Hanna Maria Karjalainen (born 8 July 1980, in Oulu

Oulu

Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....

) became known in 2003 when she won the Haluatko filmitähdeksi (Do You Want To Be A Film Star?) competition, where the prize was the central role in the film Levottomat 3. Karjalainen acted in the 2004 movie, but the role was more minor than promised. Before that, Karjalainen had acted in a minor role in the 2001 film Rölli ja metsänhenki.

Karjalainen is a University of Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...

 graduate.

In 2006-2009, Karjalainen acted in the MTV3

MTV3

MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...

 soap series Salatut elämät

Salatut Elämät

Salatut elämät is a Finnish 30-minute long soap opera broadcast on MTV3. It was the first Finnish daily soap opera. Its first episode aired on January 25, 1999...

, where she played Laura Kiviranta's talkative cousin Salla Laitela (former Tervajoki, née Mattila).

Karjalainen has recorded R&B music with an alias "HannaB".