Father of child born (in August 1997) to personal assistant Tiffany Bowne, who worked with the director on Cutthroat Island (1995) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

Mario Kassar thought Harlin was ideal director for "Gale Force," a film about hurricanes and starring Sylvester Stallone. After Harlin didn't accept the first offer, Kassar started offering more and more money, and in its way, it changed the pay scale of Hollywood directors. "Gale Force" was never made but, instead, Harlin directed Cliffhanger (1993).

One of his favorite movies is The Wild Bunch (1969).

Said that Deep Blue Sea (1999) was the most difficult film he had ever made (1999).

His film Cutthroat Island (1995) resulted in as a massive failure because of the loss of money. The budget of the film was $92 million however the box office of the film was $10,017,322. As a result, the executive producer of the film Mario Kassar's production company Carolco Pictures bankrupt. This film also earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest loss of money for a film company ever.

Was offered the chance to direct GoldenEye (1995) but turned it down because he felt he had made enough sequels.

In a interview film in 1990 Harlin told about his future projects. He was going to shoot after "Die Hard 2" (1990) a modern remake of Humphrey Bogart film "Key Largo" (1948). Film was titled "Gale Force", but was never made. After "Gale Force" he was going to film "Torpedo" titled gangster film which would have been set in 1939 New York, but this film was never made either. He dreamed it would have become his "Godfather" film. After those two films he planned to make the "Fade" with Steven Spielberg producing. Film would have told a story about teenage boy growing up in a small town in 1940's. Spielberg had offered him the film by sending him the book the script was based on.

Thinks The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) is his best film.

Had 2 films open one week apart in 1990: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990).

Does a director's commentary for the DVDs of every single one of his movies.

As a child he went to see Alfred Hitchcock films with his mother.

Was perhaps the first mainstream, American-based filmmaker to use Toronto for big-budget locational and shooting purposes (something that has become very commonplace for American films nowadays) with his film The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

A 14-year-old Renny Harlin wanted to became a film director after he saw Don Siegel and Charles Bronson in Helsinki while they were making the film Telefon (1977).

Mario Kassar and Renny made two films together, Cliffhanger (1993) and Cutthroat Island (1995). Cliffhanger (1993) resulted to a box office success while Cutthroat Island (1995) on the other hand resulted to a massive flopped. Which also resulted that Mario's production company Carolco Pictures bankrupted because of the loss of money for the film.

In 2006, Harlin was hired to direct a biography of Finnish Marshall and president Gustaf Mannerheim. The film is going to be produced by his old friend Markus Selin who produced his first film. The two men had announced initial plans as early as 2001. For a long time, there were major problems with funding, and the production was stopped. However, now the film has been rescheduled, and Mikko Nousiainen has been named as the leading star. The budget is estimated to be at around 10-14 million euros, which would make it the most expensive movie in Finnish film history.

When he was starting out in Hollywood, he would travel via the city bus system with reels of his work to show studio executives.

He got a medal ("Kultainen ansiomerkki") from Finnish WWII veterans in 2004. He helped to organize "Kiitoksen paikka" concert which collected money to secure treatment and help to the old war veterans. Harlin said that helping the defenders of Finland is much more important that his other achievements.

In 2001, he bought an apartment from former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine.

Worked as an commercial and company film director before directing his first feature film.

Was originally slated to direct Outlander (2008).

Worked on Alien³ (1992) for over a year and asked to leave the project after not being satisfied with any script and wanted to do something completely different, and the next day was offered The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) by Joel Silver.

Was offered to direct Speed (1994/I) but turned it down. Job went to Jan de Bont. The film was financially successful.

Dating Sarah Thackray, a British journalist. [2001]

He is a friend of Sylvester Stallone.

Edited his 1990 Fox films The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990) at the same time.

Dated former Miss Finland Tarja Smura.