Jalmari Parikka
Hjalmar Fabian Parikka was a Finnish revolutionary soldier, actor and artistic director.Life
Jalmari Parikka was born in the Eastern Finnish town of Sortavala and went to school in the Russian capital Saint Petersburg.
Parikka started his acting career in 1910 as a member of a touring theatre in Kajaani, where he had learned the profession of a typesetter. As the 1918 Finnish Civil War broke out, Parikka was head the Worker's Theatre in Enso. Soon he was named as the commander of the local Red Guard. During the Battle of Vyborg, Parikka was one of the Red Guard leaders in charge of the city's defense. He was captured by the Whites and was given the death penalty which was later turned into a life in prison. After the 1921 general pardon, Parikka worked as an artistic director in the Worker's Theatres of Pori and Vyborg and the theaters of Mikkeli and Vaasa. Since the late 1920s he was an actor in the Vyborg City Theater. Between 1938 and 1958 Parikka made more than 50 film appearances.
