Irina Felicia Björklund (born 7 February 1973) is a Finnish actress and singer.

Early life and education

Björklund was born in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (; ) 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 located within Sto ...

, Stockholm County,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

before moving to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

with her family. Björklund also lived in France during her early years. She studied in the Theatre Academy of Finland from 1993 to 1996. She left the school when Svenska Teatern (Swedish theatre in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) hired her.

Acting career

She acted in movies and in television series. Her well-known movies include '' Rukajärven tie'' (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, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...

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

Recognition

In 1999, she was awarded the Jussi Award 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 (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

in 2004.

Music career

Björklund made a duet with Samuli Edelmann 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. The couple moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1999, where they lived until 2013, when they moved to France. The couple have a son, born in September 2007. Björklund speaks fluent Finnish, Swedish, French and English, as well as some

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Discography

Filmography

References

External links

Actors.fi - Irina Björklund
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorklund, Irina 1973 births Living people People from Danderyd Municipality Actresses from Stockholm County Musicians from Stockholm County 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