Finnish actor Markku Peltola dies at 51

January 1, 2008

Finnish actor Markku Peltola has died. He was 51.

Peltola was most well known for starring in the 2002 Aki Kaurismäki-directed film The Man Without a Past, which won a Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

He also had supporting roles in Drifting Clouds (1996) and Juha (1999), both directed by Kaurismaki. In total he had played over 30 roles in film and television.

The Helsinki-born Peltola, son of a taxi driver, was also a guitarist in a band and a director. In 1996 he co-founded Telakka, a theatre-themed restaurant, in his hometown of Tampere. In October 2007 he directed a play there called Activist.

His most recent film roles were a small role on the 2006 film Jade Warrior and the Estonian movie I Was Here, which will premiere in that country in September this year.

Peltola died in his Tampere home yesterday. According to local media, he had suffered poor health for some time.