Hannu Salonen was born in 1972 at the westcoast of Finland in Pori.
Already in his early childhood his family moved on to the southern part of Finland, where Hannu Salonen also went to the school. He was interested in theater, literature and movies already very early in his life. At an age of 13 he decided to become a movie director. At an age of 16 he founded an association for short film production and went for a year to the USA as an exchange student.

After his graduation he applied for the German Film Academy Berlin (dffb) and was accepted in the directors class. Hannu Salonen had been practising chinese martial arts for several years, until he won the european championship in the discipline of southern saber, Nan Dao. He also spent some time in China. During his studies at the dffb he not only became noticed by the film branch, but also received some awards. His short film „Moments in Monochrome“ (1997) to which he also wrote the screenplay received at the filmfestival Tel-Aviv the Special Prize of the Jury. The film was shown on several international filmfestivals throughout the world.

Hannu Salonen became better known through his first feature film „Downhill City“ (1999) with Franka Potente in the leading role. He also wrote the screenplay to the film. The film, which was his graduation work from the dffb, tells the story of six people in Berlin that change their lives radically. The film was shown on many festivals, among others the Berlin International Filmfestival, Filmfestival San Sebastian and the Midnight Sun Filmfestival. The film was distributed in several european counties as a cinema release and the tv-rights were sold into more than 15 countires worldwide. „Downhill City“ won the „Best European First Feature“-Award in Angers, France, and at the Filmfestival Troya in Portugal the RTF-award. At the Filmfestival in Munich the film was nominated for the so called Hypo-Award. Since 2000 Hannu Salonen shot six prime time movies for different german broadcasting stations.