Biography
Kaija Pakarinen, who studied acting at the Finnish Theatre School, was a permanent member of Television Theatre 1979-90. She subsequently taught acting at the Finnish Theatre Academy 1990-92. She then became an actor with the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation 1992-2002, after which she has been a freelance actor. Kaija Pakarinen has been in numerous award-winning productions, including Alternative Lovers, the Telvis prize-winning TV series, as well as Present, the TV play which won the Telvis certificate of honour, Closely Tied, the TV play which won the Koura award, and Snow Whites, the TV play awarded the Golden Nymph prize for drama at the Monte Carlo TV Festival. In 1988 Pakarinen received a state prize for her performance in the TV play Snow Whites and for her role in the film Day of Reckoning.
Kaija Pakarinen’s recent roles have been in the TV2 series Well Able for Work in 2003, in Aki Kaurismäki’s film Man Without a Past (2002), in Lapland’s Golden Glow, directed by Åke Lindman in 1998, and in the play First Catch of Spring, directed by Riku Saastamoinen with the Viima Theatre Group in 2002. In 2001 she directed Liisamaija Laaksonen’s play Snow Whites at the Kajaani City Theatre. She has written scripts and directed programmes for the radio; she has also directed acting courses of many different types as well as courses for improving expressive and performing skills. She received a five-year state scholarship for performing artists in 2001.