Merle Palmiste (born 1 November 1970) is an Estonian stage, film and television actress.
Early life and education
Merle Palmiste was born in Tallinn and raised in the Tallinn subdistrict of Õismäe. Her father was an engineer and her mother was an accountant. She attended primary and secondary schools in Tallinn, graduating from Tallinn's 9th Secondary School in 1988. Following graduation, she enrolled in the Tallinn Conservatory (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre), graduating in 1992. Palmiste's diploma production roles included Helena in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. Among her graduating classmates were Andres Raag, Kristel Leesmend, Ivo Uukkivi, Jaanus Rohumaa, Üllar Saaremäe, Kaili Närep, Dan Põldroos, Sten Zupping, Tiina Mälberg and Garmen Tabor.
Career
Stage
Following her graduation from the Tallinn Conservatory in 1992, Palmiste began a professional engagement as an actress at the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn, where she remains. Throughout her career at the Estonian Drama Theatre, she has performed in roles of works by such international authors and playwrights as: Luigi Pirandello, Yukio Mishima, Michael Frayn, Tankred Dorst, Noël Coward, Arthur Miller, Hermann Bahr, Charles Dickens, Per Olov Enquist, Ayn Rand, Molière, Alan Ayckbourn, Terry Pratchett, Neil Simon, Hristo Boytchev, Evgeny Schwartz, John Patrick, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Paul Lucas, Henrik Ibsen, Conor McPherson, Juan Rulfo, Ernest Hemingway, John Hodge, Tom Stoppard and Jordi Galceran. Roles in productions of works by Estonian authors and playwrights include: Andrus Kivirähk, Merle Karusoo, Madis Kõiv, Eduard Vilde, Jaan Kross, Eva Koff, Toomas Kall, Hendrik Toompere, and Vaino Vahing, among others.
Additionally, Palmiste has performed onstage at several other theatres in Estonia, chiefly, the Ugala theatre in Viljandi and the Tartu Theatre Lab in Tartu.
Film
Merle Palmiste made her full-length feature film debut in the role of Evelin in the 1994 Jaan Kolberg-directed historical action-drama Jüri Rumm; based on the life of the 19th-century Estonian brigand and folk hero Rummu Jüri. This was followed by the role of Grey One in the 2001 Arvo Iho-directed romantic drama Karu süda. In 2006, she appeared as Rutt in the Jüri Sillart-directed and Hans Luik penned melodrama Kuldrannake for Taska Film.
In 2001, Palmiste had a small role as an adjutant in the Sulev Keedus-directed drama Kirjad Inglile, starring Tõnu Oja and Rain Simmul. That same year, she voiced the character Benita the Cow in the Heiki Ernits and Janno Põldma-directed animated children's film Lotte and the Moonstone Secret (Estonian: Lotte ja kuukivi saladus), which was the second full-length feature film of the popular Estonian Lotte franchise. In 2013, she appeared in the role of Karin Viisla in the René Vilbre-directed family-fantasy film Väikelinna detektiivid ja valge daami saladus, produced by Balti Video and Eesti Rahvusringhääling.<ref>Artis: Kunst on Kinos Retrieved 29 July 2017.</ref> In 2016, she appeared in a small role as Mari in the Triin Ruumet-directed tragicomedy Päevad, mis ajasid segadusse, about a young, disaffected man played by Hendrik Toompere Jr. Jr. on a frantic journey through midsummer Estonia in the late 1990s trying to discover purpose and meaning in his life. In 2019, she appeared in the role of Marianne Büttel in the Mart Sander directed fantasy-horror film Kõhedad muinaslood.
In 2020, she voiced several characters in the Meelis Arulepp and Karsten Kiilerich directed animated feature film Sipsik, based on the popular 1962 children's book of the same title by Eno Raud.
In addition to Estonian films, Palmiste has appeared in several foreign language films, including; the 2003 Russian language feature-length romantic drama Yantarnye krylya directed by Andrey Razenkov; the 2004 German language film short Willkommen in Tallinn directed by Oliver Frohnauer; and the 2008 Ukrainian language family feature-length film Prykolna Kazka directed by Roman Shirman. Beginning in the early 2000s, Palmiste has also appeared in a number of Estonian short films.