60 years old | The most interesting roles came only after the age of 45, says Jonna Järnefelt

“When working life has become fragmented, I have had to think about what else I could do other than acting”, Jonna Järnefelt lays out the origin story of his upcoming audiobook.

Järnefelt has always written, but the impetus for more serious writing was when his mother died of dementia 14 years ago.

“I wanted to deal with the matter by writing, so that something other than just memories and anecdotes would remain of him.”

Three as the mother of a daughter, Järnefelt is interested in questions about being a woman, a daughter and a mother.

A dialogue novel was born, encouraged by the writing course at Krittinisen University The ruins of Casablanca. It will be published as an audiobook in January of next year. Originally, prose was supposed to be born, but soon Järnefelt heard two voices in his head.

“I found myself writing a dialogue, perhaps the inner dialogue of two friends or the same person.”

Järnefelt spent his childhood in Espoo, and the name of the book comes from the adventure park Casablanca, which was built in the early 1970s on the ruins of a war fortress in Haukilahti. Järnefelt’s father took his little daughter there. The place was soon closed, but the ruins still exist.

Audiobooks when talking about the fairness of compensation, Järnefelt says that he knows “incredibly little” about it.

“I have always worked in such a way that if the story is nice and there are nice people in it, I will do it regardless of whether there is a lot of money coming in. Doing that generates so much good energy.”

Järnefelt, who left Lilla Teatern as a freelancer in 2003, has made many of his own productions. It has meant that, after the box office receipts, when the musicians’ salaries and space rents have been paid, the artist is perhaps left with coffee money.

He says he’s grateful for the great grant system, “but it’s not evenly distributed anyway”. The cuts that will take place in the future scare the freelancer “like hell”.

Indeed there have been enough roles. Järnefelt’s career has not seen the actress’s dilemma of fewer roles with age. Vice versa.

“I started getting more and more interesting roles after I turned 45. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that I myself already started to know a little about what I can do.”

The skyrocketing level of Finnish musical theater in particular has delighted the actor. Musical theater roles in recent years have been Tampere Työväen Teatteri Come from Away in 2022 and Katrina’s title role in 2023. Järnefelt is currently performing in a musical Mother, wife and other impossibilities in the Alexander Theater.

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“I was a bit of an oddball at school, because I was so strongly inclined towards the Finnish language.”

In employment Being bilingual has helped Järnefelt.

“It has been a huge asset that both languages ​​have been taught at home,” he says.

Järnefelt spoke Finnish with his architect father and Swedish with his mother, who worked as a nurse, translator and dance critic.

My childhood was very focused on the Finnish language. “I notice that Sweden needs to be protected a bit.”

Most of the relatives are also Finnish speakers. Järnefelt, who attended a Swedish-language school in Töölö and Munkkiniemi, was divided into two realities at a young age.

“I was a bit of an oddball at school, because I was so strongly inclined towards the Finnish language.”

Even when he studied at the Theater School in the Swedish-speaking acting department, he didn’t fully feel that he belonged to a gang.

When young Järnefelt enjoyed singing, playing the piano and dancing and never thought of becoming an actor. I started my studies at the dance department, but physical difficulties forced me to stop. However, the ethos of the dancer’s use of the body has followed along.

“Discipline has helped in many things in acting.”

In the profession of a performer, constant exposure is a double-edged sword. Järnefelt says that, especially when he was younger, “it was possible to consider yourself very important”.

Secondly.

“You have to like yourself a little, because going on stage requires a lot of courage.”

Aging may mean that Järnefelt gets one more artificial joint in addition to the already operated back.

Otherwise, he says he feels “direct physical feelings of happiness that he’s still fit.”

What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

“Don’t rush, take your time. I’ve always been impatient, I still don’t want to stop until I’m exhausted.”