Kari Heiskanen

Acting

Kari Heiskanen

Born

1955-03-16 (71)

Place of birth

Hämeenlinna, Finland

Known for

Acting

Credits

54 titles

Kari Heiskanen is a prolific Finnish actor with over 70 credited roles since his debut in 1978 upon graduating from the Finnish Theater School. He has also acted in, written and directed several plays, now regarded as one of the pillars of the Helsinki City Theater. Originally focusing on television, he first became well-known for the TV series 'Velipuolikuu' in 1983 and remained a fixture of popular Finnish television series for the remainder of the decade before establishing a greater presence in leading cinematic roles. In 1991 Heiskanen received the State Prize for Cinema and later the Pro Finlandia Medal in 2008.

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 7 titles

Naked Harbour poster
5.8

In a multicultural suburb of Helsinki, a bullied Russian immigrant decides to fight back, a young woman dreams of superstardom at any cost, and a junkie couple schemes their way out of debt.

Naked Harbour

2012

Ryhmäteatteri poster
9.0

Documentary on the history of Ryhmäteatteri theatre company.

Ryhmäteatteri

2018

Police Investigates poster
5.0

A 16 year old girl claims she was abducted. Two police officer are tasked with investigating whether her story is plausible.

Police Investigates

2012

Void poster
6.4

Eero’s career as an author is spiraling down: he just can’t get started with his new novel. The ambitious actor Pihla is about to get her international break. Neither of them is willing to sacrifice their career even though their relationship is doing worse than ever. Void is a comedy-drama about the price of success and the agony of failure, and about situations where your partner just doesn’t get it.

Void

2018

Vasen ja oikea poster
7.0

Both diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, politicians Esko Seppänen and Iiro Viinanen forge a deep friendship despite their ideological differences.

Vasen ja oikea

2015

Garbage Prince poster
5.0

Jed (19) walks out on his former life, without destination, without explanation, and gets on a train. He ends up by happenstance in a small eastern town in Finland where he soon comes face to face with the daily rigors of independent life. Coping becomes a challenge for him almost to the point of being an obsession. Of all the people in town, Jed seems to constantly run across the prickly and quick-witted Lulu (17). Gradually, without either of them admitting it, their relationship changes from bickering, picking on each other and a battle of wills to friendship, and as can happen, finally to love.

Garbage Prince

2011

Brothers poster
5.3

Three brothers from three different mothers meet for the first time since years for their mutual father’s 70th birthday: nihilistic writer Ivar, failed film producer Mitja, and resentful caretaker Torsti.

Brothers

2011

2000s · 7 titles

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

The Year of the Wolf poster
5.8

Sari is a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who is busy studying at university,but she suffers from epilepsy and has to face death on a daily basis. Mikko is hersomewhat older university teacher, who is tired of life, and who one day decides toabandon his wife, children and idea of a perfect life. Both characters have been tooscared to live their lives to the brim for too long. But they meet, and in spite oftheir prejudices and reserved natures, they manage to create a dramatic and movingmodern romance which confronts numerous taboos. While the imagery explores theboundary between life and death in a most poetic way, the odd couple's romance istold with both bite and humour. Society - be it in the shape of angry ex-wives,overprotective parents, conservative aunts or embittered colleagues - is doing whatit can to put a spanner in the works."

The Year of the Wolf

2007

Three Wise Men poster
5.7

Three middle aged men, long time friends, get together in a normally closed Karaoke bar to drink their failed lives away. Secrets are revealed and sometimes discovered and they sing their miseries one by one during Karaoke sessions. The arrival of a lone woman to the bar will facilitate revealing of the final secret.

Three Wise Men

2008

Nainen kedolla poster
6.0

Museum conservator Laura Malkaluoto is a top professional in her field. She studies art forgeries at a large museum. One morning, Sami Pirilä, a Finnish-born museum director living in Ecuador, is impressed by Laura's professional skills; Laura's ability to distinguish between genuine and fake, truth and falsehood. Soon Laura realizes that there is something suspicious about Sami. He may not be who he claims to be. The Woman in the Field is a dramatic thriller about human deception and forgery. It takes place in 21st-century Finland, in elegant museums and decaying rural areas. A love story full of twists and turns about truth and lies, suspicion and certainty, authenticity and falseness, and how difficult it is to find the unambiguous truth.

Nainen kedolla

2003

Kuka lohduttaisi Viiviä? poster
5.5

No synopsis available yet.

Kuka lohduttaisi Viiviä?

2001

Young Gods poster
4.1

Taavi,the enigmatic 18-year-old lead, has just inherited his long-deceased wealthy parents home and estate. It is high school graduation and Taavi's birthday, and after his fiends greet him au natural and are arrested, Taavi invites his friends to the mansion for a wild party. Taavi lives with a recording camera to his eye, a machine that allows his to keep interpersonal distance from everyone. Among his friends are Jere who considers himself a woman's man, Markus (who appears the well-adjusted one, and chubby, pierced Sami whose sexuality is ambiguous. The party gets wild, guests sleep around, and Taavi records it all!

Young Gods

2003

God's Teeth poster
6.0

One winter in the 1930’s somewhere in northern Finland, a first communion ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of mobile dental surgery. All the children in the village must have their teeth replaced with sets of dentures as a communion gift to prevent future problems. The fate of Juha’s teeth seems to be sealed, unless a higher power decides to intervene…

God's Teeth

2006

1990s · 7 titles

Annabel Lee poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Annabel Lee

1990

Ambush poster
6.0

It is the summer of 1941 and the Finnish army has been mobilized along the border with Russia. A platoon led by Lt. Eero Perkola is waiting for orders to go on the offensive. The platoon receives orders for a recon mission through the wilderness around the Lieksa lake to search for possible Russian defensive positions.

Ambush

1999

Kaikki pelissä poster
5.6

A film group is making movie in the little town. Writer Pentti Töysä interrupts film group's press conference and claims that script is written by him and it is based on true story. Töysä also says that he has written a new ending to the movie and that it reveals an old murder. Not everyone is happy about the new twist.

Kaikki pelissä

1994

Lunastus poster
5.2

In a small village in Eastern Finland in 1918, Patrick, who has taken care of the chaplain, teacher and physician, has been filled with loneliness and brutal spirit of work for five years.

Lunastus

1997

Muuttolinnun aika poster
7.0

Ossi hasn't seen his daughter for over ten years. Suddenly she arrives to figure out what kind of person her father is and why she wasn't good enough for him.

Muuttolinnun aika

1991

Palkkasoturi poster
5.8

The story of a modest man, played by Ilkka Heiskanen, who decides to become a mercenary in the Yugoslavian civil war. This decision leaves him completely destitute. His parents do not approve of his decision, nor do his friends at the local bar.

Palkkasoturi

1997

Harjunpää ja kiusantekijät poster
4.7

Inspector Timo Harjunpää works on harassment and extortion campaign case against successful computer expert.

Harjunpää ja kiusantekijät

1993

1980s · 13 titles

Calamari Union poster
7.0

A group of men all called Frank—except for one named Pekka—have had enough of life in their working-class neighborhood, so they set off for a better existence in the magical seaside district of Eira. But the way is long, and the group face many hurdles including stray dogs and defunct streetlights.

Calamari Union

1985

Sotamies Jokisen vihkiloma poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Sotamies Jokisen vihkiloma

1981

Cha Cha Cha poster
7.0

A lawyer pays a visit to Matti Ojanperä, a bum living under a bridge in the Helsinki harbour, to inform him that he is about to inherit an American aunt of his. The sum 1,000,000 Fmk would be his, if only he meets the qualifications set by his aunt. He must show that he is capable of 'living properly' and possessing a 'respectable occupation and a family he can support'. Otherwise the money would go to a foundation the chairman of which the lawyer himself happens to be!

Cha Cha Cha

1989

Sista leken poster
10.0

In this somber, psychological drama about the conflict between a man's innermost feelings and a society that puts these feelings in a strait jacket, the mood is ruminative and depressing throughout. Alone, Viktor (Sven Wolter) heads off for his usual summer vacation to some islands where he can ostensibly look for antiques for his wife's shop in Stockholm. His marriage is a failure or worse -- he raped his wife before he left home, and he is obsessed by erotic imaginings. Once on the islands, he makes friends with a little girl whose mother is mentally disturbed and is kept by her husband in a locked room. The islanders are as tight-lipped as Viktor, and any communication is stiff and artificial. Viktor's own alienation begins to slip as he takes surprising, violent action to turn around the imprisoned mother's life -- but it does not work, nothing seems to work -- and his last actions indicate that he may not be willing to simply give up.

Sista leken

1984

Lain ulkopuolella poster
5.3

On her way home from an evening shift at a men's clothing store, Saara Nevanen is raped by a man whom she recognizes as her regular but eccentric customer, Antti Kaironen. The doctor and policemen question Saara in an insensitive manner,and she breaks down with guilt. When the court releases the perpetrator inlack of evidence, Saara's aggressive brother Jari talks her mild-mannered husband Sakari into a self-made revenge plot. Armed with two rifles, Jari and Sakari take matters into their own hands.

Lain ulkopuolella

1987

No artwork available
6.5

A boxer wins his match, but is losing his woman. Through nightly philosophical discussions, the only companion is his opponent - still wobbly from the match.

The Boys of Jesus

1983

Jousiampuja poster
7.0

Drug dealer Aki is taken to hospital after a violent attack where he loses his merchandise and money. One of the paramedics, old Eino, befriends Aki later in the hospital and offers him a summer job after hearing that he has training in first aid. Eino even offers Aki a place to stay next to his ambulance garage. This provides Aki a perfect hiding place from his former employers who are after him. At the garage, Aki learns about life and the art of archery from peaceful Eino, and falls in love with Eino's daughter Lena who works at the ambulance switchboard. But no hiding place is good enough to last forever.

Jousiampuja

1982

Valkoinen kääpiö poster
4.0

The story of one man's struggle after he gets caught in a nuclear fallout and gets sick with leukemia.

Valkoinen kääpiö

1986

Laulu poster
5.5

A documentary about Helsinki's nightlife, soundtracked by rock band Sielun Veljet, theater troupe Ryhmäteatteri, and radio DJ Teppo Turkki.

Laulu

1986

Mother Wanted poster
6.8

Anni wants a new mommy for herself and a new wife for her dad. But dad has forgotten how to find a wife and needs Anni's help.

Mother Wanted

1989

Kauhea murhamies Lalli poster
NR

TV play about the legend of Lalli.

Kauhea murhamies Lalli

1981

Harmagedon poster
8.7

A film about the end of the world.

Harmagedon

1986

Älä itke Iines poster
3.8

Älä itke Iines is an absurd comedy about an eccentric community that lives on the roofs and attic of an apartment building, struggling to improve their living conditions. The dialogue is entirely improvised by the actors.

Älä itke Iines

1987

Series credits

Black Widows poster
5.7

Black Widows is a series about 3 ordinary women, friendship and an impossible secret.

Black Widows

2014

Uudisraivaaja poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Uudisraivaaja

2006

Kansan mies poster
NR

The life of Aki Honkala, a blindly dedicated Member of the European Parliament, takes a radical turn during one scandal-plagued election night. The fall from grace is no surprise to anyone but himself. The people have spoken, let the chatter go - but what remains of a man who has lived and breathed politics for most of his adult life?

Kansan mies

2013

Team Ahma poster
9.3

Stories about things that happen in the line of duty to two good friends working in the volunteer road service.

Team Ahma

1998

Queen of Fucking Everything poster
7.0

A successful real estate agent wakes up one day to find out that her husband is gone, leaving her with millions in debt. In order to survive and maintain her lifestyle, Linda must become the queen of the criminal world.

Queen of Fucking Everything

2025

Virta poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Virta

2011

Velipuolikuu poster
7.5

No synopsis available yet.

Velipuolikuu

1983

Kirje isältä poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Kirje isältä

2003

The Age of Iron poster
5.8

Rauta-aika (The Age of Iron) is a dramatic four-part miniseries completed in 1982 by Finnish broadcast network Yle TV2. The production attempts to adapt the national epic of Finland, the Kalevala, for the television audience by way of humanizing the mythological characters whose thoughts and actions drive the narrative. The protagonists of Rauta-aika, Väinö, Ilmari and Lemminki, have been inspired by the tales in the Kalevala and go in search of a woman, eventually finding themselves at war with the Nordic people, and in the end pay dearly for their pursuits.

The Age of Iron

1982

Huojuva talo poster
5.5

No synopsis available yet.

Huojuva talo

1990

Sunnuntailounas poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Sunnuntailounas

2018

Tabu poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Tabu

1986

Mutapainin ystävät poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Mutapainin ystävät

1984

Harjunpää ja heimolaiset poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Harjunpää ja heimolaiset

1995

Presidentin mies poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Presidentin mies

1998

No artwork available
8.5

No synopsis available yet.

Erittäin salainen - Vakoilua Suomessa

2024