Irina Felicia Björklund (born 7 February 1973) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

actress and singer.

Early life and education

Björklund was born in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (''Danderyds kommun''; ) is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden, but the most affluent. Its seat is located in Djursholm and it is ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

before moving to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

with her family. Björklund also lived in France during her early years. She studied in the

Theatre Academy of Finland The Theatre Academy ( fi, Teatterikorkeakoulu, sv, Teaterhögskolan) is one of the three academies of the University of the Arts Helsinki and offers education in theatre and dance. It is Finland's largest education provider in its field and, with ...

from 1993 to 1996. She left the school when

Svenska Teatern The Swedish Theatre ( sv, Svenska Teatern) is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja ( sv, Skillnaden) square, at the end of Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden). It was the first national stage of Finland. His ...

(Swedish theatre in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

) hired her.

Acting career

She acted in movies and in television series. Her well-known movies include ''

Rukajärven tie ''Ambush'' ( fi, Rukajärven tie) is a 1999 Cinema of Finland, Finnish war film directed by Olli Saarela. Literally "Road of Rukajärvi", the film debuted on 22 January 1999 in Finland, after which it was released internationally. The film is base ...

'' (int. ''Ambush''), '' Levottomat'' (int. ''Restless''), '' Minä ja Morrison'' (int. ''Me and Morrison''), and ''Vieraalla Maalla'' (int. ''Land of Love''). In September 2010, Björklund's career advanced when she landed a minor role in '' The American'', starring

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

. She played the role of Clooney's lover, Ingrid.

Recognition

In 1999, she was awarded the

Jussi Award The Jussi Awards are Finland's premier film industry prizes, awarded annually to recognize the achievements of directors, actors, and writers. History The first Jussi Awards ceremony was held on 16 November 1944 at the Restaurant Adlon in Hels ...

for Best Leading Actress for her role as Milla in the movie ''Minä ja Morrison''. Her breakthrough came in the movie ''Rukajärven tie'', in which she played Lotta Kaarina Vainikainen. She was awarded the Shooting Star prize in the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

in 2004.

Music career

Björklund made a duet with

Samuli Edelmann Samuli Casimir Edelmann (born 21 July 1968) is a Finnish actor and singer. Family and career Edelmann was born in Pori, Finland, the son of actress Marja-Leena Kouki and composer Toni Edelmann. Edelmann has two children with his wife, Laura Tuo ...

titled "Niin kaunis on maa". In 2011, she released her own music album in French with lyrics by Björklund and music by American Peter Fox. The album called ''Chanson d'automne'' did well in the Finnish Albums Chart reaching no. 21. In 2014, she released another French-language album, ''La vie est une fête'' with an even higher charting in Finland reaching no. 6.

Personal life

Björklund is married to Finnish actor

Peter Franzén Peter Vilhelm Franzén (born 14 August 1971) is a Finnish actor, author, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as King Harald Finehair in ''Vikings'' (2016–2020). Personal life Franzén was born in Keminmaa, north Finland. ...

. The couple moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1999, where they lived until 2013, when they moved to France. The couple have a son, born in September 2007. Björklund speaks fluent

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, as well as some

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Discography

Filmography

References

External links

Actors.fi - Irina Björklund
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorklund, Irina 1973 births Living people People from Danderyd Municipality Finnish film actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Finnish television actresses Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish expatriates in France Finnish expatriates in the United States 21st-century American women