List of Famous people born in Finland
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).