Joona Jasper Pääkkönen (; born 15 July 1980) is a Finnish film actor.

Following a two-decade-plus career in Finnish movies, Pääkkönen's international breakthrough role came in 2015 in the historical drama television series Vikings (2016–2018; 2020) as Halfdan the Black. His next roles were in Spike Lee's comedy-drama film BlacKkKlansman (2018) and in the war drama film Da 5 Bloods (2020).

Early life Pääkkönen was born in Helsinki, the son of actor Seppo Pääkkönen and Virve Havelin. His uncle Antti Pääkkönen is also an actor, and is a prolific voice actor. Already as a child, Pääkkönen was a theater assistant and attended Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts in Kallio, Helsinki. When Pääkkönen was 17, he spent a year in Maryland as an exchange student at Baltimore's Owings Mills High School during the 1997–98 school year.

Career

Pääkkönen's first film role was in The Glory and Misery of Human Life from 1988, when he was seven years old. He became famous as Saku Salin in the Finnish television soap opera Salatut elämät (1999–2002). According to a calculation published by Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, Pääkkönen is "the most profitable film actor in Finland" for having starred in numerous box office hits during his career. Many of Pääkkönen's films have made #1 at the Finnish box office, including Bad Boys, which is one of the most successful Finnish films at the national box office of all time. Other of Pääkkönen's commercial and critical successes include Frozen Land (2005), Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006), Lapland Odyssey (2010) and Heart of a Lion (2013).

For his role in Bad Boys, Pääkkönen was given the Best Actor Award in the Brussels International Independent Film Festival. He has earned international praise from film critic Michael Giltz from the Huffington Post, who called the actor "handsome and compelling" in his role in Lapland Odyssey. Film critic Leslie Felperin from Variety named Pääkkönen a "rising thesp, showing impressive range" in his starring role in Matti. In 2006 the European Film Promotion introduced Pääkkönen as the Shooting Star of Finland at the Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2013, Pääkkönen starred in Finnish drama film Heart of a Lion that earned him his first Jussi Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2015, Pääkkönen was cast in the fourth season of the History Channel TV series Vikings as Halfdan the Black.

Pääkkönen co-starred as a KKK member in Spike Lee's drama BlacKkKlansman, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released on 10 August 2018. He starred in Lee's 2020 Netflix production Da 5 Bloods.

Other work

Pääkkönen is a well known poker player, taking home 1st place in the PAF Poker Challenge 2006 in Mariehamn, Åland, winning 15,000 Euros. In 2009 Pääkkönen founded the Pokerisivut.com poker magazine together with film producer Markus Selin. In 2010 Pokerisivut.com was awarded Best Overall Affiliate at the London 2010 iGB Affiliate Awards. The magazine ended publication in 2010, due to a new Finnish lottery law.

Pääkkönen is a member of the Vision fly fishing world team and has appeared on fly fishing TV shows and DVDs as a celebrity guest. Pääkkönen is also known as the protector of endangered fish species of Finland (especially salmon).Finnish Breakthrough He has also founded and is one of the owners of Superflies.com, which sells a selection of flies curated by Pääkkönen and raises funds for endangered native fish populations. Pääkkönen has also begun an entrepreneurship with MP Antero Vartia. They built a large sauna and restaurant complex called Löyly at the shore of Hernesaari, Helsinki which cost €6 million to build. Pääkkönen is one of the founders of Röykkä Invest Oy, in whose name the former Nummela Sanatorium, located in the Röykkä village in Nurmijärvi, was bought for €1.5 million. Pääkkönen has announced a plan to turn the former sanatorium into a hotel.

Personal life Since 2017, Pääkkönen has been married to Spanish-Filipino model Alexandra Escat. The couple had a daughter on Christmas Day 2021. Pääkkönen announced the birth of their second child son in January 2024.

Filmography Year Title Role Director Notes 1988 The Glory and Misery of Human Life Arvi Hongisto Matti Kassila 2003 Bad Boys Eero Takkunen Aleksi Mäkelä 2004 Addiction Aleksi Minna Virtanen 2004 Vares: Private Eye Jarmo Aleksi Mäkelä 2005 Frozen Land Niko Smolander Aku Louhimies 2006 Matti: Hell Is for Heroes Matti Nykänen Aleksi Mäkelä 2007 V2: Dead Angel (Vares 2) Dante Hell Aleksi Mäkelä 2008 Moomin and Midsummer Madness Moomintroll (Finnish voice) Maria Lindberg 2008 Kikke Matti Grönberg 2009 Hellsinki Korppu Aleksi Mäkelä 2010 Moomins and the Comet Chase Moomintroll (Finnish voice) Maria Lindberg 2010 Lapland Odyssey Kapu Dome Karukoski 2011 The Kiss of Evil (Vares 3) Kyypakkaus Anders Engström 2011 The Girls of April (Vares 4) Kyypakkaus Lauri Törhönen 2011 Garter Snake (Vares 5) Kyypakkaus Lauri Törhönen 2012 Naked Harbour Anders Aku Louhimies 2012 Gambling Chip (Vares 7) Kyypakkaus Lauri Törhönen 2012 Tango of Darkness (Vares 8) Kyypakkaus Lauri Törhönen 2013 Heart of a Lion Harri Dome Karukoski Won the Jussi Award for Best Supporting Actor 2015 The Sheriff (Vares 9) Kyypakkaus Hannu Salonen 2016 Jet Trash Mike Charles Henri Belleville 2018 BlacKkKlansman Felix Kendrickson Spike Lee 2020 Da 5 Bloods Seppo Spike Lee 2021 Omerta 6/12 Max Tanner Aku Louhimies 2024 (Vares 10) Kyypakkaus Tuukka Temonen

Television credits Year Title Role Notes 1999–2002 Salatut elämät Saku Salin Regular role; 387 episodes 2003 Kaunis mies Joonatan Kuusisto 2003 Irtiottoja - Fragments Johnny 2016–2020 Vikings Halfdan the Black Main cast (seasons 4–5) Guest (season 6)2019 Pihlajasatu Saku Salin 4 episodes The Dark Tower Marten Broadcloak Unaired pilot

References

External links