Paula Vesala is a Finnish playwright, musician and actor. Paula studied music at Sibelius Academy from 2002 to 2011, her main instrument being classical singing. She earned her BA from Theater Academy Helsinki in 2014, where she studied playwriting and dramaturgy. She is currently studying in the playwriting MFA program at UCLA. In Finland, Paula is a well-known singer and a songwriter, having received 9 Finnish Grammys with her former band PMMP. She has acted for both film and television and is the Finnish voice of for example Tinker Bell and Hello Kitty. She has been awarded for her music and work by The Feminist Association Unioni (Lyyti Award), The Finnish Composers' Copyright Association (Teosto Award), The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland (Finland Prize) and Amnesty International (Candle Award). Her produced plays are Afghanistan (2012, a short play), Arkielamaa (2013, adaptation), Transfinlandia (2014, full-length play), Antigone (2014, adaptation) and Please Vote (2015, one-act). She was awarded with Cirque du Soleil Emerging artists scholarship in 2015.
