He was an amateur actor who was spotted by director Edvin Laine and
cast as Rokka for Tuntematon Sotilas (1955). It was the only major movie role he
ever made but as a result he is one of the icons of Finnish Film. Few
years later he moved to first to Australia and then to South Africa, where he died during 1970s. His
wife run a antique bookstore in Pretoria till age of 76.