Suminda Sirisena

Sirisena was born on July 4, 1948, in Bossella, a rural village in Kegalle, Sri Lanka as the eldest of the family.[3] His father Bulathgamuwa Sirisena was a small-time businessman in the village who also performed traditional Sri Lankan folk dramas and his mother Punchi Nona was a housewife. After having his primary education at the village school Pussellawa Maha Vidyalaya, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Tholangamuwa Central College in 1963. He has two younger brothers and two sisters.

After his school education, Sirisena moved to Colombo to join the Sri Lanka Railways as a Special Apprentice in 1969. While establishing his career as an actor in theater, Sirisena went to Oman in 1970 to work as a quantity surveyor for two years. After returning home, he worked as a technical officer at the Victoria Dam project. Then he went back abroad in 1979 and returned to Sri Lanka in 1984.[4]

Before 1971, he was an activist and continuously attended to the meetings conducted by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. But as the party entered the process of armed struggle, he quit from politics.[5] He has obtained B.A degree of Social Sciences from Open University of Sri Lanka and then completed M.A degree from University of Sri Jayewardenepura.[6]

He is married to Leela Sirisena. The couple have two sons, Prabhath and Nanditha.[6]

In May 2012, Sirisena was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Colombo National Hospital due to sudden illness and fever.[7] Since then, he has had difficulties with walking. He is currently taking physiotherapy treatments.[6]

Since 2012 Sirisena has not taken part in any productions due to illness.[8]

At Tholangamuwa, he studied under Ariyawansa Ranaweera, Jayasumana Dissanayake, Daya Alwis and Wijayaratne Athurupane who were scholars and artists that had a major influence on Sri Lankan theater and arts for many decades. In 1967 Sirisena played the lead role in the stage drama Girikutha which was selected to the final round of State School Drama Festival.[4] In 1969, he joined the first batch of students of the theater school Ranga Shilpa Shalika at Lionel Wendt Art Centre founded by Dhamma Jagoda with the help of Daya Alwis. His first role on the public stage was the role of "Dionis" in the play Moodu Puththu, which also marked the first appearance of popular cinema actor Ravindra Randeniya. He acted in many stage dramas of the 1970s.[6]

After returning to Sri Lanka in 1984, Sirisena was involved in Thilak Gunawardena's dramas. He acted in the plays Sapatheru Hamine by Miyuri Samarasinghe and then in Meepura Wasiyo by Somaratne Dissanayake. After completing the studies, he joined the drama group of Ediriweera Sarachchandra and acted in renowned stage dramas such as Maname, Sinhabahu, Bavakadaturawa, Mahasara and Kada walalu. In 1993, Sirisena won the Best Actor award for the role in Kadathurawa at State Drama Festival.[3] In 2002, he formed a drama school called "Siwuranga". He was able to produce four batches of students from that academy. Thereafter he worked as an instructor at the Tower Hall Academy in Colombo.[6]

Sirisena's first teledrama was Sihina Nimnaya, produced by Sri Lanka Rupavahini in 1985. He gained wide acclaim for his second teledrama Kumarihami, another Rupavahini production, where he played the supporting role of Hicchi Mahattaya.[9] Since then he has acted in more than 40 teleseries. His role as "Isaa" in critically acclaimed serial Charitha Thunak is a hallmark of his television career. His maiden cinema acting came through the role of "Upali" in the 1976 film Dhululu Malak. He has also acted on many critically notable films such as Saptha Kanya, Yakada Pihatu, Uppalawanna, Samanala Thatu and Ira Handa Yata.

During his illness, he was working with two television serials - Sepalika and Boralu Paara.[6]

Sudu Mal Kanda [44]

• No. denotes the Number of Sri Lankan film in the Sri Lankan cinema.[45]

• Suminda Sirisena was awarded Kala Keerthi, the highest national honour for arts, culture and drama in Sri Lanka, in 2017.[49][50]

• In 2014 he was awarded the Deshanethru award[51] and the Kala Bhushana state award in recognition of the service he had rendered to the country's performing arts.