Elina Knihtilä

Acting

Elina Knihtilä

Born 1971-06-06 · Valkeala, Finland

Mari Elina Knihtilä (born June 6, 1971) is a Finnish actress. Knihtilä has worked for several Finnish theatres, such as the Finnish National Theatre and Q-teatteri, while also having appeared in films and on television. She has received two Jussi Awards; one for a supporting role in the 2008 Heikki Kujanpää film Putoavia enkeleitä and another for a leading role in the 2011 Zaida Bergroth film Hyvä poika. Some of her television work include the comic roles in Läpiveto, Vedetään hatusta and the first season of Putous. Knihtilä is cohabiting with actor Tommi Korpela. Together they have a son.

Acting credits

Niko and the Way to the Stars poster
5.8

A young reindeer named Niko dreams about flying like his father, whom he has never met. Despite constant teasing from others, he sneaks out of his home valley to take flying lessons from Julius, a flying squirrel.

Niko and the Way to the Stars

2008

How to Shout poster
5.5

Anu sees Heloisa regularly in her practice, who, whenever falls in love, begins to suffer from cruel and tormenting obsessions towards her beloved. Heloisa's twisted psyche fascinates Anu in ways she does not fully understand - professionally and personally. But one day, Heloisa abruptly stops therapy. A midsummer party with a couple of friends is interrupted when Anu's son Antti arrives with his new girlfriend - who is Heloisa. Anu is forced to confront her own limitations and the painful memories of Heloisa's therapy relationship, which reveal an obsessive bond between them that threatens to destroy everything.

How to Shout

2025

The Other Side of Hope poster
7.0

A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.

The Other Side of Hope

2017

Raptures poster
5.5

Rakel is a strict Christian believer living in the far north of 1930s Sweden. When her husband forms a sectarian movement, with directions straight from God, she has no choice but to join the increasingly explicit cult.

Raptures

2025

Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble poster
5.9

Set right before Christmas, young reindeer Niko must deal with his mother's remarriage and his being tasked with looking after his little stepbrother.

Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble

2012

Risto poster
4.2

The beloved actor Risto gets paralyzed - quadriplegiac - in a studio accident. The accident brings him massive financial compensation and a flood of sympathy. Suddenly there is money for everything that Risto's young and beautiful wife has always wanted. She gives up her boring job and becomes an artist.

Risto

2011

The Good Son poster
4.6

When his mother takes a shine to a man at a party, a young man begins to lose his grip on reality.

The Good Son

2011

Family Time poster
6.1

It’s Christmas time and the family has gathered. Everything goes on as it did the previous Christmases, with grandpa drinking too much and grandma trying to keep everyone in the mood. After the Christmas holidays, everyone returns to their own homes until it's time to gather again, this time for a funeral.

Family Time

2023

Stormskerry Maja poster
6.6

Maja and Janne move to the barren and remote island of Stormskerry, where survival is a daily struggle. Growing up in a world of old values, Maja becomes aware of a new era: a woman can be an equal partner instead of a mere bystander. The couple have children, and life is good until trouble sets in: war arrives on the island, Janne is forced to flee from the English troops, and Maja and the children are imprisoned. The family also faces many financial difficulties and death. Years pass, but Maja remains strong and stays in Stormskerry despite all the hardships and difficulties.

Stormskerry Maja

2024

The Bouncer poster
7.0

A night club bouncer gets disgusted of all the violence and repression of the weak he is seeing. He has to act to protect the victims.

The Bouncer

2020

Matti: Hell Is for Heroes poster
5.5

Four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship titles, four World Cup tour championships, and forty six World Cup circuit victories. Once his career as a professional athlete ended however, the other side of his personality emerged into public view in all of its vulgarity. An alcohol dependency, several marriages accompanied by numerous marital problems, petty crime, uncontrolled acts of violence, and greedy hangers-on.

Matti: Hell Is for Heroes

2006

Doctor Johansson poster
NR

A nurse, tired of her job, does not notice that a doctor leaves for his break. This gives a patient from the psychiatric unit next door a chance to sneak into the empty office. When it is time to call in the next patient, the patient now disguised as a doctor, realises she is in a tough spot but decides to meet with the patient anyway.

Doctor Johansson

2021

No artwork available
NR

Waste Land is a tragicomic ensemble film about a bunch of kids squatting an abandoned seaside hotel. The shabby hotel offers a life outside the society, at least momentarily. The house is more than a house – it is a utopian space for love, partying and freedom. But can the days of ease last when the squat is confronted both by outside forces and by internal conflicts?

Waste Land

2016

Road North poster
5.9

A father who was absent for 30 years of his son's life returns and wants to set on a journey through Finland, so they can learn to know each other again.

Road North

2012

Yösydän poster
2.0

No synopsis available yet.

Yösydän

1993

100 Liters of Gold poster
7.0

Middle-aged sisters Taina and Pirkko are famous for their Finnish farmhouse ale called “sahti”. The third sister, Päivi, is getting married, and she asks her sisters if they can make 100 liters of sahti for the wedding. Unfortunately, it’s too good not to drink it. The sisters wake up in a horrible hangover and realize they have drunk it all. They have 24 hours to find 100 liters of good sahti, or they will lose all the respect.

100 Liters of Gold

2025

The House of Branching Love poster
5.6

The story recounts the breakup of a thirty-something professional couple - Juhani, a family therapist, and his wife, Tuula, a successful business trainer.

The House of Branching Love

2009

Rumble poster
5.5

A summery, boozy road movie in which Leo aimlessly drives a group of aging teddy bears through the Finnish countryside in a red Cadillac. The film centers on the bromance of middle-aged men, booze, and pizza, which they decide to order to their moving car. Not even a Russian truck driver, Stakes' alcohol recommendations, or the police can stop this gang.

Rumble

2002

Viisasten kivi poster
NR

A young woman has to attend a self-improvement camp

Viisasten kivi

1996

No artwork available
NR

A political satire about a decision yet to be made and heard – and in all the hassle, the Prime Minister has gone missing.

The Democracy of the Spineless

2017

Producing Adults poster
5.2

Longtime couple Venla and Antero come to a serious impasse. After years with Antero, Venla wants to start a family, but her boyfriend, worried that parenthood will stifle his speed-skating career, secretly gets a vasectomy. Determined to have a child, Venla seeks help from a female fertility doctor, a decision that breeds new possibilities for the prospective mother when she falls in love with the doctor.

Producing Adults

2004

Tuulikki poster
7.8

Tuulikki has a problem. She is in the throes of young love, and the world outside her window is vibrant and inviting. But her mother disagrees, not wanting to let Tuulikki out of her sight. Tuulikki fights back, but nothing seems to be making a difference. Finally, the mother-daughter relationship escalates when the circumstances prove too much for both of them.

Tuulikki

2022

Maria's Paradise poster
5.4

A teenage orphan girl Salome lives within a sect lead by charismatic and ruthless Maria Åkerblom. During a pivotal summer, Salome is faced with standing up against Maria, the woman who had saved her.

Maria's Paradise

2019

The Midwife poster
5.8

Helena has worked as a kind of midwife on the eve of the Lapland War. She wants to leave everything behind, and a suitable opportunity arises when she falls in love with a German-Finnish officer Johannes, who is leaving to German-led Titovka prison camp in the Soviet Union. Helena enlists into the camp as a nurse, where she experiences the brutality of war.

The Midwife

2015

Behind the camera