Jörn Donner grew up in a Swedish-speaking family belonging to the Finnish upper class. Already as a student he had radical leftist ideas displayed in magazines and newspapers. His first novel appeared in 1951 when Donner was only 18 years old. He graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1959. In 1961 Donner moved to Sweden when the daily newspaper "Dagens Nyheter" hired him as a film critic. He returned to his home country in 1967. During his stay in Sweden he also directed his first feature film, "A Sunday in September". He temporarily returned to Sweden in the 1970s to head the Swedish Film Institute. Again, Donner returned to his home country after a while.

Donner is best known for his work as an author. He has written several novels. He was awarded the Finlandia Prize in Literature in 1985 for "Father and Son". During the years he has also written many columns for large news papers in Finland.

After his directorial debut in 1963 Donner continued to work in film, mainly as a producer. He formed his own production company Jörn Donner Productions in 1960. He produced Ingmar Bergman's critically acclaimed "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982 and is thereby the first Finn ever to receive an Academy Award.

Ever since his early years as a student and struggling writer Donner has had an interest in politics. He has been a Member of Parliament in Finland and also an European MP. After successfully supporting Social Democrat Ahtisaari's presidential campaign in 1994 he was appointed Finnish consul to Los Angeles. Donner soon returned back to Finland. In 2003 Donner failed to return to politics when he did not get elected in the Finnish parliamentary election.

After a few years in the small town of Ekenäs, Finland Donner has returned to live in the nation's capital where he works as an independent writer, columinst and film producer.