Seidi Haarla

Seidi Haarla, born on 1 January 1984 in Kirkkonummi, Finland, emerges from a distinguished lineage of Finnish performers, with grandparents Saulo Haarla and Helena Salonius and great‑grandparents Tyyne Haarla and writer Lauri Haarla shaping her artistic inheritance. Her father, the visual artist Teuri Haarla, and younger sister Ruusu Haarla, a playwright and director, further enriched the family’s creative environment, fostering Seidi’s early fascination with theatre and film. After joining a student theatre group in Helsinki in 2004, Haarla pursued formal training at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts in Saint Petersburg in 2005, later completing a Master of Arts in Theater and Drama at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2015, a milestone that marked the transition from academic study to professional practice. Together with Ruusu, she co‑authored the plays The Trauma Body (2014) and New Childhood (2020), works that draw deeply on personal memories and showcase her talent not only as an actress but also as a playwright. Haarla’s on‑screen career accelerated from 2015 onward, with numerous Finnish film and television roles that displayed her nuanced emotional range. Her breakthrough arrived in 2021 when she portrayed Laura, the female lead in Juho Kuosmanen’s critically acclaimed film Compartment No. 6, an adaptation of Rosa Liksom’s novel; the performance earned her the prestigious European Film Promotion Shooting Stars Award and a nomination for Best Actress at the European Film Awards. Beyond the screen, Haarla remains active on stage, frequently collaborating on productions that blend her writing and acting skills. Today she balances a vibrant career with family life in Turku, where she lives with her husband and three children, continuing to contribute to Finland’s rich cultural tapestry.