Pääru Oja is an Estonian stage, film, voice, and television actor.
Early life and education
Pääru Oja was born in Tallinn, the youngest of two sons. His father is actor Tőnu Oja and his older brother is Estonian Theatre Festival CEO and theatre manager Kaarel Oja, who is married to actress Ursula Ratasepp. His uncle is actor, director and theatre instructor Rein Oja. He attended primary and secondary schools in Tallinn before being accepted to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, where graduated from in 2012. Oja's diploma roles included Father of Toulon in Peter Barnes' Red Noses, Joseph Wykowski in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, and Argante in Molière's The Imaginary Invalid.
Career
Stage
Following his graduation from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Pääru Oja began an engagement at the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn, where he is still currently employed. Some of Oja's more memorable roles at the Estonian Drama Theatre to date have been:
Pääru Oja's first film appearance was in the role of Kristjan in the 2010 short Ei oska filmi teha, directed by Hardi Keerutaja and featuring Mikk Jürjens and Viire Valdma. Over the next few years, he appeared in a number of other film shorts. In 2013, he made his feature-length film debut in the small role of Evaristus in the René Vilbre directed children's fantasy film Väikelinna detektiivid ja valge daami saladus. In 2015, Oja appeared as Sanitar Elmar 'Säinas' in the Elmo Nüganen directed war film1944 for Matila Röhr Productions and Taska Film. Set in World War II, the film is shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to choose sides and thus fight against their fellow countrymen. It was selected as the Estonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. The following year, he appeared as Siim in the Toomas Hussar directed political thriller Luuraja ja luuletaja, starring Jan Uuspõld. In 2017, it was announced he would appear in the Kaur Kokk directed period dramaPõrgu Jaan. In 2018, he appeared as the title character in the Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon directed Icelandic-Estonian drama Mihkel opposite Tómas Lemarquis and as the character Ott in the Siim Tamm directed drama-thriller Hölma All. Oja has also worked as a voice actor, dubbing foreign animated films into the Estonian language. In 2013, he lent his voice to the Estonian dubbing of the Canadian-American 3D computer animated science fiction-comedy film Escape from Planet Earth.
Television
Between 2014 and 2015, Pääru Oja had a recurring role as Markus Heng on the popular TV3 comedy-crime series Kättemaksukontor. In 2018, he began a starring role as Alex in the TV3 crime series Lõks. In 2020, he had a recurring role as Matti in the Finnish television crime series Cold Courage.
Radio
In 2016, Pääru Oja was one of 77 Estonian actors to honor the 400th year of William Shakespeare's death with the radio series "154 Sonnets of William Shakespeare" on Estonian Public Broadcasting stations Vikerraadio, Klassikaraadio, and Raadio 2. All sonnets were translated into the Estonian language by Harald Rajamets and each actor recited a sonnet daily.
Personal life
Pääru Oja currently resides in Tallinn. He is a jazz and flamenco guitarist and often performs sets with fellow guitarist Indrek Kruusimaa at venues in Estonia.
