Jasper Pääkkönen Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Jasper Pääkkönen is a Finnish actor, well known in his home country for staring in numerous Finnish box office hits since 1988. The most notable ones were Frozen Land (2005), Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006), and Lapland Odyssey (2010), but especially Bad Boys (2003) for which he was awarded at the Brussels International Independent Film Festival in the “Best Actor” category, shared with his co-stars. He also had prominent roles in Heart of a Lion (2013), which earned him the Jussi Award for “Best Supporting Actor”, and TV series Vikings, where he was cast in the 4th season as Halfdan the Black in 2015. Jasper also played the role of Felix Kendrickson in BlacKkKlansman, a comedy-drama film which premiered on August 10, 2018, at the Cannes Film Festival, and further boosted his international career in early 2019.

Born Name

Jasper Pääkkönen

Nick Name

Jasper

Sun Sign

Cancer

Born Place

Helsinki, Finland

Residence

Kaartinkaupunki, Helsinki, Finland

Nationality

Education

He attended Kallio High School in Porthaninkatu, Helsinki, Finland.

Jasper also enrolled in Owings Mills High School located in Baltimore, Maryland for 1 year, between 1997 and 1998, as an exchange student.

Occupation

Actor, Entrepreneur

Family

• Father – Seppo Pääkkönen (Actor)
• Mother – Virve Havelin
• Others – Antti Pääkkönen (Uncle) (Actor)

Manager

Jasper is represented by –

• ICM Partners in Los Angeles, California, USA, and his representatives are Chris Horsman and Jeff Barry
• Lisa Richards Agency as his talent agency in Dublin, Ireland
• Subtitle Talent, in Kilkenny, Ireland
• Narrative agency and his publicist is Brya Rifkin

Build

Slim

Height

5 ft 10.75 in or 180 cm

Weight

73 kg or 161 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

He has dated –

1. Alexandra Escat (2018-Present) – He and a well known Filipino-Spanish top model kept their relationship private up until November 2018, when the rumors started doing the rounds as they appeared at the WildAid gala charity fundraiser together. After being photographed in poses that were typical for a couple on a red carpet, they acknowledged their relationship publicly. In early 2019, they were still seen sharing pictures on social media of traveling to various places worldwide, such as Finland, Italy, and Brazil.

Race / Ethnicity

White

Jasper is of Finnish descent.

Hair Color

Light Brown

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Slim, tall physique
• Tidy, parted haircut
• Thick mustache

Brand Endorsements

He has endorsed brands such as –

• Vision Fly Fishing (2018)
• Fly Fishing Nation (2018)
• Roxtons Fishing (2018)
• WildAid charity (2018)
• Patagonia (Brand ambassador)
• Löyly saunas
• Pokerisivut.com poker magazine (2009)

Best Known For

• Playing the role of Halfdan the Black in TV series Vikings
• Starring as Felix Kendrickson in BlacKkKlansman movie in 2018
• Acting in Pahat Pojat, or Bad Boys (2003), for which he won a “Best Actor” award at the Brussels International Independent Film Festival
• Starring in Frozen Land, a 2005 Finnish movie, in the lead role of Niko Smolander
• Being an environmentalist and a brand ambassador for Patagonia outdoor clothing and gear

First Film

His film debut was in 1988, where he starred as Nahid in the movie The Glory and Misery of Human Life.

First TV Show

In 1999, he made his TV show debut in the role of Saku Salin in Secret Lives TV series, which brought him popularity among the Finnish audience.

Jasper Pääkkönen Favorite Things

• Activity – Fly fishing, Relaxing in the sauna
• Place – Helsinki, Finland
• Place In Helsinki – Löyly roof terrace, Mattolaituri, Suomenlinna fortress island
• Restaurant In Helsinki – Muru, Baskeri & Basso, Ask, Finnjävel 

Source – HelsinkiThisWeek.com

Jasper Pääkkönen Facts

1. He never owned a car, nor does he plan to get one, as everything was within walking distance in his home city of Kaartinkaupunki, in Helsinki, Finland.
2. Jasper claimed Helsinki was and always will be his hometown, as he loves going back there in the summertime to rejuvenate between shooting for his cinematography and television projects.
3. He enjoys drinking light beer after spending time in the sauna. Saunas are a part of Finnish culture, and the word even originated from Finland. Jasper even described it as Finn’s Church, as it is a traditional place of peace.
4. He founded his own restaurant and sauna complex named Löyly on the shore of Hernesaari, Helsinki, along with a politician and entrepreneur Antero Vartia. It cost them more than 6 million euros to build.
5. Jasper is incredibly passionate about fishing, and fly fishing in particular. He often said in interviews that if he were to choose between acting or fly fishing for the rest of his life, he’d choose the latter without a doubt.
6. His first fly fishing memory was visiting his grandmother’s summer place in Sweden when he was 8 or 9, which planted a seed of obsession for the activity, and it never went away.
7. He was actively working on promoting fly fishing among teenagers in Finland since the beginning of his on-screen career. As a result of his interviews, the sales of Vision Fly Fishing gear went up a crazy amount, which landed him a collaboration with the brand.
8. His best catch was a 30 lbs salmon on a dry fly, and an 81cm or 32.5-inch brown trout.
9. Jasper’s main fishing rod was a white 9 feet Vision Venus, but he has more than 20 spare rods that he occasionally uses.
10. He had a two-decade-long career in Finland before coming to the USA and was even named the most profitable film actor in Finland by the Ilta-Sanomat, a Finnish magazine, around 2000.
11. Leading up to his international success, film critics such as Huffington Post’s Michael Giltz called him “handsome and compelling” in Lapland Odyssey (2010), and Variety’s Leslie Felperin said that he was a “rising thesp, showing impressive range” for his performance in Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006).
12. Jasper was introduced as the “Shooting Star of Finland” at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2006.
13. He won the Jussi Award for “Best Supporting Actor” in 2013, for his acting skills in a Finnish drama film named Heart of a Lion.
14. His international success and critical acclaim started in 2015 when it was announced that he would star in the 4th season of Vikings, a well-known TV series. He was cast as Halfdan the Black, and his co-stars were Katheryn Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, and others.
15. He was named a very successful entrepreneur, most notably because he founded a poker magazine named Pokerisivut.com in 2009, alongside Markus Selin, a film producer. The magazine received an award for the “Best Overall Affiliate” at the London iGB Affiliate Awards in 2010.
16. He had a regular role in 387 episodes of Salatut elämät or Secret Lives from 1999 to 2002.
17. He played the role of a white supremacist Felix Kendrickson in BlacKkKlansman movie in 2018. Despite not being American, the director Spike Lee was convinced he was from Alabama by his acting chops. He immediately knew that Jasper was the one for the role and the movie was a massive success the same year.
18. Jasper was an exchange student in 1997 and 1998, at the Owings Mills High School in Baltimore, Maryland. When he went to prom, he took a black-colored girl that was his close friend but was met with a lot of judgment and protest from his school friends and the community.
19. Jasper kept in contact with his high-school friends via Facebook long after he was back in Finland, and the girl from the prom used to even send him articles about Finland, saying its society seemed like a Utopia.
20. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Featured Image by Jasper Pääkkönen / Instagram