Kati Outinen

Acting

Kati Outinen

Born

1961-08-17 (65)

Place of birth

Helsinki, Finland

Known for

Acting

Credits

65 titles

Anna Katriina Outinen (born August 17, 1961) is a Finnish actress who has often played leading female roles in Aki Kaurismäki's films. Outinen was born in Helsinki. Having studied under Jouko Turkka during his "reign" of drama studies in Finland, she nevertheless has never been associated with the "turkkalaisuus" school of acting methodology. Her breakthrough role was as a tough girl in the generational classic youth film Täältä tullaan elämä by Tapio Suominen. In 1984, she appeared in Aikalainen. Besides a strong domestic reputation gained through a widely varied list of roles in theater and television drama, film director Aki Kaurismäki's films have brought Outinen international attenti…

Known for

The Hole in the Ground poster
5.7

Trying to escape her broken past, Sarah O’Neill is building a new life on the fringes of a backwood rural town with her young son Chris. A terrifying encounter with a mysterious neighbour shatters her fragile security, throwing Sarah into a spiralling nightmare of paranoia and mistrust, as she tries to uncover if the disturbing changes in her little boy are connected to an ominous sinkhole buried deep in the forest that borders their home.

The Hole in the Ground

2019

The Man Without a Past poster
7.4

Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.

The Man Without a Past

2002

Dark Crimes poster
4.6

Tadek, a Polish detective, becomes suspicious of a controversial author when the incidents described in his unpublished novel resemble the inner workings of an unsolved murder.

Dark Crimes

2016

The Other Side of Hope poster
6.9

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

The Other Side of Hope

2017

Blue Eyes poster
7.6

High adrenaline Swedish political thriller from the creative talent behind Humans – An extreme right-wing party is heading towards its best election result when the chief of staff at the Justice Department disappears without a trace. Racism, immigration and nationalism are explored in this series praised by New York Times.

Blue Eyes

2014

The Match Factory Girl poster
7.4

Iris is a shy and dowdy young woman stuck in a dead-end job at a match factory, who dreams of finding love at the local dancehall. Finding herself pregnant after a one-night stand and abandoned by the father, Iris finally decides the time has come to get even and she begins to plot her revenge.

The Match Factory Girl

1990

Film credits

2020s · 9 titles

Snot and Splash: The Mystery of Disappearing Holes poster
6.6

Snot and Splash travel to their grandmother's house in the small town of Mouthwash for a winter holiday. Once there, they discover that everything is a little off in what used to be a very ordinary town. The strangest thing is that holes are disappearing from the town. Snot and Splash set out to investigate and manage to get on the trail of a local dentist, Migrén Junior. However, the investigation is in danger of failing when messy Snot and diligent Splash get into an argument with each other. How can Mouthwash be restored and the holes put back in place if the boys can't work together? The only way to restore the world is for the brothers to work together.

Snot and Splash: The Mystery of Disappearing Holes

2024

The Elf poster
5.3

Siblings Lumi and Talvi are separated as children. In search of her sister, Lumi ends up in Elfland, where elves prepare Christmas presents for all the children of the world. The elves are initially suspicious of the human child who appears out of nowhere, but Pyry, an elf boy, welcomes Lumi with interest. Pyry is eager for new adventures and his friendship with Lumi looks like a chance for an exciting journey.

The Elf

2025

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

No Dot on the I poster
NR

No Dot on the I questions specificity, what makes up the essence of something, where a thing turns into something else — pushing against the edges of signs, binaries, categories.

No Dot on the I

2022

Kyllä isä osaa poster
5.8

The years have passed and the children have flown from the nest to the world... except they haven't. On the contrary. Jonna and Junnu have been lured back home, with the addition of Jonna's child, by a house that will soon be empty. The parents, who are of retirement age, are about to move to Spain - as soon as the father can tell his employer that he is quitting his job as a taxi driver. But the father's plans are changed when his boss buys his taxi company a new vehicle, a luxury Mercedes with all the bells and whistles. His pension, Spain, wife and common sense all vanish as he is left with one obsessive goal: to get behind the wheel of his coveted Mercedes one single time. Eventually his dream comes true, but at a cost. The father discovers he has put the whole family in such dire straits that the only way out is to steal the dead man's briefcase.

Kyllä isä osaa

2024

Family Stories Untold poster
NR

Family Stories Untold is an animated documentary, in which seven different women’s stories about family are woven into one life-long piece. It begins with Iida, 9, who after her parents’ nasty divorce helps Mummy find a new man on Tinder, and ends with Lisbeth, who has been forced into a retirement home by her children. It’s a story about a life in which we don’t have the courage to voice our opinions, desires and expectations.

Family Stories Untold

2023

Cheating Is Good for You poster
NR

A wife who has cheated on her husband for 40 years reflects on her behaviour and the benefits she has reaped.

Cheating Is Good for You

2021

Defiant poster
5.8

After losing her father, Vilma can't find her place in the life of her foster family. As a result of her struggles, Vilma ends up in a juvenile home, where she refuses to be subdued by the arbitrary and abusive staff who run it.

Defiant

2025

The Hullabaloos! poster
5.2

The birthday of twin boys, Mökö and Luru, takes the family Kiljunen to Helsinki, where their dog gets accidentally switched with the president's dog. Mökö and Luru rush to save their dog, while mother and father Kiljunen take over the city from land, sea and air.

The Hullabaloos!

2022

2010s · 14 titles

The Hole in the Ground poster
5.7

Trying to escape her broken past, Sarah O’Neill is building a new life on the fringes of a backwood rural town with her young son Chris. A terrifying encounter with a mysterious neighbour shatters her fragile security, throwing Sarah into a spiralling nightmare of paranoia and mistrust, as she tries to uncover if the disturbing changes in her little boy are connected to an ominous sinkhole buried deep in the forest that borders their home.

The Hole in the Ground

2019

Dark Crimes poster
4.6

Tadek, a Polish detective, becomes suspicious of a controversial author when the incidents described in his unpublished novel resemble the inner workings of an unsolved murder.

Dark Crimes

2016

The Other Side of Hope poster
6.9

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

The Other Side of Hope

2017

Le Havre poster
7.0

In the French harbor city of Le Havre, an elderly shoeshiner with an ailing wife crosses paths with a young African refugee pursued by the police for deportation.

Le Havre

2011

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

A Man and a Woman poster
6.8

Two strangers have dropped their kids off at a pickup area for a children's camp in Helsinki, Finland. A spark of mutual interest is ignited between the man and woman.

A Man and a Woman

2016

Force of Habit poster
5.7

Force of Habit follows the lives of various women throughout one day. Hilla is having a romantic vacation, Emmi is throwing a house party, and Milja is on her way to school when they’re approached by a stranger and things take an unexpected turn. At the same time, Emppu, a young actress, is conflicted as she rehearses for the biggest role of her life. Elsewhere, Aleksi, an inexperienced prosecutor, is preparing for his first court case in haste; Niina, the victim of the crime, has been waiting years to see her case tried. Miia throws a company party, and the mood dramatically changes when her colleague Katja opens up about their boss coming on to her. Miia and a couple of her closest colleagues try to resolve the situation, but how do the others react?

Force of Habit

2019

Dirty Hands poster
5.5

A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician. The country, an ally of Nazi Germany, is on the verge of being annexed to the Eastern Bloc. Kaurismäki's TV adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's play Les Mains Sales (Dirty Hands) tells the story of Hugo (Matti Pellonpää) who has just been released from prison. Before going to prison, he has worked as a journalist at his party's newspaper. This timid journalist, who uses the pseudonym Raskolnikov, wants to advance in his career and gets his chance when Hoederer (Sulevi Peltola), the leader of the party, has to be eliminated.

Dirty Hands

2015

No artwork available
6.0

This charming and casually reverent work is an authorized single-screen version of an installation by celebrated video artist Ahtila. Amid stunning snow-draped forests, a women’s theatrical group rehearses a stage version of the Annunciation (the director is played by Aki Kaurismäki’s signature actress Kati Outinen), in the process discovering the parallel worlds of humans and animals, and the proximity of the ordinary to the miraculous.

The Annunciation

2011

Play Rape poster
6.5

A young actress, passionate about her profession, gets ready for a rape scene.

Play Rape

2019

Concerning Violence poster
7.0

Based on powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, this documentary is accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.

Concerning Violence

2014

August Fools poster
5.2

An comedy set in 1960s Helsinki. The story revolves around Elsa, a resolute hatmaker who is in complete control of her life. Besides running her shop, she sometimes doubles as a fortune teller. When Jan, a Czechoslovakian jazz musician and Elsa's old lover comes to town to perform at a "peace and friendship festival", her well-organised life is jolted out of balance.

August Fools

2013

Clownwise poster
5.7

Once a hugely popular clown trio, Oskar, Max, and Viktor are now living very different lives. The intense fight that ended their friendship has left them on bad terms for over 40 years. Max is battling colon cancer, Viktor's wife is losing a battle to Alzheimer's, and Oskar, who's never been the best dad, is trying to rescue his daughter from an abusive relationship. The good old days are gone indeed. Despite their situations, each one still tries to maintain a sense of humor. They look fondly on the days when they were slapstick superstars. However, when it comes to the issues that led to their career demise, they just can't seem to let their anger go. As they hesitantly agree to a reunion, they begin to find that the only way back to the top is through forgiveness.

Clownwise

2013

Everything Outside poster
NR

When circumstances conspire to leave Louise, an established Quebec painter, and Ahmed, an aspiring Lebanese-Canadian actor, sharing a remote lake house, the tension rarely abates. Understandably, Louise resents her solitude being trespassed on, particularly by someone whose backstory is hardly airtight.

Everything Outside

2018

2000s · 16 titles

The Man Without a Past poster
7.4

Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.

The Man Without a Past

2002

Lights in the Dusk poster
6.8

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.

Lights in the Dusk

2006

Sauna poster
6.2

It is 1595. Brutal wars have just ended in an uneasy peace between Protestant Sweden and Orthodox Russia. We focus on the spiritual defeats of two conquered Finnish brothers, one a hardened near-psychopathic war hero, the other a gentle scientist in an age with no use for such men. They find themselves in the swampy interior, demarcating the new border with a unit of sadistic Russians.

Sauna

2008

Avida poster
5.7

The kidnapping of a plump billionaire's dog by a deaf-mute and 2 ketamine addicts goes wrong. The wealthy woman takes advantage of the situation to make them fullfil her last wishes.

Avida

2006

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet poster
6.9

Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet

2002

The Home of Dark Butterflies poster
6.0

Haunted by his traumatic past and cautious about the prospects of an uncertain future, a fourteen year old boy named Juhani winds up in an isolated boys' home known as The Island. Juhani has been shuttled between foster homes and temporary families for the past six years, leaving any prospect of stability in his life a faded dream. When Juhani winds up in a remote shelter for troubled youth known as The Island, he has little idea of how ruthless superintendent Olavi Harjula can truly be.

The Home of Dark Butterflies

2008

VÄNÄ poster
7.0

A portrait of film actor Kari Väänänen. Väänänen talks openly about his work and himself. Väänänen's colleagues in "Tuntematon Sotilas" and "Lakeuden Kutsu" shed light on the actor's inner life.

VÄNÄ

2000

Popular Music poster
6.2

Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.

Popular Music

2004

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

Aki Kaurismäki poster
6.0

Aki Kaurismäki, the celebrated Finnish filmmaker behind The Man Without a Past (Grand Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival 2002) and landmark works including Ariel, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, and Drifting Clouds, is the focus of AKI KAURISMÄKI, the latest release in the Cinema, of Our Time series. The younger half of Finland’s most prolific and irreverent filmmaking partnership, Kaurismäki, alongside his brother Mika Kaurismäki, was instrumental in shaping what became known as the New Finnish Cinema. Since 1981, he has directed twenty-two films, many of which are featured through excerpts in this documentary.

Aki Kaurismäki

2001

Backwood Philosopher poster
5.8

Self-taught philosopher Konsta Pylkkänen guides a group of researchers through Finland's Kainuu wilderness in the hopes of having a "sinistä ajatusta", idea out of the blue. While firing upon a hybrid of the hazel grouse and the western capercaillie, kinds of birds, he indeed makes a scientific discovery.

Backwood Philosopher

2009

Nude, Descending... poster
7.0

A renowned art forger is trying to finish his version of a Lichtenstein painting but he can’t find any peace. He is visited by his mother a once famous actress of the Nouvelle Vague, her former husband a destroyed auteur, a greedy art dealer, and his ex lover a down and out junkie.

Nude, Descending...

2002

Dogs Have No Hell poster
6.0

A typically idiosyncratic mini-mystery about a middle-aged man who gets out of prison, sells his shares in a company and announces that he’s heading off to Siberia to get married. Central scene, in which he convinces a woman to come with him, takes place in a Finnish rockabilly club. The Hitchcockian pacing, as the man endeavours to make his train, supplies nice momentum, and wrap-up provides a satisfying revelation as to what’s actually afoot.

Dogs Have No Hell

2002

No artwork available
NR

Where is Where? is an experimental film that quarters the screen in order to have four different scenes play simultaneously. It's a meditation on the Algerian war that culminates in a brutal killing.

Where Is Where?

2009

Playa del Futuro poster
4.5

Den Traum vom Lebensabend im sonnigen Spanien haben sich inzwischen immer mehr Deutsche erfüllt. Die iberische Halbinsel wird bei Aussteigern immer beliebter. Eher zufällig kommt in Peter Lichtefelds „Playa Del Futuro“, seinem erst zweiten Projekt in Spielfilmlänge, der Protagonist mit diesem Lebensziel in Berührung, denn eigentlich ist er nur auf der Suche nach einem besseren Job und seiner großen Liebe.

Playa del Futuro

2005

Guarded Secrets poster
3.7

Irma arrives at her 18th birthday in a reform school.

Guarded Secrets

2004

1990s · 13 titles

The Match Factory Girl poster
7.4

Iris is a shy and dowdy young woman stuck in a dead-end job at a match factory, who dreams of finding love at the local dancehall. Finding herself pregnant after a one-night stand and abandoned by the father, Iris finally decides the time has come to get even and she begins to plot her revenge.

The Match Factory Girl

1990

Spy Games poster
4.6

CIA Agent Harry Howe and SVR Agent Natasha Scriabina team up to save the world, their lives and secret love in post Cold War Helsinki.

Spy Games

1999

Drifting Clouds poster
7.6

The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.

Drifting Clouds

1996

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

Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana poster
6.8

Two Finnish men agree to drive an Estonian woman and a Russian woman to a harbor.

Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana

1994

Eros and Psyche poster
4.6

This is a sad story of Eros and Psyche. Sadder than the ancient myth that was only a dream after all. In my story, the characters learn nothing.

Eros and Psyche

1998

Train Birds poster
6.0

Hannes is a beer truck driver in Dortmund. His biggest dream is to win the first prize at the International Timetable Contest in Inari (Finland). When his new boss cancels his extra holidays to go there, Hans goes mad… On his journey to Finland by train, followed by the police, he meets lot of folks and the love of his life.

Train Birds

1998

Hermit Crab poster
NR

A human-sized story about an old-fashioned man.

Hermit Crab

1999

Juha poster
6.7

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

Juha

1999

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Juna

1996

Freakin' Beautiful World poster
5.2

The Helsinki-based teenagers Ippe, Papu and Mia have become entangled in drug circles. Their problems get even worse when violent dealer Kalle starts blackmailing the indebted Ippe.

Freakin' Beautiful World

1997

A Respectable Tragedy poster
4.5

In the 1930s, middle-aged museum curator Tauno Saarinen yearns for a young beautiful maid and writes a lengthy confession about his feelings which he gives his wife Elisabet to read. Elisabet shows the writings to her husband's sister Naimi, an art critic who tries to reconcile with her ex-husband despite a spiteful mother-in-law. Meanwhile, things gets worse between Tauno and Elisabet when the young maid, seduced by Tauno, becomes pregnant. Based on a novel by Helvi Hämäläinen, first published in 1941 but partly censored until 1995 because allegedly based on true incidents involving well-known people.

A Respectable Tragedy

1998

All the best from Saara poster
NR

Saara falls in love with their employer's wife.

All the best from Saara

1991

1980s · 8 titles

Shadows in Paradise poster
7.3

Nikander, a rubbish collector and would-be entrepreneur, finds his plans for success dashed when his business associate dies. One evening, he meets Ilona, a down-on-her-luck cashier, in a local supermarket. Falteringly, a bond begins to develop between them.

Shadows in Paradise

1986

Hamlet Goes Business poster
6.7

When Hamlet discovers his father’s deceased body, he finds himself pulled into a power struggle as his scheming uncle attempts to secure a monopoly on the Scandinavian rubber duck industry. Will Hamlet avenge his father? Will he become the king of rubber ducks? Does any of it really matter?

Hamlet Goes Business

1987

Päivää, herra Kivi poster
5.9

Eccentric small town librarian Helinä struggles between everyday life and her love for the theatre, directing amateurs for a play by the famous Finnish writer Aleksis Kivi. She still carries the torch for her teenage sweetheart Leo, now a married chimney sweeper but still an aspiring playwright, despite his wife's opinions. Helinä thinks Leo is Aleksis Kivi, and so does Leo himself. Discouraged by the society, they end up in a mental institution but finally manage to stage an outdoor premiere of the play.

Päivää, herra Kivi

1984

Täältä tullaan, elämä! poster
5.4

In the punk rock era of the late 1970s three restless teenagers, two boys and a girl, spend their time in and out of a special class for problem kids. Jussi seldom sees his parents at home, so he is free to indulge in petty crimes, pranks, and getting drunk with his friend Pete. Jussi falls in love with equally rebellious classmate Lissu (Aki Kaurismäki's favourite actress Kati Outinen in her debut role), but the lovers' plan to run away together fails dramatically.

Täältä tullaan, elämä!

1980

Prinsessa joka nukkui 100 vuotta poster
NR

Poetic short film

Prinsessa joka nukkui 100 vuotta

1981

Aikalainen poster
3.2

A Finnish adaptation of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Aikalainen

1984

The Wrestler poster
5.9

An ageing wrestler and circus strongman is put in an institution located somewhere in a world of its own.

The Wrestler

1985

Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan poster
5.0

A new ice age is coming to England. All energy sources have been depleted and despair is taking over the earth. The young king decides to use his last trump card before his power collapses and anarchy reigns over the island kingdom.

Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan

1986

Series credits