Piret Laurimaa (married name Piret Palu; born 3 November 1971), is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n stage, television, radio, and film actress.

Early life and education

Piret Laurimaa was born in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

to Tiit Laurimaa and Aave Uus (''née'' Meriluht). She has three half-siblings. She graduated from secondary school in 1990, then studied acting at

Aare Laanemets Aare Laanemets (6 February 1954 – 28 October 2000) was an Estonian actor and theatre director, who is possibly best recalled for his role as Joosep Toots in three film adaptations of novels penned by author Oskar Luts: '' Kevade'' (1969), '' S ...

' theatre school in Pärnu. She graduated from Tallinn Pedagogical University (now,

Tallinn University Tallinn University (TLU; , ''TLÜ'') is a public research university in Estonia. Located in the centre of Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn University is one of the three largest institutions of higher education in the country. Both QS ...

) in 1995.

Stage career

Following graduation, she joined the

Endla Theatre Endla () is a professional theatre in city of Pärnu, Estonia. The roots of the theatre came from Endla Society. The theatre opened in 1911. The first performance was ''Libahunt'' (The Werewolf) by the Estonian writer August Kitzberg. The Es ...

in Pärnu in 1996 and was engaged at the theatre until 2014. Among her more memorable international roles at the Endla were in productions of works by:

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

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Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

, Marc Camoletti,

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Maria Blom Maria Margareta Blom (born 28 February 1971) is a Swedish film director, dramatist and screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for the film '' Dalecarlians'' from 2004. Blom has written and directed more than ten theatre plays among them ''Raba ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

Leea Klemola Leea Elisabet Klemola (born 16 August 1965 in Veteli) is a Finnish actress, director and playwright. She studied at the Theatre Academy Helsinki 1987–1991 and has also been teaching acting. Career Klemola has worked on stage and in films. She s ...

, and

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (; born 28 March 1960) is a French people, Franco-Belgians, Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His Play (theater), plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the wo ...

, among others. Roles in productions of Estonian playwrights and authors include works by:

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A. H. Tammsaare Anton Hansen (18 (O.S.)/30 January 1878 – 1 March 1940), better known by his pseudonym A. H. Tammsaare and its variants, was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy '' Truth and Justice'' (''Tõde ja õigus''; 1926–1933) is considered one of t ...

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, and Illar Mõttus.Vanemuine
Retrieved 22 December 2016. During her time at the Endla, Laurimaa was awarded the Estonian Theatre Award for Best Actress in 2008 and the Best Actress in 2009. She was voted the audience favorite in 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014. She also received the Endla Colleague Award in 2002, 2005, 2007, and 2009. In 2014, she left the Endla and joined the

Vanemuine Vanemuine () is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian language, Estonian-language theatre. Stemming from the Vanemuine Society (1865), the theatre's first performance was Lydia Koidula's ''Saaremaa Onupoeg'' ("The cousin from S ...

theatre in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. Roles at the Vanemuine have been in productions of works by J. B. Priestley,

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, and

Lars Norén Lars Göran Ingemar Norén (9 April 1944 – 26 January 2021) was a Swedish playwright, novelist and poet. He was a director at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, artistic director of Riksteatern 1999–2007, and artistic director of Folkteatern in Go ...

Television and film career

Laurimaa made her feature film debut as the character Gerli in the 2003 Rando Pettai directed, Peep Pedmanson penned comedy ''Vanad ja kobedad saavad jalad alla'' (English release title: ''Made in Estonia''). The film was based on the popular Estonian television comedy series ''Vanad ja kobedad''. In 2013, she appeared as Kaarin in the

Ilmar Raag Ilmar Raag (born 21 May 1968 in Kuressaare) is an Estonian media executive, actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his socio-critical film '' The Class''. He was CEO of Estonian Television from 2002 to 2005. He is a well known ...

directed romantic drama '' Kertu'', released in English-speaking countries as ''Love Is Blind''. She has also appeared in two film shorts: ''Perebisnes'' in 2003, and ''Haiguste ravi'' in 2011. In 2019, she appeared as Laura in the Gerda Kordemets directed comedy film ''Mehed''. She has made appearances on a number of Estonian television programs, including: ''Ohtlik lend'' in 2006, ''Kelgukoerad'' in 2008, ''

Kättemaksukontor ''Kättemaksukontor'' or in English ''The Vengeance Bureau'' and even ''Revenge Office'' is an Estonian comedy-crime television series. In the series, a group of women have a organization called "Kättemaksukontor". This organization helps to solv ...

'' in 2009 and again in 2015, and ''Viimane võmm'' in 2015. From 2009 until 2010, she appeared on the

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

improvisational comedy series ''Vilde tee'', adapted from the German television series ''

Schillerstraße ''Schillerstraße'' ("Schiller Street") was a German improvisational comedy show that aired weekly on Sat.1. It was recorded without a script and broadcast unedited to a large extent. The American broadcaster Fox has earned the licence for ''Schi ...

''.

Personal life

Piret Laurimaa married actor Tiit Palu in 1998. The couple have two children; a son and a daughter.Õhtuleht
''Piret Laurimaa: "Mulle meeldib mängida räsitud tiivaga inimesi."'' 10 August 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurimaa, Piret 1971 births Living people Estonian stage actresses Estonian film actresses Estonian television actresses 20th-century Estonian actresses 21st-century Estonian actresses Actresses from Pärnu