught calligraphy at Üsküdar Hakkı Demir Anatolian Imam Hatip High School for five years. He is currently working as a teacher of religious culture and ethics at Atakent Selçuk Paker Anatolian High School and continues to give Islamic Calligraphy lessons at Dokusu Art Workshop.