List of Finnish Americans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an incomplete list of famous Finnish Americans.
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Contents |
[edit] Entertainment
- David Chokachi (b. 1968) actor[1]
- Matt Damon (b. 1970) award-winning screenwriter and actor[2]
- George Gaynes (b. 1917) film actor[3]
- Renny Harlin (b. 1959) producer/director[4]
- Brian Heidik (b. 1968) won $1,000,000 on the Thailand edition of Survivor[5]
- Marta Kristen (b. 1945) perhaps best known for her role as the character "Judy Robinson" in the cult television series Lost in Space[6]
- Christine Lahti (b. 1950) film actress[7]
- Jessica Lange (b. 1949) two-time Academy Award-winning film actress[8]
- Dick Latvala (1943-1999), tape archivist for the Grateful Dead
- David Lynch (b. 1946) director[9]
- Maila Nurmi (b. 1921) created the well-remembered 1950s character of Vampira. Her portrayal of this character on television and in films was influential over decades that followed[10]
- Johann Pasanen, the Woodchopper Priest, Progenitor of the Puuri Family
- Bonnie Pietila(full name: Bonita Pietila), the casting director and producer for The Simpsons
- Albert Salmi (1928–1990) film/television actor[11]
[edit] Literature
- Jean M. Auel (b. 1936) writer[12]
- Max Dimont (1912–92) popular historian and author[13]
- Paul Gustavson comic-book writer and artist
- Anselm Hollo (b. 1934) poet and translator[14]
- Tiina Nunnally (b. 1952) author, translator and professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of Washington[15]
- Emil Petaja (1915–2000) science fiction and fantasy writer[16]
[edit] Musicians
- Jorma Kaukonen (b. 1940) blues, folk and rock guitarist[17]
- Hiski Salomaa (1891–1957) folk singer and song writer[18]
- T-Bone Slim (1890?–1942?) humourist, poet, songwriter, hobo, and a labour activist in the Industrial Workers of the World[19]
- Jaco Pastorius (1951–1987) influential jazz bassist[20]
[edit] Politics
- Gregory Nevala Calvert (1937–2005) National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society in 1966–67.
- Gus Hall (1910–2000) labor organizer, a founder of the United Steelworkers of America trade union, a leader of the Communist Party USA and five-time U.S. presidential candidate[21]
- John Morton (1724–1777) delegate who cast the deciding vote in favor of the United States Declaration of Independence[22]
- Oskari Tokoi (1873–1963) Finnish politician[23]
[edit] Other
- Paul Kangas — host of Nightly Business Report since it was a local Florida program in 1979[24]
- Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) architect and product designer of the 20th century, famous for his simple, sweeping, arching structural curves[25]
- Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950) architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century[26]
- Lauri Törni (1919–1965) Finnish Army Captain who led an infantry company in Finnish Winter and Continuation War and moved to the United States after the war[27]
- Carl A. Wirtanen (1910–1990) astronomer[28]
- Charles Wuorinen (b. 1938) composer[29]
- Rick Halperin Current Chairman of Amnesty International USA
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ See the list of Finnish artists[1]
- ^ See the list of Finnish artists[2]
- ^ [3] Finnish-born (Helsinki)
- ^ [4] "Finnish director Renny Harlin..."
- ^ [5] "the half-Finnish American celebrity Brian Heidik..."
- ^ Born in Norway to a German father and a Finnish mother; describes herself as a "Finnish Girl" at [6]
- ^ Noted as one of several Finnish Americans at [7]
- ^ Noted as one of several Finnish Americans at [8]; [9] notes that Lange is "the granddaughter of Finnish and Dutch-German migrants"
- ^ See the list of Finnish artists[10]
- ^ [11] born in Petsamo, Finland
- ^ Noted as one of several Finnish Americans at [12]; parents were Finnish immigrants
- ^ [13] "Finnish-Americans count in their number... Jean Auel"
- ^ [14] "Finnish-American Dimont's secular history of the Jewish people was a surprise bestseller when originally published..."
- ^ [15] "Finnish-born (quite native) American poet"
- ^ [16] "Finnish-Americans count in their number... Tiina Nunnally"
- ^ [17] "Of Finnish descent..."
- ^ Described as "Finnish-American" at [18]; father was Finnish and mother was Jewish-American
- ^ [19] "Arthur Kylander, Finnish American Folksinger"; born in Kangasniemi, Finland
- ^ [20] "T-Bone Slim (the itinerant Finnish-American worker from Ashtabula, Ohio, Matt Valentine Huhta)"
- ^ [21]"Jaco's Grandmother on his Mom's side, Kaisa Eriika ISOJÄRVI, was born north of the Arctic Circle in Lappi, Finland, and married David Haapala from Minnesota, who's father, Andrew Haapala was from Oulu, Finland"
- ^ [22] "Although a few younger Finns held notable positions in the party leadership (e.g. Gus Hall, the party general secretary"
- ^ [23] "JOHN MORTON was an early Finnish-American"
- ^ [24]
- ^ Noted as one of several Finnish-Americans at [25]
- ^ [26] "Finnish-born U.S. architect"
- ^ [27] "Eliel Saarinen (Finnish, 1873-1950)"
- ^ [28] "Legendary Finnish war hero Lauri Törni (Larry Thorne) to get final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery"
- ^ [29] Wirtasen vanhemmat olivat suomalaisia. [Wirtanen's parents were Finns]
- ^ Noted as one of several Finnish-Americans at [30]
