Ansa Ikonen

Aili Ansa Inkeri Ikonen
Ansa Ikonen receives Jussi Award for Best Actress in 1944.
Born	(1913-12-19)19 December 1913 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died	23 May 1989(1989-05-23) (aged 75) Helsinki, Finland

Aili Ansa Inkeri Ikonen (19 December 1913 in Saint Petersburg – 23 May 1989 in Helsinki) was an award-winning Finnish film and theater actress. Ikonen was an intelligent comedian and a skillful character actress. In a film career spanning three decades, Ikonen appeared in dozens of films, and was one of the most popular actresses of her time. Ansa Ikonen and Tauno Palo became the golden couple of Finnish cinema.

Ikonen was born to Finnish parents in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1913, but after the Russian revolution her family moved to Finland. She studied to become a music teacher but never worked in that occupation. Instead she aimed for career in cinema. After some minor roles the famous director Valentin Vaala cast her as a leading lady in Kaikki rakastavat (Everybody loves somebody, 1935). Tauno Palo was the leading man. Next year Ikonen and Palo performed in another marriage comedy. Both films became successful, and Ansa Ikonen became a star. For years she was among the best known film actresses in Finland.

Ikonen and Palo made altogether 12 films together, most of them comedies. Although not romantically linked in real life, the two nevertheless captured the audiences' imagination as the golden couple of Finnish cinema.

At the same time with her film career, Ikonen was also hired in the Finnish national theatre. Her career there lasted for 44 years. She played in classical play by Finnish and foreign authors. She played in 16 Shakespeare plays, six plays by Molière and Nora in Ibsen's Doll's house.

Ikonen was an intelligent comedian and a skillful character actress. Writers sometimes wrote roles specially for her. She did not have any formal education for theatre, but as a film star she quickly learned the tricks of the trade. In 1949 she got a stipendium and attended Old Vics Theatre school in London.

Ikonen also directed a romantic comedy Nainen on Valttia (Woman is the Wild Card) in 1944.

Ikonen was married to actor Jalmari Rinne and had two daughters: Katriina Rinne and Marjatta Rinne. Because the husband was 20 years older than Ikonen, she often had a role of his daughter in the plays where they worked together.