Olli Juhani Saarela (born 16 March 1965) is a Finnish film director.

He has directed films such as Ambush, Bad Luck Love, Rollo and the Woods Sprite and Year of the Wolf, which is based on a book written by Virpi Hämeen-Anttila.

Olli Saarela was in relationship with actress Jenni Banerjee after his marriage with Tanja Karpela.

Before Saarela started studying to become a film director, he worked as a firefighter.

In August 2006, Saarela directly attacked Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma in an interview for Image Magazine, since, in his opinion, the Social Democratic Party of Finland that Heinäluoma heads had slandered his wife during budget negotiations.