Laura Birn

Acting

Laura Birn

Born 1981-04-25 · Helsinki, Finland

Laura Eveliina Birn (born 25 April 1981 in Helsinki) is a Finnish actress. She has tackled roles in historical dramas, lighthearted comedies, and thought-provoking art-house films with equal finesse. Her performance in the 2012 film Purge earned her a Jussi Award for Best Actress and a nomination for a Satellite Award for Best Actress. In 2021 she began playing the role of robot Eto Demerzel in the series Foundation. Birn has also appeared in films Pearls and Pigs (2003), Promise (2005), Christmas Story (2007), Naked Harbour (2012), Heart of a Lion (2013), Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), The Ones Below (2015), Helene (2020), and The Crow (2024). Her performance in the mystery drama series Munkkivuori earned her a Golden Venla award for Best Supporting Actress in 2022. Birn completed her master's degree from Helsinki Theatre Academy in 2008. In 2024, Finnish weekly news magazine Suomen Kuvalehti wrote, sourcing publicly available tax records, that Birn is the most highly-paid Finnish actor or actress of all time.

Acting credits

The Beloved poster
6.9

The acclaimed film director Esteban Martínez is a legend both for his films and for his past marked by violence and excess. For his new project, he offers his daughter Emilia a role under the pretext of helping her with her stalled acting career. Living together on set will foster a closeness they haven’t shared for years, but it will also reopen old wounds that never healed.

The Beloved

2026

A Walk Among the Tombstones poster
6.3

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

2014

The Crow poster
5.8

Soulmates Eric and Shelly are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.

The Crow

2024

No artwork available
NR

The Finnish short film is a tragic tale of a young boy who falls in love with a dangerous older girl.

Little Hearts

2001

Aita poster
4.7

Middle-aged Late is building a fence in his family home for a summer break, but he falls in love with his daughter's new friend, 16-year old flirtatious Saija.

Aita

2001

Christmas Story poster
7.2

Hundreds of years ago in Lapland, a little boy named Nikolas loses his family in an accident. The villagers decide to look after the orphaned boy together. Once a year - at Christmas - Nikolas moves to a new home. To show his gratitude, Nikolas decides to make toys for the children of the families as good-bye presents. Over the years, Nikolas's former adoptive families become many, and soon almost every house has presents on its doorstep on Christmas morning. At thirteen, Nikolas is sent to live and work with Iisakki, a grumpy old carpenter, who forbids Nikolas to continue making presents for Christmas. Gradually, however, Nikolas wins Iisakki's trust. Together they begin to look after the Christmas traditional that Nikolas has begun. When the aged Iisakki has to leave Nikolas and move away, the tradition of Christmas presents is once again at risk. Thankfully, Nikolas comes up with a solution that brings children joy every Christmas, even continuing to today.

Christmas Story

2007

Void poster
6.3

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

95 poster
4.5

Set in the final weekend of the year 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships, 95 tells through overlapping stories why Finland became a ice hockey world champion and how it affected the whole nation.

95

2017

The Girl King poster
6.2

A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.

The Girl King

2015

Strive poster
8.0

In a machine-addicted future, 17-year-old Toni craves something real. He joins a deadly street race, challenging fearless driver Max, unaware of the bond they share. A gritty coming-of-age thrill ride.

Strive

2026

Bayonet poster
6.1

Miguel “Bayoneta” Galíndez is a retired boxer from Tijuana who finds himself living in a cramped flat in Finland. As his future begins to look up, a desire for redemption draws him back into the ring.

Bayonet

2018

Light Light Light poster
6.8

Mariia visits her childhood home and reminisces about the summer of 1986, when a girl named Mimi arrived in the small village and filled the life of the then 15-year-old Mariia with light.

Light Light Light

2023

Any Day Now poster
5.5

Bahman, Mahtab, Ramin and Donya Mehdipour are enjoying a perfect summer in a small Finnish town. Their routines are fractured by a negative decision on their application for asylum by the Finnish Immigration Service. But life must go on and the 13-year-old Ramin is about to enter an entirely new school, junior high. The Mehdipours use their last chance to appeal but continue their everyday lives, fuelled by their exceptionally positive outlook and attitude.

Any Day Now

2020

The Ones Below poster
6.0

A young affluent couple expecting their first child hits it off with the new couple that moves in downstairs, until a dinner party between them ends in a shocking accident.

The Ones Below

2016

Father's Day poster
6.0

Tinke, who has been drinking his health away, lives in a care home, where his dark humour and his friend Veikko keeps him going. When Saimi's teenage twins, whom he vaguely remembers from years ago, decide to find out about their father, their search leads them to Tinke. Saimi is determined to prevent the twins from meeting Tinke, but Veikko, who has been caught up in the mess, disagrees.

Father's Day

2026

Heart of a Lion poster
6.6

Neo-Nazi falls in love with a woman who has a black son and finds himself fighting with conflicting feelings.

Heart of a Lion

2013

Inner Trial poster
3.3

Noa is a young slacker who prefers to spend his days smoking weed. Together with his friends, he meets an old hippie, who is interested in rekindling his past passion of psychedelic trips and mind expansion.

Inner Trial

2008

No artwork available
NR

When an immigrant taxi driver finds the ashes of a deceased stranger in his backseat, his night shift turns into a search for a final resting place that transcends cultures. Can the literal ground be our common ground?

The Forest You Live In

2026

Seamstress poster
7.2

A documentary film about Martta Koskinen, the last executed woman in Finland during the war in 1943. Martta was a Seamstress who lived in Helsinki during the Second World War. She was one of the post-civil war (in 1918) generation for whom the war had meant a disappointment in the system and failure in unity of the Finnish nation. The legacy of the civil war had left systems of persecution in place for those with socialist ideals. Martta and her fellow revolutionaries were determined to continue the resistance movement although they knew that at worst it could cost their lives. Martta was imprisoned twice before she was shot. She was an idealist, whose seemingly harmless, naive beliefs in peace and justice were the most dangerous traits a person could have at the time.

Seamstress

2015

The Birdcatcher poster
5.5

Norway, 1942, during World War II. After being separated from her family, Esther, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim, arrives at an isolated farm where she must assume a new identity in order to survive the Nazi persecution.

The Birdcatcher

2019

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

No artwork available
6.0

The story of Leena and Kai, a couple working in the rescue services, whose relationship falls into crisis as Kai becomes exhausted and depressed.

Jäät

2010

Helene poster
6.2

Year 1915. Helene Schjerfbeck lives as a forgotten artist with her elderly mother in the countryside. It has been years since the last exhibit, and Helene continues to paint only because of her passion. Everything changes when art dealer finds Helen and her 159 wonderful paintings - and wants to organize a big private exhibit. However, Helen's turning point comes only when she is introduced to Einar Reuter. Young Einar is a forester, art enthusiast, and a passionate admirer of Helene's work. He becomes Helen's trusted and lover.

Helene

2020

Love and Fury poster
6.0

In 1980s Helsinki, a city about to burst with young energy and rebellion, two young writers determined to conquer the world fall madly in love. For Inka, the love affair puts everything in motion: she finds her own voice, publishes her first novel, and becomes a sensation. The intensity of their relationship has a different affect on Juhana, who starts to lose his grip on writing and, finally, life. At the height of the love affair Inka starts to suspect that their mad love might actually be real madness.

Love and Fury

2016

Behind the camera