Born in 15 March 1959 as Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola, he is the mostsuccessful Finnish film director in the history of Hollywood.

Harlin started his career in film business in the beginning of 1980swhen he was directing commercials and company films for companies likeShell. Later he worked as a buyer for Finnish film distributor and metFinnishMarkus Selin in Los Angeles. Theybecame friends and started writing a screenplay called "Arctic Heat".The project started fast and soon they hadChuck Norris signed on leading role for thefilm. But with money problems shooting schedule didn't hold and Norrisleft the project, but Selin and Harlin gotMike Norris for the leading role.They wrote new script,Born American (1986), and gotfinancial help from USA. In the year 1986Born American (1986) was finishedand the most expensive Finnish film ever opened in USA in over 1,000theaters and reached no 9.

The film wasn't successful in Finland, where it was banned. Harlinmoved to Los Angeles and got a job fromHalloween (1978) producerIrwin Yablans who offered him script of"Prison" to film. Film was made with low budget and distributed withonly 42 copies. In the same year 1988 he got a job from New Line Cinemato directA Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)after meeting producerRobert Shayenumerous times, who at the first didn't want Harlin to direct the film.It became the highest-grossing film in the series, though its budgetwas seven times greater than the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street"film.

20th Century Fox wanted Harlin to direct theAndrew Dice Clay rock'n roll comedyThe Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)and also a sequel toDie Hard (1988).Harlin made the both, but onlyDie Hard 2 (1990) was commerciallysuccessful, with over 239 million dollar worldwide gross. Next hedirectedCliffhanger (1993) withSylvester Stallone which made $255million worldwide and was nominated for 3 Oscar's. BeforeCliffhanger (1993) Harlin was hiredto direct "Alien³" but he left the project because of creativedifferences.

His next filmCutthroat Island (1995) was apirate film made with $100 million budget. Unfortunately it came outwithout good promotion and flopped badly. It made only $10 million inUSA and for a time became the biggest flop in Hollywood history. Butfor Harlin, it wasn't a total loss.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)was a critical success, but was a box office flop, grossing only $30million domestically with a $65 million budget.

In year 1998, Warner Bros. wanted a summer blockbuster for the year1999 andRenny Harlin was the right name todirect.Deep Blue (1999) cameto theaters after costing 60 million dollars to film and made $160million worldwide. The film never hit the top spot in the USA but stillgrossed $73 millions in the USA alone.

Harlin was hired to directExorcist: The Beginning (2004)afterJohn Frankenheimer left the joband died shortly after it, andPaul Schrader was fired. Producersknew that Harlin could made a blockbuster even with the weak script,and so he did. With $50 million budget the film opened in number 1 andgrossed $80 million worldwide.

Probably most liked Harlin's filmMaindohantâ (2004) was released in2004 after years post-production. It was released in USA in 2005 inover 1,000 theaters but it only reached 10th place. In 9 weeks itgrossed only $4 million dollars.

The Covenant (2006) was released in2006. With non-famous (but attractive) actors, the film hit the top inits opening weekend and became a successful film. With a $20 millionbudget, it grossed $37 million worldwide and DVD sale brought $20million more.