Mikko Niskanen
Mikko Niskanen was a Finnish film director and actor. He was born in Äänekoski, Central Finland in 1929. He was the third of six children, and his father worked as a timber barge pilot. His mother too had a job outside the home, so the children often spent summers with their grandmother in Viitasaari. At the age of 13, Mikko Niskanen started working in timber felling and floating. Two years later he enrolled in a vocational school in Jyväskylä to become a car mechanic. He took a serious interest in amateur theatre and was accepted to study at the Finnish Theatre Academy in Helsinki from 1947 until 1950. He then acted in Jyväskylä and Kuopio theatres until 1954 when he landed an actor's job at the film studios of Suomen Filmiteollisuus in Helsinki. One of his first film roles was in Edvin Laine's The Unknown Soldier (1955). Between 1958 and 1961 Niskanen studied at the Moscow Film School in the Soviet Union. Niskanen's 1962 film The Boys was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. He continued his directing career focusing on themes such as rural life and youth. His second breakthrough was Under Your Skin (Käpy selän alla, 1966), a story of two young couples spending a weekend camping in the countryside. The film received six Jussi Awards and was followed by another story about young lovers, Asfalttilampaat (1968). Niskanen's tour de force as both actor and director was the five-hour television drama Eight Deadly Shots which was also released as a 145-minute theatrical version edited by Jörn Donner. Based on a true story from late 1960s Finland, it is a naturalistic drama about a poor farmer struggling to make a living for his family. He gradually becomes a violent alcoholic who goes on killing spree when the police arrive to calm him down. Besides directing, Niskanen gave a powerful and intense performance in the leading role. The film, like many of Niskanen's works were shot on locations around his home province north of Jyväskylä. Mikko Niskanen died of cancer at the age of 61.
The Unknown Soldier
as MielonenIt is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in...
Movie pageSkin, Skin
as Man on Dance Floor (uncredited)A movie about summer, youth, the difficulty of love, and a camping trip to the countryside by...
Movie pageRyysyrannan Jooseppi
as Villager (uncredited)Jooseppi Kenkkunen becomes a moonshiner in order to provide for his wife Kaisa-Reetta and his...
Movie pageEight Deadly Shots
as PasiSmall-scale farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness....
Movie pageSyksyllä kaikki on toisin
as Kalervo HaapanenA small Finnish town bank manager gets caught in the midst of local politics, with dire effects...
Movie pageNuoruuteni savotat
as (uncredited)Lumberjacking is a second part of saga about young author, Kalle Päätalo. It's a story about...
Movie pageMona ja palavan rakkauden aika
as Martti, Monan äidin esimiesGrowing up story of a high school girl that struggles with the emptiness of her life.
Movie pageGirl of Finland
as luennoitsijaA theater group is training for the play Lapualaisooppera. We see these young people hanging out...
Movie pageGotta Run!
as Aaro, työnjohtajaJuuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish...
Movie pageHän varasti elämän
as (uncredited)A government official decides to steal a $25-million payroll and then fake his own death....
Movie pageHere, Beneath the North Star
as uncreditedTäällä Pohjantähden alla is based on the book with the same title. It is a story of the little...
Movie pageTähtisilmä
as artist SumppuPoor orphan coffee delivery girl loves a poor painter who can't sell his artworks. Painter likes...
Movie pageVerta käsissämme
as uncreditedAfter returning home from being a prisoner of war Viktor gets a job from his friend Rolf with...
Movie pageElämän vonkamies
as Auku-enoPortrait of rural life in 1920s Northern Finland. The film follows the early life of a boy...
Movie pageKöyhä laulaja
as (uncredited)Sisters Irma and Airi Ranna's café Iltatähti has run into financial trouble. Touring musicians...
Movie pageTanssi yli hautojen
as uncreditedIn the early 1800s, Finnish governor's daughter first detests but soon falls in love with...
Movie page1918
as (uncredited)Pastor Samuel Bro has lost his faith in God. He is in conflict with the Church Council and is...
Movie pagePulakapina
as Heikki NiskanenBased on a true story about the so called 1932 Horse Rebellion in Nivala, Finland. The decision...
Movie pageThe Age of Iron
as TieraRauta-aika (The Age of Iron) is a dramatic four-part miniseries completed in 1982 by Finnish...
TV Show pageEight Deadly Shots
as PasiSmall-farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness. The...
TV Show page