Born in Nurmijärvi to a family of a sports journalist, Jokinen attended East Carolina University on a basketball scholarship and later graduated with a major in broadcast and film. While still in university, he produced a short film called "Fist Full of Sand", which was based on Jim Morrisons' poetry. The short film won a filmmaking award at the North CarolinaFilm Festival, attracting the attention of MTV executives in New York City. After he graduated from university, Jokinn worked as an assistant producer on the music shows "Awake on the Wild Side", "MTV Rocks" and "YO! MTV Raps".
After his studies in the US, Jokinen moved back to Finland and formed a production company called Storm Inc. together with Markus Selin, a Finnish film producer. Later on, the two formed Solar Films Ltd. which nowadays has become one of the leading film production companies in Finland. Jokinen moved from Finnish music videos to TV by landing a job to direct one episode for the Finnish TV seriesTähtilampun alla for his newly established production company Solar Films. This lead him to direct another TV series, Tähtitehdas, also for Solar Films, and once again produced by Selin. The two also continued working together producing multiple music videos for Finnish and other European artists such as Sash. The videos eventually got him an agent in the USA. Jokinen moved back to USA and became a full-time music video director. He directed music videos for artists such as Beyoncé, Will Smith, Tiziano Ferro, Missy Elliott, Anastacia, Celine Dion, Thalía, Kelly Clarkson, Korn, Lordi, Nightwish, Shania Twain, Westlife and Wyclef Jean.
Film career
In the spring of 2009, Jokinen started to shoot his first full-length film, The Resident, starring Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee. The film was released in March 2011. While directing The Resident, Jokinen had started to gain funding for a film called Nicholas North. The shooting was set to start in 2010 in Finland. Finnish press reported that Julianne Moore has been cast to play the lead. It was reported in the press that the budget for the film would be 16 million euros. After moving back to Finland, Jokinen directed the drama film Puhdistus, which is set in Estonia, and based upon Sofi Oksanen's book Purge. The film was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards. Once again, the film was produced by Markus Selin and Solar Films. In 2014, Jokinen started working on the Finnish film Wildeye, which premiered in Finland in 2015. In 2015, Jokinen is starting to film his second English film, The Criminal. According to Hollywood Reporter, Keanu Reeves is playing the lead in the film.
Personal life
Jokinen was engaged to Finnish chef Sara La Fountain. After moving to Finland, Jokinen met a Finnish actress, Krista Kosonen. Later on, Jokinen cast Kosonen to play the leading role in his upcoming film, Kätilö. Jokinen started his career by directing sport broadcasts for the Finnish Broadcasting Company in Finland: He landed the job because his father, Juha Jokinen is one of the most well known sport journalists in Finland. Jokinen has a son with Niina Kurkinen, a Finnish model. Jokinen and Kurkinen had a relationship in the early 2000s. Kurkinen landed one of her first roles in the Finnish TV series Kirjava Silta in 2000, directed by Jokinen and produced by Markus Selin, and Solar Films.
