Birthday: 1971-08-14

Place of Birth: Keminmaa, Finland

Height: 5' 9¼" (1.76 m)

Wiki Biography: Peter Franzén is one of the most respected Finnish actors of the 21st century. His first big supporting role was in A Summer by the River (1998), which turned out to be the biggest hit of the year. In Jussi Awards, known as Finnish Oscars, Franzén was awarded for Best Supporting Actor of the year.For Best Lead he was nominated the very next year. War film Rukajärven tie (1999) became biggest hit of the year, even thought the year was very good for Finnish movie industry. Supporting role in Badding (2000) reunited him with the director of A Summer by the River (1998). The result was 2nd biggest audience hit of the year.In the year 2001, Franzén was seen as supporting actor in three big films. One of them, On the Road to Emmaus (2001) brought him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Next year he played the male lead in Lovers & Leavers (2002), directed by the very respected Aku Louhimies. Film was nominated for five Jussi's, including Best Film of the Year. Only his wife's film Me and Morrison (2001) got bigger audience in that year. Estonian-Finnish co-production Names Engraved in Marble (2002) was another big war film starring Franzén, distributed by Columbia TriStar.Franzén made three big films in 2003. Bad Boys (2003) became huge success, that was not only clearly the biggest hit of the year, but also biggest Finnish hit since 1989. Honey Baby (2004) wasn't as big a hit, but it was a very different kind of a picture starring Franzén's wife Irina Björklund and Hollywood star Henry Thomas. Franzén, who had only small part in the film, had now worked for the first time with Mika Kaurismäki, brother of Academy Award nominated Aki Kaurismäki. Franzén was also seen in At Point Blank (2003), Finnish-Swedish co-production.In 2004 Franzén made another Finnish-Swedish co-production called The Threat (2004). Film got audience of more than 210,000 in Sweden. Same year Franzén reunited with Markku Pölönen to make Dog Nail Clipper (2004), which was not only the highest grossing film of the year, but also the one that brought Franzén his second award for Best Leading Actor. In Popular Music (2004) Franzén was heard as the narrator. In one episode of "CSI: Miami" (2002) Franzén made his American debut.Franzén played a supporting role in Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006) in 2006, which became the biggest hit of the year. In the same year he was seen in Mystery of the Wolf (2006), a family adventure film.In 2007 Franzén was seen playing the lead in Finnish film The Matriarch (2007), a part in US picture Alibi (2007) with Elvis Presley's co-star Irene Tsu and Joe Estevez. He also had small cameo role in Renny Harlin film Cleaner (2007), starring Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris and Eva Mendes. Harlin originally wanted Franzén to play a role in Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), but Franzén was busy and Matti Ristinen replaced him.Franzén will be seen in Hellsinki (2009) in 2009, a film directed by Aleksi Mäkelä.