Åke Lindman

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Åke Lindman as corporal Lehto (right) in "The Unknown Soldier"

Åke Leonard Lindman (formerly Åke Järvinen, born 11 January 1928 in Helsinki) is a Finnish director and actor.

In his youth Lindman was a professional football player, playing in the defence for the Finnish national football team during the Olympics in Helsinki 1952. He represented the football club HIFK in the Finnish league. In the 1960s, the British Premier League club Swindon Town F.C. wanted to sign him, but he said no and turned to his acting career.

Åke Lindman's breakthrough as an actor came with the role of the stubborn soldier Lehto in Edvin Laine's movie The Unknown Soldier from 1955. Later he would also regain fame as captain Torsten Jansson in the Swedish soap opera Rederiet. Lindman has also been successful as a director, e.g. with the TV-series Stormskärs Maja and the movie Framom främsta linjen, a movie about the Finland-Swedish infantry regiment 61 during the defence of the Karelian Isthmus in 1944. Currently he is post-producing the war movie Tali-Ihantala 1944.