List of Famous people born in Finland
Toni Nieminen
Toni Markus Nieminen is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1991 to 2004, with a brief comeback in 2016. He is one of the most successful contemporary ski jumpers from Finland, having won both the World Cup overall title and the Four Hills Tournament in 1992, and three medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics. He remains the youngest ever Winter Olympic gold medalist, at 16 years and 261 days. Additionally, he is known for being the first male ski jumper to land a jump surpassing 200 metres (660 ft), which he achieved in 1994 with a world record of 203 m (666 ft) on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Hannu Manninen
Hannu Kalevi Manninen is a Finnish nordic combined athlete. Debuting at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer at the age of 15, he took his first medal three years later at the age of 18 when he won silver in the 4 × 5 km team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event at the age of 23. He has five other Nordic skiing World Championships medals, earning three golds and two bronzes. He has two other Olympic team medals as well.
Antti Hyry
Antti Kalevi Hyry was a Finnish writer and recipient of the Eino Leino Prize in 2005. In 2009 his book Uuni (Oven) won the Finlandia Prize, Finland's premier prize for literature. It details a man's reflections as he collects cement and bricks to build an oven for his home. Antti Hyry was married to Maija Hyry.
Claes Andersson
Claes-Johan Rudolf Andersson was a Swedish-speaking Finnish psychiatrist, author, poet, jazz musician, politician and member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the Left Alliance and the Finnish People's Democratic League. He was a member of the Finnish Parliament from 1987 to 1999 and from 2007 to 2008, and served as the Minister of Culture in the Lipponen I Cabinet.
Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving President of Finland from 1956 until 1982. He was the third and most recent president from the Agrarian League/Center Party. As head of state for nearly 26 years, he dominated Finnish politics, held a large amount of power, won his later elections with little opposition and has often been classified as an autocrat. Nevertheless, he remains a respected figure.
Signmark
Signmark is a deaf Finnish rap artist. He describes his music as being party hip hop that takes a stand. Born into a signing family, Vuoriheimo feels that society should not treat the deaf as disabled people but as a linguistic minority with their own culture and history.
Ville Valo
Ville Hermanni Valo is a Finnish singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic rock band HIM. Influenced by the likes of KISS, Type O Negative, Faith No More and Black Sabbath, Valo began his career playing bass and drums in various bands around his hometown of Helsinki. In 1991, he formed HIM, which would go on to become one of the most successful Finnish bands of all time, and the first to receive a gold record in the United States. He performed as the band's lead singer and chief songwriter from their inception until their dissolution in 2017. Known for his deep, crooning bass-baritone voice, Valo is also credited as the creator of the heartagram, the band's trademarked symbol which nonetheless has achieved great popularity outside of the band's fanbase.
Jaakko Hintikka
Kaarlo Jaakko Juhani Hintikka was a Finnish philosopher and logician.
Maria Tschetschulin
Maria Tschetschulin (1852–1917), was a Finnish clerk. She was the first woman to attend university in Finland.
Veikko Heinonen
Veikko Heinonen was a Finnish former ski jumper who competed in the 1950s, winning a silver medal at the 1954 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on the large hill in Falun.