Veronica Jarvis, 27, from Espoo, has been creating a career in Hollywood for years: “I’m not recognized in Finland”

Finnish Veronica Jarvis is creating a career in the world.

Veronica Jarvis is from Espoo. Kevin Cruz

Veronica Jarvis, 27, answers his phone from Vancouver. The years in the world are heard in the voice of a woman from Espoo as a small fight. His surname Järvi has also taken on a more international form.

The reason for this is that Veronica, who was born in Espoo, has already lived in the world for eight years and created a career as an actress.

– Somehow when I say it out loud, that I’ve been abroad for so long, I can’t believe it myself! I just moved here, Veronica says with joy in her voice.

You can’t hear from his voice that he’s had a long day on the set of the new Straight Man series. The Finnish actor will star in Better Call Saul and the actor known from the Breaking Bad series Bob Odenkirk’s alongside one episode of the new series.

The smile is tender after the filming, and gradually the Finnish language is starting to loosen up again. When you ask him if he is tired, the answer is no. Veronica is already used to long shooting days.

Dream

Veronica moved to New York at the age of 19. Kevin Cruz

Eight years ago, Veronica had a dream. She had decided to become an actress, and while her high school friends applied to universities and polytechnics in Finland, Veronica applied to a prestigious acting school in New York. This paid off, as the application resulted in a scholarship for a local study program.

– After the year spent in New York, I moved to Los Angeles for another three years.

Although nothing has been heard of Veronica in recent years, she has diligently created a career in the United States. Roles have trickled down to him as a result of hard work over the years.

Because of the corona, Hollywood film production was moved to Vancouver, Canada, and this meant a recent move to a new city for the Finnish star. Now life has settled down in Canada, and there has been enough work.

– You can’t really call this a normal everyday life, when life goes from project to project. That’s exactly what’s interesting about an actor’s life, that you never know what you’re going to do next month.

Over the years, many Finnish actors have pursued a successful career in Hollywood with poor results. How does the 19-year-old beginning actor from Espoo think he succeeded in this?

– The circles are quite small here, when everyone knows everyone. I think it’s most important that the actor has a reputation of being nice to work with and being a good team player.

And what kind of strengths does Veronica think her background will bring to the job search?

– I don’t know if this is a Finnish thing, but I’m always 15 minutes too early everywhere! And yes, it has taken a lot of work to get to this point.

Dear homeland

Although Veronica enjoys being abroad, Finland is an important place for her. Kevin Cruz

Veronica does not rule out the possibility that she would end up back in Finland someday. For now, however, life in the world tastes sweeter. Veronica has a male friend in Canada, and a close circle of friends that she calls her second family.

– It’s wonderful to visit Finland and see family and friends. I’ve gotten to know the system through which you can get a job here, and in Finland it’s a bit different and foreign to me. I feel enormous gratitude here every day on the filming locations. Here I get to do what I love.

By system, Veronica refers to the kind of routes through which actors end up in auditions for TV series and movies.

– Here it works so that every Monday a list is published with all the roles in North America for which actors are needed. First, my own agents go through them and think about what I might be suitable for. After this, they send photo and video material of me to the people in charge of casting for series and movies.

After this, you may receive an invitation to audition.

– And the test shots may be very different. Sometimes production companies only need a video to make a decision, sometimes they want to see an actor, and sometimes up to eight auditions are required before a final selection is made.

For Veronica, the auditions have been a lot of work so far. For Finns, he is a foreign face, because apart from filming the international film The Creeps, shot in Vuokatti in 2021, he has focused on working on Hollywood productions.

– I am not recognized in Finland, but it has been my own choice to focus on creating a career here in the world.

Veronica would also be interested in Finnish roles.

– If they were offered, I would of course be happy to come to Finland for filming. And maybe one day it will feel like it’s time to move back there!

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