Merle Palmiste

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.