Helle Meri
Encyclopedia
Helle Meri widow of Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...

 (29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006), is an Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n actress who also served as the Estonian First Lady from 1992 to 2001.

Helle Meri (née, Helle Pihlak) was born in the small town of Rapla
Rapla
Rapla is a town in central Estonia, the administrative centre of Rapla County and Rapla Parish. It has a population of 5,618 .-External links:*...

 where she also went to school. In her spare time she actively went in for different sports and played the basketball.

After the secondary school, she went on to study at the Stage School of Tallinn Conservatory. Before serving as the First Lady, she played in the Estonian Drama Theatre from 1972 up until 1992 when Lennart Meri became the Estonian Embassador to Finland prior the 9 years of Presidency. The couple got married in 1992, the year that also marks the end to the stage carrier of hers as an actress.

In theatre, Helle Pihlak had roles in numerous classical pieces to a good critical acclaim to her credit, including the pieces by Estonian classics, like August Kitzberg, Anton Hansen Tammsaare
Anton Hansen Tammsaare
Anton Hansen Tammsaare , born Anton Hansen, was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy Truth and Justice is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature and "The Estonian Novel"....

, Jaan Kross
Jaan Kross
-Early life:Born in Tallinn, Estonia, studied Jacob Westholm´s Grammar school, Kross attended the University of Tartu and graduated from its School of Law...

 and Jaan Kruusvall among many. She had roles also in musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

s, in children's plays and in film.

Prior the marriage to Lennart Meri, Helle Pihlak was in a long-term relationship with a composer Eino Tamberg
Eino Tamberg
Eino Tamberg was an Estonian composer.Tamberg was born in Tallinn. He studied music composition with Eugen Kapp at the Tallinn Conservatory, graduating in 1953...

. Helle Meri is a mother of 1, a daughter Tuule Meri (born in 1985).

Helle Meri is the patron of the Estonian SOS Children's Village in Keila
Keila
Keila is a town and an urban municipality in Harju County in north-western Estonia. It is also the administrative centre of the surrounding rural municipality – Keila Parish.-History:...

.
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