Jón Gnarr’s Followers (52)

Jón Gnarr

Born

in Reykjavík, Iceland

January 02, 1967

Website

https://www.facebook.com/pages/J%C3%B3n-Gnarr/2...

Twitter

Jon_Gnarr

Genre

Biography, Humor and Comedy, Philosophy

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Jón Gnarr Kristinsson is an Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who became the Mayor of Iceland's capital city Reykjavík on 15 June 2010, and stepped down on 16 June 2014. Born Jón Gunnar Kristinsson, Jón legally changed his middle name in 2005 to the way his mother pronounced it when he was a boy. He is married to Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir with whom he has five children. His daughter, Margret, is a fitness model and IFBB competitor.

Jón Gnarr suffered from dyslexia and had learning difficulties as a child. Jón Gnarr recounts these experiences in his book The Indian, an autobiographical account of his childhood. Jón Gnarr has been diagnosed with ADHD and has actively discussed his life with ADHD publicly.

Jón was known as Jónsi Punk as a t Jón Gnarr Kristinsson is an Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who became the Mayor of Iceland's capital city Reykjavík on 15 June 2010, and stepped down on 16 June 2014. Born Jón Gunnar Kristinsson, Jón legally changed his middle name in 2005 to the way his mother pronounced it when he was a boy. He is married to Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir with whom he has five children. His daughter, Margret, is a fitness model and IFBB competitor.

Jón Gnarr suffered from dyslexia and had learning difficulties as a child. Jón Gnarr recounts these experiences in his book The Indian, an autobiographical account of his childhood. Jón Gnarr has been diagnosed with ADHD and has actively discussed his life with ADHD publicly.

Jón was known as Jónsi Punk as a teenager and played bass in a punk band called Nefrennsli ("Runny Nose"). He attended a number of high schools,but didn't complete the university entrance exam. During the 1980s Jón and his future wife, Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir, became acquainted with the members of the band the Sugarcubes, including Björk and Einar Örn Benediktsson. Björk remained a close friend to Jóhanna, while Einar would become an important political ally to Jón.

In 1994, Jón teamed up with Sigurjón Kjartansson to form the radio duo Tvíhöfði. In 1997, he joined TV station Stöð 2 where he wrote and starred in several seasons of the Icelandic comedy show Fóstbræður. His best known movies are The Icelandic Dream and A Man like Me. His stand-up comedy show Ég var einu sinni nörd (I Used To Be a Nerd) is autobiographical.

In late 2009 Jón formed the Best Party with a number of others with no background in politics, including Einar. The Best Party, a satirical political party that parodies Icelandic politics and aims to make the life of the citizens more fun, managed a plurality in the 2010 municipal elections in Reykjavík, with the party gaining six out of 15 seats on the City Council. Einar, second on the party's list behind Jón, won a seat on the council.

Jón ended up defeating the Independence Party-led municipal government of Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir. His victory is widely seen as a backlash against establishment politicians in the wake of Iceland's 2008-2011 financial crisis.

Jón's political platform included promises of "free towels in all swimming pools, a polar bear for the Reykjavík zoo, all kinds of things for weaklings, Disneyland in the Vatnsmýri area," etc.

Upon being elected, Jón announced that he would not enter a coalition government with anyone that had not watched "The Wire", eventually entering a coalition with the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) as its junior partner to govern Reykjavík.

As mayor, Jón has been a source of amusement and shock. He also protested the Chinese government's treatment of human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. He has stated that the importance of the EU is highly over-rated. On October 30, 2013, Jón Gnarr announced that he would not seek a second term in office when his first term expired in June 2014.

Since leaving office, Gnarr has campaigned for Iceland to abandon its laws requiring citizens to have traditional Icelandic names. Gnarr also authored a book entitled Gnarr!: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World. ...more

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Jón Gnarr’s books

Average rating: 3.58 · 2,113 ratings · 223 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World 3.40 avg rating — 922 ratings — published 2014 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Indjáninn 3.65 avg rating — 449 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Útlaginn 3.88 avg rating — 269 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sjóræninginn: skálduð ævisaga 3.86 avg rating — 257 ratings — published 2012 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Þúsund kossar 3.50 avg rating — 152 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Óorð: Bókin um vond, íslensk orð 3.06 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2021 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Indianer und Pirat: Kindheit eines begabten Störenfrieds by Jón Gnarr, Betty Wahl (Translator), Tina Flecken (Translator) 4.15 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plebbabókin 3.90 avg rating — 10 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Þankagangur 3.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2005	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Miðnætursólborgin 3.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1989	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Jón Gnarr (?)

“Those who want peace must open their mouths wider than others. Peace is a basic human right, and as long as wars are still being waged around the world, we cannot in good conscience count ourselves to be worthy members of the highly civilized species Homo sapiens. We should set ourselves the goal of establishing specific peace zones, and expanding and extending them over the whole world.”
― Jón Gnarr, Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World

3 likes

“I wish you could simply extirpate violence and war from the world, abolish all the armed forces, and destroy all the bombs. But this is probably not very realistic. Ultimately, everyone has to start with themselves. Many want to be active somewhere else, at best in a country where they don't currently live. But what's the point, if there's no peace in your own life? So be at peace with yourself. And how? Through peaceful dealings with others. Start by ensuring peace at home before you go out into the world. Or work for peace in both spheres. You can't be working for a peace camp in the Middle East during the day and then in the evening have a quarrel with your family over the phone.”
― Jón Gnarr, Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World

3 likes

“I had no idea what a mayor actually did. We'd had mayors who were mentally unstable and others who were alcoholics. I was neither.”
― Jón Gnarr, Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Reading with Style: FA 2014 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2014	1023	181	Nov 30, 2014 09:04PM
English Translati...: * Iceland	55	1064	Mar 18, 2019 07:51AM
bizim büyük chal...: Kişisel Listeler - 2025	64	306	Dec 31, 2025 04:34AM
bizim büyük chal...: Bir seriye ait en az bir kitap	40	139	Dec 31, 2025 08:02AM
English Translati...: * Books I missed.	1553	685	7 hours, 11 min ago

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Jón Gnarr’s Followers (52)

Jón Gnarr

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