Famous Finnish Media Personalities

Finnish TV host Sauli Koskinen soared to fame after winning Big Brother 2007. He has also been a reporter and blogger for Ilta-Sanomat and has hosted his own show, Saulin Paras Kaveri. The openly gay entertainer had dated American singer Adam Lambert for almost 3 years before their split.

Ilkka Villi is a Finnish writer and actor. He is best known for his work in the action-adventure video game, Alan Wake; he portrays the title role in the game. A versatile actor, Villi has portrayed a variety of roles in film, television, and theatre. He is also known for playing Niko Uusitalo in the crime drama television series, Bordertown.

Apart from being a journalist, Eino Leino also redefined Finnish poetry by including folk elements. His works include literary criticism in newspapers such as Päivälehti and Helsingin Sanomat. Most of his works were inspired by the epic Kalevala, while he also a pioneer of national romanticism in Finland’s literary world.

Juhani Aho was a Finnish journalist and author who received 12 nominations for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature over the course of his illustrious career. Apart from writing novels, Juhani Aho also wrote numerous short stories. Aho is also credited with co-founding Päivälehti, the predecessor of Helsingin Sanomat.

Career of Axl Smith as television-presenter was cut-short and he had to resign from his duties as UNICEF Good Will Ambassador when it got revealed that he covertly filmed his sexual-partners and shared a friend’s sexually explicit picture and a video in a WhatsApp group. He was given a suspended sentence besides an order to pay compensation to his victims.

Swedish-speaking Finnish journalist Mark Levengood has had a flourishing career in Sweden. Known for his books such as Solblekt av livet and Hjärtat får inga rynkor. A well-known TV personality, too, he has hosted shows such as Melodifestivalen. He is married to gay novelist Jonas Gardell.

Best known for his iconic Moomin comic strip, Finnish author and cartoonist Lars Jansson worked on the strip for 14 years. The son of a sculptor father and an illustrator mother, he became a published author at age 16. His work later led to the development of the Japanese Moomin animated series.

Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator and cartoonist Minna Sundberg was 25 when she became the first Finn to win a Reuben Award. Known for her works such as A Redtail's Dream and Lovely People, she is now devoted to Christianity and supports an online Christian bookstore on her website, Hummingfluff Studio.

Initially part of the Neoromantic movement, Joel Lehtonen later wrote on themes of social pessimism. He is remembered for his iconic novels such as The Amorous Cripple and his short story collections The Dead Apple Trees. He committed suicide by hanging, after suffering from various ailments.

Paavo Haavikko is regarded as one of Finland’s best-known authors. The son of a bookbinder, he began his literary career as a poet and later spearheaded Finland’s modernist movement. He soared to fame with his iconic poem Talvipalatsi, or The Winter Palace, and also penned plays, novels, and short stories.