Vesa-Matti Loiri

Birthday: January 4, 1945 in Helsinki, Finland

Height: 183 cm

Probably one of the most talented comedians in the history of film making, Finnish Vesa-Matti Loiri has created a significant career as an actor, singer, writer and as an sportsman.Loiri's career ...Show More

Probably one of the most talented comedians in the history of film making, Finnish Vesa-Matti Loiri has created a significant career as an actor, singer, writer and as an sportsman.Loiri's career in movies started in 1962. Young Loiri had a leading role in Mikko Niskanen's film Pojat (1962), which brought him a Diplomat of Merit at the Jussi Awards (Finnish Oscars). After the film he didn't take any other film roles in many years, before his return at the end of the 1960s. From 1960s he has been playing mainly comedy roles.In the 1970s Loiri's films were often the highest grossing film of the year and he became "the only Finnish film star", as Academy Award winner Jörn Donner said. Loiri mostly worked with Spede Pasanen who wrote and produced most of Loiri's biggest films. Loiri's magnificent portrayal of Uuno Turhapuro, a lazy married man, in Spede show (1968) TV series was the start of the longest running film series in the history of Finnish cinema. He starred as Uuno Turhapuro in 19 movies, most of them were the highest grossing domestic films of the year. At the same time, he also played another comedy roles in films produced by Pasanen.Loiri became also a star as a singer in the late 1970s. His album "Eino Leino", songs based on poems by Eino Leino, was released in 1978 and it became the 2nd highest selling album in the history. During the years Loiri has recorded several albums, most of them earning him Gold and Platinum awards.During his career Loiri has won several awards for his work in films, TV and music business. In Brussels at Festival International du Film Indépendent in 2003 he was awarded for his role in Pahat pojat (2003). He has also won two Jussi awards for his acting roles plus three special Jussi's and several Telvis awards for his TV work. In music business 10 of his albums have been awarded for Gold and/or Platinum. Hide