Tõnu Oja

Acting

Tõnu Oja

Born

1958-07-04 (68)

Place of birth

Tallinn, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Harju County, Estonia]

Known for

Acting

Credits

48 titles

Tõnu Oja (born July 4, 1958 in Tallinn) is an Estonian actor. In 1980 he graduated from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since 2003 he has worked at the Estonian Drama Theatre. He has also played in films. His elder brother is actor and director Rein Oja and his sons are actor Pääru Oja and theatre CEO Kaarel Oja.

Known for

Revenge Office poster
6.5

A group of women create an organization named "Kättemaksukontor" to fight for the rights of women and help solve murder mysteries for the police.

Revenge Office

2009

Zero Hour poster
7.4

Zero Hour dramatizes the hour leading up to some of the most memorable historical events as they unfold minute by minute. Using a real-time clock and a split screen to follow key players, the series reveals the compelling and exciting minutes leading up to events that changed the world.

Zero Hour

2004

Windward Land poster
10.0

Tuulepealne maa is a twelve-part Estonian television mini-series about the pre-World War II history of Estonia, its birth as a country, the Estonian War of Independence, post-war life throughout 1920 up to 1941 and World War II.

Windward Land

2008

The Fencer poster
7.0

Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. The past however catches up and puts him in front of a difficult choice.

The Fencer

2015

Isayev poster
3.5

The series is set in the 1920s. It tells about the first tasks of Isaev. First, he goes to Reval to stop the smuggling of valuables stolen from Gokhran. Upon his return, he is sent to Vladivostok to collect information about the actions of the whites. Then he has to go abroad to monitor counterrevolutionary emigration.

Isayev

2009

1944 poster
6.8

The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.

1944

2015

Film credits

2020s · 9 titles

Goodbye Soviet Union poster
5.6

Johannes, a young Ingrian Finn, grows up in Soviet Estonia with his liberal student mother and pro-Soviet grandmother. The boy's life is revolutionized when he experiences first love and his mother decides to leave for Finland.

Goodbye Soviet Union

2020

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

No artwork available
NR

Liina, a perfectionist clinging to control, hires an actor to play her father for a carefully staged family dinner meant to welcome her estranged daughter, Mari.

The Family Act

2025

Noble Act poster
NR

As Karl learns about his girlfriend's serious diagnosis, he finds himself in a situation where the fear of being blamed for what happened triggers a cycle of lies. While seeking a way out of his tangled web of dishonesty, Karl is no longer confident in standing by his girlfriend.

Noble Act

2024

Dawn of War poster
6.1

A historical spy-thriller set in 1939 about an Estonian intelligence agent tasked with uncovering the Soviet double agent in their ranks.

Dawn of War

2020

Hunting Season poster
1.5

Eva, 45, has recently divorced and is now afraid of losing both her son and her best friend to her ex’s new young, successful and brilliant sweetheart Isabel. To win back her positions, Eva goes on a road trip with her friend Marleen and Isabel, which makes the women confront different men, comical mishaps, even more comical quarrels, real hunting and most importantly themselves, forcing them to realise in the Christmas bustle what is most precious in life.

Hunting Season

2021

Sad Inheritance poster
NR

A theatre director and his father clash over portraying abuse in a rehearsal, reflecting conflicting approaches in directing actors and their real-life strained relationship.

Sad Inheritance

2024

Stairway to Heaven poster
6.3

With his last breath Uu's friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn't believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life - in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.

Stairway to Heaven

2023

The Prayer poster
10.0

Jakop has been living by Peipsi for several generations. He is not the best fisherman and doesn't have much money. One day, Jakop's nephew arrives at the yard. Jakop has a chance get a thousand rubles if he agrees to make one small trip over the lake and back. Namely, the nephew has a fugitive in the car who thinks that he is on the north coast. But Jakop refuses the offer. However, he allows his nephew and the refugee to stay with him for the night. In the morning, however, the nephew leaves and leaves the speechless fugitive to Jakop's conscience. Jakop has to make a decision - whether he takes refugees across lake Peipus? In the whirlwind of events, memories come to life in Jakop's dreams about his brother and his suicide. Jakop begins to see similarities between the lost brother and the fugitive.

The Prayer

2022

2010s · 14 titles

The Fencer poster
7.0

Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. The past however catches up and puts him in front of a difficult choice.

The Fencer

2015

1944 poster
6.8

The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.

1944

2015

Secret Society of Souptown poster
6.2

Four children - Mari, Sadu, Olav and Anton form a secret society to play hide-and seek games invented by Mari's grandfather, a professor at the university. When the city is attacked by a mysterious poison which turns adults into children our gang embarks on a quest for the antidote.

Secret Society of Souptown

2015

Letters to Angel poster
4.2

Jeremia Juunas Kirotaja has been fighting in Afghanistan; 21 years later he returns to Estonia to his father's funeral. He has converted to Islam and his only connection to his native land is the sound of his daughter Angel's crying that he heard a long time ago on the phone. Jeremia starts to search for his family. The daily life - if this can be called life in the first place - of the dusty and abandoned town is being run by women since men are almost gone. Nevertheless, the women seem to hope that Jeremia will be able to do something about it in order to remove the paralyzing feeling of emptiness.

Letters to Angel

2011

Lotte and the Moonstone Secret poster
6.5

Plucky young Lotte embarks on an adventure with her uncle Klaus to solve the mystery of three stones that a pair of hooded figures are attempting to retrieve.

Lotte and the Moonstone Secret

2011

Self Made Cameraman poster
5.0

An adventurous tragedy about Estonia's first film maker Johannes Pääsuke and his aspirations to travel around with a film camera and find happiness. Together with a good friend, Volter, Pääsuke will spend an incredible week in Setomaa.

Self Made Cameraman

2019

Lotte and the Lost Dragons poster
7.2

Lotte gets a little sister named Roosi. Two scientists Karl and Viktor come to Gadgetville, they are taking part in a big folk song collecting competition. Whoever succeeds in recording the folk song of the world’s oldest animal species, wins the competition’s grand prize. Lotte and Roosi decide to help the scientists. Exciting and unexpected adventures await the sisters.

Lotte and the Lost Dragons

2019

Phantom Owl Forest poster
7.4

A 10-year old girl's Christmas plans take an unexpected turn after she is brought to a mysterious Estonian farm.

Phantom Owl Forest

2018

Living Images poster
7.4

The main character, Helmi, is born into the house of Baron von Strandmann in Old-Town Tallinn, in 1908. The only thing that she knows for sure about her past is that her mother was an Estonian servant girl. Everything else is a discovery during a life that runs the course of a century - a life that has quite a lot of surprises in store for Helmi. In this house she finds happiness and suffering, passion and disappointment. She grows up alongside young Erik and waits for her big love to blossom. But one floor down lives projectionist Julius - a man who is far from indifferent when it comes to Helmi. All of the biggest historical events of the century leave their mark on the house. Its hardwood floors have born soldiers' gruff boots and gentleman's shiny oxfords. Its walls have held the fates of people from far and near, foreigners and locals. Helmi's home becomes a German salon, a revolution museum, and a working class commune. And as freedom comes, real estate crooks start sniffing ...

Living Images

2013

Happy Birthday poster
NR

"Happy Birthday" is an outlook vision about the duel between the bible hero Jesus and a man-made robot. Does the robot manage to break the formed dogmas and convert the religion into his favour or will the status quo remain firm?

Happy Birthday

2011

A Friend of Mine poster
5.2

Mati, a 70-year-old bibliophile, cannot cope with his wife's death. As loneliness and indifference overrun his thoughts, he contemplates suicide until he meets a younger man who sparks his interest in life.

A Friend of Mine

2011

When You Least Expect It poster
5.0

There are two people who wake up in the same bed one morning, and neither of them has a clue who the other is. Viivi would like to run away and the man is sleeping like a log. Unlike Viivi and Andu themselves, the viewers know both very well. They know that Viivi has the worst day in her life and that Andu is a dweeb, but not completely hopeless; a rather good-hearted man. They are both hopelessly lonely people hoping that maybe there's someone somewhere - So they might as well meet.

When You Least Expect It

2016

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

The End of the Chain poster
6.3

A secluded fast food joint next to an empty parking lot, where it's good to go because nobody recognizes you there. On a rainy autumnal day, people show up one after the other – all of them on the verge of a breakdown – or perhaps a breakthrough? The main character, Waitress, sees and absorbs it all. One by one – through their personal drama – the clients push the Waitress towards her own edge.

The End of the Chain

2017

2000s · 10 titles

Set Point poster
3.7

On one summer evening, four strangers are brought together by a mysterious murder. A case which at first seems like a regular crime investigation turns out to be something more - a tale of love, alienation and new hope.

Set Point

2004

Old Men's Paradise poster
2.0

Two long-serving city officials are being forced into compulsory retirement from the environment agency. The enterprising men decide to take it upon themselves to fight predators on the fishing lakes. On a boat trip, they meet the fishermen. But the fishermen and the surrounding wildlife hold more mystery than the men can initially see. A trip to a fishing village will change the men's lives forever.

Old Men's Paradise

2005

Lotte from Gadgetville poster
8.8

Somewhere in Europe by a great sea stands a small village, where inventing all manner of domestic gadgets is held in great esteem. Every year the villagers organize an annual competition of new inventions. One of the best inventors in the village is Oskar, Lotte's father. His primary rival is Adalbert, whose wife also partakes in the competition. On the eve of the next competition, Lotte and her friend Bruno find a book soaked in the sea, from which Susumu, a gardener from distant Japan, climbs out. Susumu teaches the villagers some judo throws before a big judo competition, which the latter will eagerly use to facilitate their daily lives.

Lotte from Gadgetville

2006

Barbarians poster
10.0

A mixture of popular stories are reversed and adapted to the Barbie universe. Queen Tiina (that's what these Barbies are called) asks who is the most beautiful in the city of Las Tiinas and someone dares to say that there is someone more beautiful than her. Immediately afterwards, Queen Tiina decides to kill the beautiful doll, who ends up in the sewers surrounded by forgotten toys (such as a melancholic Pinocchio and a charming rag doll).

Barbarians

2003

Closing Session poster
NR

One night there gather weird figures to the Karahundzhi Palteau. They are the figures of God created by Man in different times and cultures - puppets. At the same time in some technical center they are printing out all letter combinations in all known languages. According to Tibetan monks this act - writing down all the names of God - will bring along the end of the universe. The Creator has decided to introduce the gods to each other before the great end.

Closing Session

2007

The Curse of the Werewolf poster
5.0

Liina is a young actress at Vanemuise Theatre who gets Tiina's part in the new, postmodernist version of the play "Werewolf" by August Kitzberg. The theatre is haunted and the rehearsals seem to be cursed, artificial blood becomes real blood. The play won't be complete before the murder mystery is unsolved - and Liina is being taken back to the old theatre legends and intrigues of the past century.

The Curse of the Werewolf

2005

Karl and Marilyn poster
6.7

Karl is tired of the heavy burden of fame that oppresses him and he decides to liberate himself from it. He returns to life among so called ordinary people, after which he crosses paths with fame-seeking Marilyn. Ordinary Karl is the force that turns Marilyn into an idol of the masses. But not for long...

Karl and Marilyn

2003

Taarka poster
5.7

The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.

Taarka

2008

August 1991 poster
8.0

August 1991, military coup d'etat in Moscow. When Soviet tanks are on the streets of Tallinn, Estonia, all hopes for independence seem to be lost. People in the only local television station, ETV, are facing their own choices.

August 1991

2005

Revolution of Pigs poster
4.7

"Revolution of Pigs" is an adventurous youth comedy, taking place in a Woodstock-like milieu. The main character is Tanel, a 15-year-old boy, who, taking part of a youth revolt against the system, finds himself and his love.

Revolution of Pigs

2004

1980s · 3 titles

Series credits