Jenni Vainio

Jenni Vainio is a fictional character in the Finnish drama series Salatut elämät played by the blonde actress Anu Palevaara in 1999–2001 and 2002 onwards. She belongs to the original cast of the series.

Jenni moved together with her elder sister Katja Vainio (played by the brunette Anu Koskinen) to Pihlajakatu in southern Helsinki to live in an apartment owned by their aunt. The apartment was later sold to Camilla Mustavaara and Katja moved to Tampere. Jenni had a love affair with the business man Toni Veijalainen (played by Kristo Salminen). He committed serious financial fraud, but ironically she was verdicted and imprisoned. She served her time in a German prison, where she gave birth to her first child, the son Niko. The boy's genetical father was Toni, who was murdered. After being released from prison, Jenni returned to Helsinki and fell in love with Ami. He was her junior and the age difference was a major concern for both of them. However, they got married to each other. Ami adopted Niko and proved to be an excellent step-father. Jenni and Ami had their share of conjugal insolvencies and eventually decided to file for divorce.

When Jenni was younger, she was constantly between jobs and flat broke and actually had poor control of her personal finances. She almost did face economic ruin. Her more down-to-earth sister was often infuriated by Jenni's irresponsibility. A special part of Jenni's work history is the title "Miss Keittiö" ("Miss Kitchen"). Jenni finally managed to get a decent and permanent job as a waitress at the café Kentauri, originally founded as café "Barbaari" by Markus Ekholm (who died of drug abuse) and his biological step-brother Aki Nikkilä and later sold to Ken Ojala. After having run the café for several years, Ken sold it to Jenni and her business partner, a former bank employee Irma Halonen (who was decades her senior). Since Irma moved abroad, namely Cyprus, Jenni gained the sole ownership of the café.

At one point Jenni had to face the vicinity of death as she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Nevertheless, the disease was successfully cured and she did recover. In 2007 and 2008 Jenni dated Eero Vanala and several other men. Currently she is single. Her son grew up in a typical soap opera manner, turning from a little boy to a teen ager overnight. The talented young man left home to study mathematics. Being a social person, Jenni did not want to live by herself; she rented a room to Isabella Holm.

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