Gihan Fernando -One actor, many roles – by Sunil Thenabadu
Gihan Adrian Camil Fernando the award winning acclaimed actor, playwright, comedian, and singer is acknowledged by those who are passionate about the theatre as a superlative and noble actor for his flamboyance. He portrays his characters so precisely and energetically gripping and embracing all audiences and leaves them spellbound.
Hailing from Wattala Gihan was educated at De Mazenod College, Kandana, where he had excelled in studies and shone as a soccer player. After leaving school he had been employed for a few years during which period he had studied about theatre under numerous foreign theatre directors through the British Council and other related places. Initially Gihan had got the opportunity to portray roles under a number of directors including the late Somalatha Subasinghe, K. B. Herath, Rajitha Dissanayake, Ravindra Ariyaratne and Dharmapriya Dias.
The Silver jubilee of his acting career in theatre, the medium of art which Gihan cherished most, was celebrated in a novel manner over a year ago presenting a theatre festival titled ‘Ma Dakina Mama’. The event was held at the Lionel Wendt Theatre Colombo culminating with a festival dinner. A stand up show in which he imitated European actors and met his fans too was held parallel to the celebrations. The stand up show consisted of many items including clips from ‘Wattala Giha and Maharagama Kumar’, the popular two man show.
Gihan had selected Ravindra Ariyaratne’s ‘Charitha Horu Aran’, Rajitha Dissanayake’s ‘Sihina Horu Aran’ Ravindra Ariyaratne’s ‘Balloth Ekka Behe’ Priyankara Ratnayake’s ‘Ada Kale Antigone’ and Dharmasiri Dias’s ‘Sadaya Maarai Salli Hamarai’ for the theatre festival. Gihan won the best actors award in 2015 for ‘Sadaya Maarai Salli Hamarai’.
These five dramas were selected from nearly 50 dramas in which Gihan had portrayed varied characters. His 50th drama is ‘361’ which is now running to packed audiences. Gihan stars opposite Umayangana Wickremasinghe in the production. It is directed by Ubesiri Wickremaratne. A few of his other popular stage dramas are ‘Nethuwama Bari Minihek’ , ‘Silgath Billo’, ‘Ada Wage Dawasaka’ and ‘Ahe Malaya’.
Gihan and his colleague Kuamra Thirimadura have successfully compiled a joint venture ‘Wattala Giha with Maharagama Kumara’ a dual entertaining concert which has been successfully shown to audiences in USA and European countries. This show would be staged soon for the Sri Lankan audience. Gihan and Kumara sing well for this show.
Due to his acting talents Gihan was invited to act on the mini screen for the teledrama ‘Hiru Kumari’ directed by Nalan Mendis over two decades ago. It was his first teledrama. However Gihan does not consider television as a form of art. He had confessed that television is merely a business which cannot be classified as an art. He had lamented that acting is his profession and he cannot be choosy when invited to portray roles in teledramas. Gihan had portrayed several vivid roles in teledramas which have become a hit with the viewers.
He says that acting in theatre is a satisfying profession. He has no regrets about getting into theatre acting. He had portrayed the roles of other professionals including our politicians in various productions. These have given him immense satisfaction and had won the audience’s applause.
Several reporters and fans have inquired about Gihan’s tummy. He had stated that it is a natural tummy and if any director needs him to act with a reduced tummy he could oblige within a few months but for a good fee.
