Ville Juhana Haapasalo (born 28 February 1972) is a Finnish stage and
film actor who has worked in Finland and Russia. His acting career
started in 1995, after he finished his studies in St. Petersburg. In
2003, he was honored with the State Prize of the Russian Federation
for his role of Veikko in the film The Cuckoo directed by Aleksandr
Rogozhkin.Haapasalo was educated in St. Petersburg at the Academy of
Performing Arts of the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy. He
knew no Russian when he began studying. He studied there from
1991â€"1995. It was a difficult period in the 1990s Russia; he was
mugged nine times in 1992, tried to commit suicide three times, and
because of his financial problems he worked as a driver for the
mafia.Haapasalo's career got a huge lift immediately after his
graduation for his appearance in 1995 in a Russian comedy
Peculiarities of the National Hunt. But this sudden fame turned out to
be stressful for him and he temporarily returned to Finland to work as
a truck driver. In 2002, he won the Best Actor award at the 24th
Moscow International Film Festival, for his role in the Russian-made
film The Cuckoo.Although his fame comes mostly from film, he also
writes for the screen, acts in theaters, and does TV cinema. He also
appeared in Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications' 1998
campaign National Features of Driving instructing Russians on Finnish
road rules. He is more widely recognized in Russia than in his country
of origin Finland. Recently, he has hosted and starred in a number of
travel shows on Finnish and Russian TV. Ville Haapasalo Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter