Helena Merzin-Tamm
Biography
Helena Merzin-Tamm (née Merzin; born May 7, 1972 in Tartu) is an Estonian actress. Helena Merzin was born in Tartu to actor Leonhard Merzin and Tiiu Lukk. She has two half-sisters from her father's previous marriages. In 1990, she graduated from Tartu Secondary School No. 2 (now, the Miina Härma Gymnasium), before enrolling at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, graduating in 1994. From 1994 until 2009, she worked at Vanemuine theatre in Tartu. Besides theatre roles she has played also in several films and television series. Merzin-Tamm had been in a relationship actor and director Jüri Lumiste, with whom she has a son. Since 2007, she has been married to actor Raivo E. Tamm. The couple have a son.
Known For & Full Filmography15 Titles
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as Moemaja madaam
A comedy-series depicting an Estonian family in 1980s that consists of a rebel-minded grandpa, two siblings, a mother, who is a member of the Soviet Socialist Party, and her lover, who is there, because the real husband is a captain on a foreign-going ship. Aand they have to share their apartment with a true communist and her son, who is an exemplary militiaman.
Movie - 2022, 2h 15m • as Bata
How would a clown react if he felt threatened? The problems between Beto and his father are settled on the circus stage. Eno is a Circus's clan leader. The circus is in trouble and Eno receives the visit of Beto who comes to help out. The problem is that Eno and Beto can't exist in the same room. Eno is Beto’s mentor and his father, but above all, Eno is a clown.
Drama Series - 1995, 16 episodes • as Gunilla
The boys of Wikman is a 1994-year drama serial about the Wikman Private Gymnasium students from 1937 till their mobilization in 1944. The series is based on a 1988 novel Wikmani poisid by Jaan Kross.
Drama Series - 2012, 16 episodes • as Merike Raja
Estonia's women's swimming team is stripped of their Olympic medals because of doping, and a scandal begins. With the help of Martin Kütt, an internationally renowned crisis expert, the team aims to solve the disaster. However, as Martin investigates the doping, it emerges that even government officials are involved in the affair.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as Social Worker
One sleepy Saturday morning a 30-year-old construction worker Erik gets some earth shattering news: his ex-girlfriend Moonika who he hasn't even seen for the past six months is about to go into labor. She however is not ready for motherhood and if Erik doesn't want the kid either, the little girl will be put up for adoption.
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • as Natasha Omeltchenko
Candles in the Dark is the story of a girl who comes to visit her father's homeland, the Soviet Republic of Estonia. After she arrives, she finds that her father is part of the dissident anti-soviet underground. She soon find her self engulfed in the struggle with her father and a lot of new friends, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB.
Movie - 2017, 2h 15m • as Luise (Virgin)
The film consists of three chapters. The Manslayer takes place more than a hundred years ago. The leading character Maara is a young bride who is about to start her life in her new family. The Virgin, set in the spring of 1949, tells the story of a young woman called Elina, who has been deported from Ingria into Estonia during the previous war. The Shadow moves in the present, on the border of real life and fantasy. The main character, Luna Lee, has decided to flee from home. Is there anything besides emptiness somewhere? The film is led by the singularity of the leading character - Maara, Elina and Luna Lee are all played by the same actress.
Movie - 2011, 2h 15m • as Woman with a Van
During an election campaign, a large sum of money goes missing at an Estonian politician's home party. The story involves some party guests who have serious money problems and are trying to come to terms with past mistakes. However, the self-confident politician strangely does not turn to the police, but begins to demand his justice by force.
Movie - 2013, 2h 15m • as Maret
30-year old Kertu has lived under her father's power her whole life. Because of her gentle nature, she is thought by locals to be a little simple-minded. The young woman makes her first timid attempt to change something in her life - she send a postcard to Villu, a handsome but degenerate village drunk.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as Ann
Karina and Martin are in a pleasent relation where everyday life flows in an effortlessly accustomed way and no small misbehaviours can shake it’s rush. Life is good. Perhaps it’s this perfection and frequent patterns that make them finally pose a question – is everything to be expected in life? This is a story about following the yearning of your soul. Longing for something other than the present and having the courage to be deliberately lost.
Movie - 2008, 2h 15m • as Anna Raudkats
The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.
Movie - 2010, 2h 15m • as Woman
A wintry fairytale for adults. The unusual love story is based on the motifs of H. C. Andersen's fairytale. A woman living in an ice castle lures a boy to her. He becomes so spellbound by the woman and her land of ice that he forgets the real world. The woman hides the secret of why she is living in the cold from the boy. Those, who know the original story by H.C. Andersen, will also remember that only a few lines spoke of the relationship between the boy and the Snow Queen. The question remained unanswered: what did the boy and the Snow Queen do in the ice castle during all the time the girl spent looking for the boy?
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • as Woman #1
After 27-year-old Karmen's father dies, the security structures of her previous life start falling apart, as her relationship with her half-brother Viktor also deteriorates, and she faces the darkness and emptiness of the universe.
Movie - 2010, 2h 15m • as Signe
When Miina, a seemingly well-off woman is caught shoplifting, the female officer uses her chance to show off her contempt. She sees a rival in the shoplifter and decides to teach Miina a lesson. Surprisingly, both women meet just a few hours later in a situation where the previous rivals become partners in crime and must put their fates in the hands of each other.
Movie - 2021, 2h 15m • as Karin
Jaanus spends the last day with his wife Karin at home. In the midst of common eiders, seagulls, fishing nets and summer breeze, they send Karin's soul to the eternity.