List of Famous people born in Finland
Sanna Marin
Sanna Mirella Marin is a Finnish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Finland since 10 December 2019. A member of the Social Democratic Party, she has been a member of the Parliament of Finland since 2015, and served as the Minister of Transport and Communications from 6 June to 10 December 2019. After Antti Rinne's resignation in the wake of the 2019 postal strike, Marin was selected as prime minister on 8 December 2019. At 35, she is the world's fourth-youngest serving state leader, the youngest female state leader, and Finland's youngest-ever prime minister.
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen, nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver currently driving in Formula One for Alfa Romeo Racing, racing under the Finnish flag. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One World Championship driving for Scuderia Ferrari. In addition to this title, he also finished second overall in 2003 and 2005, and third in 2008, 2012 and 2018. With 103 podium finishes, he is one of only five drivers to have taken over 100 podiums. Räikkönen has won 21 Grands Prix, making him the most successful Finnish driver in terms of Formula One race wins, and is the only driver to win in the V10, V8 and the V6 turbo hybrid engine eras. After nine seasons racing in Formula One he left the sport to compete in the World Rally Championship in 2010 and 2011, returning to Formula One from 2012 onward. He is known for his reserved personality and reluctance to participate in PR events. At the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, he broke the record for most starts in Formula One.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Viktor Bottas is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes, racing under the Finnish flag. Having previously driven for Williams from 2013 to 2016. Bottas has won nine races, three in 2017, four in 2019 and two in 2020, since joining Mercedes.
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen, nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He was the 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion, driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Formula One drivers from Finland to win the World Championship, and is the only Finnish driver in history to win it on multiple occasions. Häkkinen currently works in driver management and is a brand ambassador for various companies.
Teemu Pukki
Teemu Eino Antero Pukki is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Norwich City and the Finland national team.
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., the TWA Flight Center in New York City, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of noted Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.
Peter Nygård
Peter J. Nygård is a Finnish-Canadian former fashion executive. He founded Nygård International, a company that made women's apparel, in 1967. He resigned as chairman in February 2020 after FBI raided company headquarters in its investigation of sex trafficking accusations against him by multiple women. Nygård was arrested on sex trafficking and racketeering charges in December of the same year.
Alexi Laiho
Alexi Laiho was a Finnish guitarist, composer, and vocalist. He was best known as the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and founding member of the melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and was also the guitarist for Sinergy, The Local Band, Kylähullut, and Bodom After Midnight, which formed just prior to his death. Laiho had previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy.
Samu Haber
Samu Aleksi Haber is a Finnish singer, songwriter, television music competition judge, entrepreneur, and is the lead vocalist and frontman of pop-rock band Sunrise Avenue.
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia
Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia was the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia, a position which he claimed from 1938 to his death.
Aimo Koivunen
Aimo Allan Koivunen was a Finnish soldier in World War II and the first documented case of a soldier overdosing on methamphetamine during combat.
Joonas Suotamo
Joonas Viljami Suotamo is a Finnish actor and former professional basketball player. He is best known for his role as Chewbacca in the Star Wars saga, taking over the role from Peter Mayhew, first as a body double, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and later as the lead in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
Saara Aalto
Saara Sofia Aalto is a Finnish singer, songwriter, and voice actress. In 2012 she came second in the first season of The Voice of Finland.
Simo Häyhä
Simo "Simuna" Häyhä was a Finnish military sniper in the Second World War during the 1939–1940 Winter War against the Soviet Union. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30, a variant of the Mosin–Nagant rifle, and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. Häyhä is believed to have killed over 500 men during the Winter War, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war.
George Gaynes
George Gaynes was a Finnish-born American singer, actor and voice artist. Born to Dutch and Russian-Finnish parents in the Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire, he served in the Royal Netherlands Navy during World War II and subsequently emigrated to the United States, where he became a citizen and began his acting career on Broadway.
Daniel O'Shaughnessy
Daniel Michael O'Shaughnessy is a Finnish professional footballer who plays for HJK and the Finland national football team as a defender. He began his career in the youth systems at Honka, HJK and Metz and came to prominence in England with Cheltenham Town.
Tuukka Rask
Tuukka Mikael Rask is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender, for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rask was drafted 21st overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rask won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender during the 2013–14 season. In 2011, Rask won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins. He is the older brother of Joonas Rask, who plays professionally as a forward with HIFK in the Finnish Liiga.
Lauri Markkanen
Lauri Elias Markkanen is a Finnish professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 2017 NBA draft, he was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the seventh overall pick before being included in a trade to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler. He is the son of Finnish basketball players Pekka and Riikka Markkanen, and the younger brother of soccer player Eero Markkanen.
Pekka Lagerblom
Pekka Lagerblom is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Notably, he won the German double of Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Werder Bremen in 2004.
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military leader and statesman. Mannerheim served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, Regent of Finland (1918–1919), commander-in-chief of Finland's defence forces during World War II (1939–1945), Marshal of Finland, and the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946).