Jari Manninen was born on November 5th, 1985, in the quaint Finnish town of Viitasaari. Prior to embarking on his acting career, Manninen attended Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, where he pursued a degree in screen writing and directing. His academic endeavors also included studying creative writing at Liminka School of Art and film acting at Voionmaa Institute.
It was during his time at Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences that Manninen crossed paths with Joonas Makkonen, who had founded an indie movie group called Jo-Jo the Dog Films. Manninen joined the group as an actor in their short movies, and the rest, as they say, is history. Jo-Jo the Dog Films' movies have gained widespread recognition after winning numerous awards in global time-limited film-making challenges.
In 2013, Manninen was honored with the title of best male actor in The 24 Hour Film Race for his appearance in the short movie Hobo with Time Machine (2013). Later that same year, he received the best male actor's award in the 100 Hour Film Race for his role in the short movie Renewing Mikael (2014). To top it all off, Renewing Mikael was also awarded as the second-best film, as well as receiving accolades for best director, best actor ensemble, best make-up, and best poster. The film shared a nomination for best music with another film.
In 2014, Manninen made his feature film debut with a main role in the horror comedy Bunny the Killer Thing (2015). More recently, he was selected for one of the leading roles in Sami Pöyry's film Punainen kohina (2021).
