Volli Käro

Born Dec 13, 1940 · Oparino, Oparinsky District, Kirov Oblast, Russian SFSR [now Russia]

Volli Käro (born Vladimir Käro; December 13, 1940) is an Estonian actor. Volli Käro was born in Kirov Oblast in Russia to Estonian parents Fidrik and Erika Käro who had been resettled in the area as part of the Stolypin reform. He was one of eight siblings. At age four, the family were able to return to Estonia and settled for a while in Loksa and Vihula. Käro attended schools in Väike-Maarja before his father died when Käro was ten. Afterward, the family moved several more times. Because of his family's poor financial situation after the death of his father, he worked on a collective farm following primary school. It was during a school trip to Tallinn that Käro became interested in theatre after watching Estonian ballerina Helmi Puur perform in Swan Lake. Afterward, he took dance lessons. After graduating from secondary school in 1960, he began working at the Väike-Maarja cultural centre as an artistic instructor, then the artistic director and finally the director. In 1964, he applied to the Estonian SSR State Institute of Music and Theatre (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) to work under the tutelage of theatre actor and director Voldemar Panso, but was not accepted. Volli Käro is married to stage actress Viive Käro (née Aamisepp). He resides in Rakvere and has a summer home in Kärdla on the island of Hiiumaa. His son Allan Käro is a historian and his first cousin, once removed, is actor Kirill Käro.