Anu Irmeli Palevaara is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 actress, choreographer and dancer. She is best known for her role as Jenni Vainio in the Finnish soap series Salatut elämät

Salatut Elämät

Salatut elämät is a Finnish 30-minute long soap opera broadcast on MTV3. It was the first Finnish daily soap opera. Its first episode aired on January 25, 1999...

which airs on MTV3

MTV3

MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...

. Palevaara has been with the series from the beginning, but in year 2001 she had a child and left for maternity leave. Palevaara's pregnancy was written in the series so that her character Jenni had a child. Palevaara returned to the series after her maternity leave.

Anu Palevaara studied dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 and singing in the Laine Theatre Art - music theater school in England 1990–1994. Palevaara has made choreographies for the municipal theatre of Lahti and to Hot Club Company, to name a few. She also starred as the leading woman in the successful Finnish movie Kuningasjätkä 1998 directed by Markku Pölönen

Markku Pölönen

Markku Pölönen is a Finnish film director, screenwriter, editor and owner of film production company Suomen Filmiteollisuus...

 as well as in the TV series Iskelmäprinssi. In year 1998 she hosted Tangomarkkinat

Tangomarkkinat

The Tangomarkkinat is the world's oldest tango festival. It is held early every July in Seinäjoki, Finland. As well as competitions to find the country's best tango singers, composers, and dancers, the festival features public dancing to live music provided by the best Finnish entertainers...

with Heikki Hietamies.

Movies

• Kuningasjätkä (Hilkka Mäkelä, 1997)
• Johtaja Uuno Turhapuro - pisnismies (Rosa, daughter of the leaderess of cooperative store, 1998)

TV-series

• Iskelmäprinssi - Anita (1998–1999)
• Torvensoittaja katolla revyy (1998)
• Salatut elämät
  Salatut Elämät
  Salatut elämät is a Finnish 30-minute long soap opera broadcast on MTV3. It was the first Finnish daily soap opera. Its first episode aired on January 25, 1999...
  
  - Jenni Vainio (1999–2001 and 2002–)