Jani Petteri Toivola is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 actor and dancer. He studied in HB Acting Studio, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1999–2002. He has performed in several dance works, television series and plays. Toivola is also openly gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

. His father is Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n and mother Finnish.

Toivola has been a veejay for the chart programme of the music channel The Voice

The Voice TV

The Voice TV is a network of music television channels that is owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media . In 2004 it started broadcasting from Finland with localized feeds for Denmark, Norway and Sweden . In Finland The Voice TV is broadcast only in digital...

. He has also so far hosted the third and fourth season of the Finnish Idols

Idols (Finland)

Idols is a Finnish reality-television singing competition that airs on MTV3 . It debuted in the summer of 2003, and went on to become one of the most popular shows on Finnish television...

television series together with Ellen Jokikunnas

Ellen Jokikunnas

Ellen Jokikunnas is a Finnish model, PR manager, and television presenter. She is best known for hosting all four seasons of Idols, but her first fame came from competing in the Miss Finland pageant in 1998...

.

In the Finnish parliamentary election of 2011

Finnish parliamentary election, 2011

An election to the Eduskunta was held on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%....

, Toivola was elected to the Parliament of Finland

Parliament of Finland

The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

 as a candidate of the Green League

Green League

The Green League is a centrist green liberal political party in Finland. It has ten seats in the Finnish Parliament and two in the European Parliament. The current chairperson is Ville Niinistö....

. He's the first African-American in the Parliament of Finland.

Filmography

• Kuilu mielessä, (2003)
• Käenpesä, TV series (2005), as Samir Kibaki
• Meno-paluu, a travel programme (2005), host
• Ähläm Sähläm, TV series (2006), as Heikki
• Osasto 5, TV series (2006), as Ahmed Mattila
• Idols, third season of TV series (2007), host
• Kaikki kunnossa, waiter in TV series (2007)
• Big Brother Extra
  Big Brother 2009 (Finland)
  Big Brother 2009 is the fifth series of the Finnish version of the reality show Big Brother. The show aired from August 26, 2009 to November 29, 2009, lasting 97 days. For the fifth series, the house has been split into two sides with one side representing 'Paradise' and the other representing the...
  
  , fifth season of TV series (2009), host

Theatre

• Sorsastaja, Finnish National Theatre
  Finnish National Theatre
  The Finnish National Theatre , founded in 1872 in the city of Pori, is located in central Helsinki on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square. It is the world's oldest theatre with performances in Finnish...
  
   (2006)
• Hairspray, Helsinki City Theatre (2005)
• Hair, Peacock Theatre in Linnanmäki
  Linnanmäki
  Linnanmäki is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on May 27, 1950 and is owned by non-profit Lasten Päivän Säätiö . Linnanmäki has 44 different rides of different sizes...