- Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (born December 24, 1943, in Helsinki, Finland) is the President of Finland. She began her first term of office in 2000 and was re-elected on January 29, 2006. Her current term expires in 2012. She is the eleventh President of Finland and the first woman to hold the office. She married her long time cohabitator, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, after she was elected President for the first term.
- Ville Valo
Ville Hermanni Valo (born November 22, 1976) is the vocalist, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. They have released five full length albums, and as of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the United States.
- Mika Waltari
Mika Toimi Waltari (September 19, 1908 – August 26, 1979) was a Finnish historical novelist, best known for his magnum opus "The Egyptian" ("Sinuhe egyptiläinen" in Finnish)
- Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds ; born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland, is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the development of the Linux kernel. He now acts as the project's coordinator. Linus was inspired by Minix (an operating system developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum) to develop a capable Unix-like operating system that could be run on a PC. Linux now also runs on many other architectures.
- Kari Lehtonen
Kari Lehtonen (born November 16, 1983 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender. He was drafted 2nd overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers. In 2001, as the youngest goalie in the SM-liiga, he earned the league's playoff MVP award, while he was playing for Jokerit. During the 2003-2004 NHL season he played four games for the Thrashers, winning all four of them and posting one shutout.
- Tove Jansson
Tove Marika Jansson was a Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She is the author of, among other works, the Moomin books.
- Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. June 30 1958) is a prominent Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP), the orchestra with which he made his US debut in 1984.
- Ismo Alanko
Ismo Kullervo Alanko (born November 12, 1960, Helsinki, Finland) is a popular Finnish rock singer/songwriter. Raised in Joensuu, Finland, he catapulted to fame in 1980 in a band called Hassisen Kone ("Hassinen's Machine", after a local sewing machine shop), which won the Finnish championship in a band competition. In the year 1982, the band started experiencing internal problems and broke up. Alanko started a new band called Sielun Veljet ("Brothers of Soul").
- Steen1
Steen1 (Seppo Lampela) (born 1976 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish rap musician. He originally chose Steen Christensen, the name of a Danish criminal, as his moniker, but changed it due to controversy. In 2004 Steen1 released his debut album entitled "Salaliittoteoria" ("Conspiracy Theory"). In September, 2005 his second full-length, "Varasta pomolta" ("Steal from the Boss") was released.
- Einojuhani Rautavaara
Einojuhani Rautavaara (born October 9, 1928) is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is probably the best-known Finnish composer of his generation.
- Helene Schjerfbeck
Helene Schjerfbeck was a Finnish artist who has made her place in art history with her painting talent. Schjerfbeck’s art paved the way for many other female artists. Throughout her eighty-three years of life her work changed dramatically. <blockquote>"Her work starts with a dazzlingly skilled, somewhat melancholic version of late-19th-century academic realism…it ends with distilled, …
- Lauri Ylönen
Lauri Johannes Ylönen is the frontman of the Finnish alternative rock band The Rasmus.
- Jari Kurri
Jari Pekka Kurri (born May 18 1960, in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey right winger. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. During his career in the NHL he played for the Edmonton Oilers, L.A. Kings, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He began his pro career with Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga, played his first nine and a half NHL seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, …
- Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe (Matti Fagerholm, born June 17, 1962 in Helsinki) is a Finnish rock musician. He is best known as the singer for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, but was also the front man for Demolition 23. Monroe has recorded duets with both Axl Rose and Slash from Guns N' Roses. The song "Dead, Jail Or Rock'n'Roll" from Monroe's 1989 solo album Not Fakin' It had some popularity and aired on MTV.
- Alexander Stubb
Alexander Stubb (born on 1 April 1968 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the National Coalition Party, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control and its Committee on Constitutional Affairs. He received the second highest number of votes of any parliamentarian in the 2004 EU election (115,224 votes).
- Mika Salo
Mika Juhani Salo (born November 30, 1966 in Helsinki) is a Finnish former Formula One driver. His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999 and 2000.
- Toni Hallio
Toni Hallio is the former drummer for and one of the founding members of melodic death metal band Norther. He left the band in October 2005.
- Maija Vilkkumaa
Maija Johanna Vilkkumaa (born November 9 1973 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish rock/pop singer and songwriter.
- Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer. Lindberg was born in Helsinki. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen, beginning with piano. He attended summer courses in Siena (with Franco Donatoni) and Darmstadt (with Brian Ferneyhough). After graduating from the Sibelius Academy in 1981 he travelled widely in Europe, attending private studies with Vinko Globokar and Gérard Grisey in Paris, …
- Kaija Saariaho
Kaija Saariaho is a Finnish composer. Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, from the mid-nineties she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, …
- Teemu Selänne
Teemu Ilmari Selänne (the "Finnish Flash") (born July 3, 1970 in Helsinki, Finland), is a professional Finnish ice hockey right winger currently a free agent. Selänne was originally drafted into the NHL by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1st round, 10th overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.
- Jarkko Ruutu
Jarkko Ruutu (born August 23, 1975 in Vantaa, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is the older brother of Mikko and Tuomo Ruutu. In summer 2006 it was announced that Ruutu and his longtime girlfriend, Finnish model Niina Kurkinen, are engaged.
- Mikko Franck
Mikko Franck is a Finnish conductor, born in Helsinki. Mikko Franck is a gifted young conductor with talent that critics have compared to that of Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen in the generation before him. Franck began to play the violin at the age of 5 and by age 7 he reportedly preferred orchestral scores to all other reading matter. His first favorite score was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.
- Linda Brava
Linda Brava, real name Linda Lampenius (born on February 26, 1970 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish violinist.
- Esa Tikkanen
Esa Tikkanen (born January 25, 1965 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey forward. He played for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, and the Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League and won five Stanley Cups.
- Ragnar Granit
Ragnar Arthur Granit (October 30, 1900, Helsinki, Finland - March 12, 1991, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Finnish scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald. Granit graduated in 1927 from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki, Finland. When Finland became the target of a massive Soviet attack in 1940 during the Winter War (1939 - 1940), …
- Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Baron (Nils) Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld ], also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld (November 18, 1832, Helsinki, Finland) - August 12, 1901, Dalby, Skåne, Sweden) was a geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer and a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish "Nordenskiöld" family of scientists. Born in the Grand Duchy of Finland at the time it was a part of the Russian Empire, …
- Tuomari Nurmio
Tuomari Nurmio is the artist name of Hannu Juhani Nurmio (b. 1950 in Helsinki), a Finnish rock singer and songwriter.
- Susanna Mälkki
Susanna Mälkki is a Finnish conductor. Trained as a cellist as a pupil of Hannu Kiiski, she later studied conducting with Jorma Panula, as well as Eri Klas and Leif Segerstam, at the Sibelius Academy. She has also studied at London's Royal Academy of Music. She participated in a Sibelius Academy Conductor's Workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1998, under the supervision of Panula and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
- Pauli Rantasalmi
Pauli Esro Antero Rantasalmi is the guitar player of the Finnish band The Rasmus. He co-owns the record label Dynasty Recordings with Lauri Ylönen, who is the singer in the band. Together they have also produced one of the Finnish band Killer's album before they split.
- Eila Hiltunen
Eila Hiltunen (born 22 November 1922, Sortavala, died 10 October 2003, Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor. She is most famous for the Sibelius monument. A statue by Hiltunen resembling a smaller version of the Sibelius Monument stands on the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
- Eero Heinonen
Eero Aleksi Heinonen is the bass player of the Finnish band The Rasmus. Eero is a great fan of Sahaja Yoga and is a quiet and well-balanced person, but also well-known for playing tricks on bandmates and others. He is currently the only member of The Rasmus who is married and he is also a father of two. In 2004, he formed a band on his own, called Hay and Stone. He is the singer and bass player in the band.
- Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (January 15, 1895 - November 11, 1973) was a Finnish chemist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Virtanen was born in Helsinki, Finland. He completed his school education at the Classical Lyceum in Viipuri, Finland. Subsequently, Virtanen studied chemistry, biology, and physics at the University of Helsinki and other subjects in Switzerland and Sweden. In Sweden he worked with Hans von Euler-Chelpin, …
- Matti Wuori
Matti Ossian Wuori was a lawyer, Finnish politician and was a Member of the European Parliament for the Green League 1999-2004. He reported about human rights for the European Parliament 2000-2001. Wuori was the chairman of Greenpeace Finland 1989-1998 and Greenpeace International 1991-1993. Wuori died after a long battle with cancer.
- Elastinen
Elastinen, born 1981 in Helsinki, is a Finnish rap musician and also known as one of the founders and is the CEO of the Finnish independent rap label Rähinä Records. Together with his colleague Iso H, he forms the Finnish rap band Fintelligens. He has also released two solo albums, "Elaksis Kivi" and "Anna soida".
- Aki Hakala
Aki Markus Hakala (born 28 October 1979 in Espoo) is the drummer of the Finnish band The Rasmus. He joined The Rasmus after the former drummer Janne Heiskanen left the band in 1998, short after the release of "Hell of a Tester". The first song he took part in was "Last Waltz" from the album "Into". Aki originally sold band merchandise at their shows and joined the band after "jamming" with the guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi.
- Vesa-Matti Loiri
Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri is a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, which he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. Loiri became an actor in 1962, when he had a role in the movie "Pojat", directed by Mikko Niskanen. Loiri did most of his work with Spede Pasanen. In 2005, he starred in the film Kaksipäisen kotkan varjossa, which was directed by Timo Koivusalo.
- Jere Karalahti
Jere Karalahti (born March 25, 1975, in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings as their sixth-round pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Karalahti has played his entire Finnish hockey career in HIFK. He transferred to North America in 1999 after difficulties with his visa, playing the rest of the season for the LA Kings.
- Peter von Bagh
Peter von Bagh (born 1943-08-29 in Helsinki) is a Finnish film historian and director. He currently works as a professor of film history in the University of Art and Design Helsinki. He has written around 20 books about film and worked as a presenter for numerous television and radio programs about film and other popular culture. He is also the head editor of "Filmihullu" magazine. Von Bagh has previously worked as the head of the Finnish Film Archive.
- Yrjö Sotamaa
Yrjö Sotamaa, Professor of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design, has been Rector of the University of Art and Design Helsinki since 1986.