Jan Uuspõld

Acting

Jan Uuspõld

Born 1973-12-14 · Tallinn, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Harju County, Estonia]

Jan Uuspõld (born December 14, 1973) is an Estonian stage, television, radio and film actor and musician. Jan Uuspõld was born in Tallinn, the eldest of three sons of Ingar and Heidi Uuspõld. His mother is an accountant and his father was a long-distance truck driver. He was raised mostly in Hiiu, Nõmme and attended schools in Keila and Tallinn. In middle school was enrolled in music class and sang in a school choir. He graduated from Tallinn's 1st Industrial High School in 1991 where he trained as an offset printer. As a teenager, he wished to become a musician. Influenced in part by the Estonian punk rock band J.M.K.E., he formed a punk band called Trakulla at age fifteen with several classmates and younger brother Andrus after his mother gave him money to buy a guitar. The band went through several music styles and incarnations until eventually being called Luxury Filters and playing predominately jazz and Texas blues inspired songs. After recording several songs, the band appeared on the television Eesti Televisioon (ETV) program 7 vaprat and found a degree of success in Estonia. Their most popular single, "Tramm nr 66", sung by Uuspõld, was released in 1992 when Uuspõld was nineteen. The band folded not long after, but reformed on several occasions, performing on ETV and the 2013 August Blues Festival in Haapsalu. After Luxury Filters broke up, Uuspõld was inspired to become an actor after watching Estonian actor Tõnu Kark perform in a stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In 1994 he applied to and was accepted at the EMA Higher Drama School (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) in Tallinn, graduating in 1998. Among his graduating classmate were actors Harriet Toompere, Tiit Sukk, Veikko Täär, Liina Vahtrik, and Andero Ermel. While still a student, his course instructor Priit Pedajas offered him an engagement at the Estonian Drama Theatre. He would perform at the Estonian Drama Theatre from 1996 until 2013 in roles by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Dostoyevsky, among many others. From 2005 until 2007 he also performed for two seasons at the Vanemuine theater in Tartu and from 2009 to 2014, with partner Karl Kermes, he created the Monoteater, which staged several plays. In 2013 he developed his own theater production company called Prem Productions. Jan Uuspõld's first film role as an actor was in the 1999 Ervin Õunapuu directed short Kõrbekuu. His first television appearance as an actor was in the Kanal 2 comedy series Wremja in 2001. He would appear in the program as a regular until 2003. This was followed by a dual role in the Finnish YLE2 television series Siperian Nero! He would go on to appear in roles for such television series as: Rikospoliisi ei laula (2006), Ohtlik lend (2006), Kelgukoerad (2007), Brigaad 3 (2007), Kättemaksukontor (2009-2012), among others. Shortly after leaving the Estonian Drama Theatre, Uuspõld had an idea to create a comedic road movie. After presenting his idea to directors and screenwriters Rain Tolk and Andres Maimik, the three collaborated in making the 2007 comedy Jan Uuspõld läheb Tartusse (English release title: 186 Kilometers). In the film Uuspõld plays a down-on-his-luck caricature of himself, trying to hitchhike from Tallinn to Tartu to perform in a role at the Vanemuine theater.

Acting credits

Tenet poster
7.2

Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

Tenet

2020

Swingers 2 poster
NR

Swingers 2 brings back familiar faces - Indrek, Elen, Andrus, and Tiina - who now find themselves tangled up in a whole new set of relationship complications.

Swingers 2

2026

Something Real poster
NR

In his search for human connection, Leo attempts to meet up with a woman he found on a dating site but instead falls into a severe blackmailing trap set up by Karl, who has a criminal past.

Something Real

2026

Swingers poster
2.0

The "Swingers" is a shameless (and sometimes shy) relationship comedy with the main focus on sex.

Swingers

2017

Raggie poster
6.5

A story about a very special and very charming living doll that causes a bit of jealousy between brother and sister, but eventually brings them closer together.

Raggie

2020

Kratt poster
4.3

Children are left at grandma's house without their smartphones. Real life seems rather boring until they find instructions for the Kratt - a magical creature who will do whatever its master says. All they have to do now, is to buy a soul from the devil.

Kratt

2020

Night Navigation poster
NR

A group of young people goes for a walk on a summer night which stirs the imagination. They begin telling stories about a girl named Paula, who isn’t among them, but with whom each of them has had a meaningful encounter in the past. This is a romantic drama, structured as a road movie, with a deliberately fragmented narrative style that mirrors the wandering of free thought.

Night Navigation

1999

Father poster
7.0

Story about a single father who restricts every aspect of his life and tries to raise his son in the same way.

Father

1998

The Spy and The Poet poster
5.2

Lonely secret service officer Gustav meets a mysterious gypsy woman. It soon comes clear that it is a trap set by the Russian intelligence. Gustav is ordered to continue the relationship to get a better understanding of the enemy's plans. Unfortunately, Gustav finds himself struggling with the task, as he is falling in love with the enemy. Is there a way out of this situation?

The Spy and The Poet

2016

Buttered Cards, Shattered Hearts poster
7.0

After the death of the world's last cow, a young couple finds themselves on a hunt for butter through the labyrinth of their apartment building. When they finally reach the basement, a dangerous game for life and butter awaits them.

Buttered Cards, Shattered Hearts

2023

Vasha poster
5.6

Tom, a wide-eyed, innocent sixteen year-old, finds himself an unwitting accomplice in a deadly game of vengeance and death when he befriends Artur - a Chechen man, hell bent on revenging the torture and murder of his family - on the streets of Tallinn.

Vasha

2009

Frank & Wendy poster
7.3

Two American secret agents - Frank and Wendy - are sent to the world's hotbed of danger, known as Estonia. Estonia is a silly place, perhaps even sillier than the agents themselves. Frank and Wendy, for whom saving the world is their daily work, achieve both mental and manual feats with the greatest of ease. It appears that nothing can prevent their ultimate victory, but go figure. The axis of evil does not wither and attacks the super-agents from where they can least expect it...

Frank & Wendy

2005

Made in Estonia poster
5.8

Two talented radio actors from Estonia have their lives turned upside down by the arrival of Gerli.

Made in Estonia

2003

Melchior the Apothecary: The Executioner's Daughter poster
6.4

Melchior’s bride Keterlyn happens to witness an attack on a young man. The victim, who has lost his memory, does not know who he is and how he ended up in a Tallinn. A ring found at the scene leads Melchior to the trail of the nocturnal brotherhood, questions are also raised by the troupe of freaks who performed on fair day. Ominous signs suggest that not only is the stranger recovering from a murder attempt at risk, but Melchior and Keterlyn as well. At the same time, an inquisitor known as a ruthless witch hunter arrives in town. Melchior's ability to "speak to the dead" and to notice invisible traces of murder have raised the suspicion that he may be a dangerous heretic. And the place of the enemy of the church is at the stake…

Melchior the Apothecary: The Executioner's Daughter

2023

The Mystery of Missing Socks poster
NR

Little Pille goes to find her father’s missing socks under the bed, to a fantastical world of forgotten things. There she finds that dad’s socks have laid an egg! Now Pille must protect the socks from danger until the tiny egg can hatch.

The Mystery of Missing Socks

2023

The Old Man Movie poster
6.5

An outrageous road movie about The Old Man and his grandkids in a 24 hour race against time to stop a milky madman hell bent on killing his prized cow to save the world.

The Old Man Movie

2019

The Old Man and Gasworm poster
NR

A mysterious Gasworm steals the Old Man's prized pig. Now the Old Man has 24 hours to defuse the pig bomb or the whole village will blow up!

The Old Man and Gasworm

2022

No artwork available
9.0

How to be a father. A one-man play written in 2007 by Icelandic playwright, director, actor and producer Bjarni Haukur Þórsson. “Father” is the logical chronological successor to “Caveman.” In this play, the protagonist examines the next stage of man-woman cohabitation and the core values and goals of family life.

Father

2012

186 Kilometers poster
3.2

Jan Uuspõld is a talented actor who is not up to scratch due to his problems with alcohol. He makes up his mind to stop taking clownish roles and accepts a serious part in a play at Vanemuise theatre instead. His journey from Tallinn to Tartu becomes an unusual and in a way exaggerated voyage depicting the life and mentality of contemporary Estonia through various human natures, attitudes and ways of thinking.

186 Kilometers

2007

Tango of Mustamägi poster
NR

It is the middle of the 1980s in Soviet Estonia and many people dream of a new apartment with all the comforts in the Mustamäe apartment building. Bartender Illar is no exception. However, fulfilling the dream is not at all easy, bringing with it various machinations involving an emotional lover, a helpful militia and, of course, Illari's great-moustached companion Ats.

Tango of Mustamägi

2022

8 Views of Lake Biwa poster
7.0

On the shimmering shores of Europe’s otherworldly edge, two teenage girls, Hanake and her best friend are discussing their first love interest while gazing out at yachts sailing to Kyoto. They whisper prayers and poems, the language of their longings. But the magic is fading in their isolated fishing village as they’re dealing with a recent disaster, with some indulging in erotic art, some in spiritual spells. It becomes clear that intimacy alone won’t help them process their loss.

8 Views of Lake Biwa

2024

Manslayer/Virgin/Shadow poster
4.7

The film consists of three chapters. The Manslayer takes place more than a hundred years ago. The leading character Maara is a young bride who is about to start her life in her new family. The Virgin, set in the spring of 1949, tells the story of a young woman called Elina, who has been deported from Ingria into Estonia during the previous war. The Shadow moves in the present, on the border of real life and fantasy. The main character, Luna Lee, has decided to flee from home. Is there anything besides emptiness somewhere? The film is led by the singularity of the leading character - Maara, Elina and Luna Lee are all played by the same actress.

Manslayer/Virgin/Shadow

2017

An Affair of Honor poster
8.0

Hendrik is a responsible public servant who is deeply in love with his beautiful wife Evelin. Evelin, however, finds their protected life boring; she wants Hendrik to do something more exciting. When he returns from his business trip, Hendrik will find his schoolmate Berg in their balcony and will furiously throw his gloves to Berg's face. Soon it will turn out that this has been the challenge accepted.

An Affair of Honor

1999

Ruudi poster
6.6

A family comedy about a 7-year-old boy, who's a devoted viking fan.

Ruudi

2006