In 1983, she graduated from the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy (course of Georgy Tovstonogov).

When Kondulainen began to receive fame with the daring movie roles she played in the late 1980s, her looks were often compared – for instance – to those of Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich.

Soon, she began to be referred to as the first-ever sex symbol of the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and following her performance in the 1990 movie 100 Days Before the Command also the first sex symbol in the Russian Federation (a.k.a.

Kondulainen composes music for her own songs and writes lyrics for them.

Her recent acting roles have included e.g. one in which she plays Catherine the Great (a.k.a.