Nayomi recipient of Sumathi and Raigam Telees awards on a scintillating voyage at just twenty four Years old from remote Nellikulama –  by Sunil Thenabadu Nayomi Thakshila the award winning renowned tele drama actress is a native of a remote village Nellikulama close to Anuradhapura born on 1st January 1999 to humble parents has two elder sisters and one elder brother as siblings, she been the ‘bada pissa’ of the family. All elder siblings have tied the respective nuptial knots, to date Nayomi has eight loving nephews and nieces domiciled in the Anuradhapura district.In the dwelling they were brought up has had a few perches of bare land where they had grown many types of vegetables including ‘sugar cane’, ‘plantains’. In an television confrontation she had jested that one day when they visited a family friend, he had given a small branch of ‘Sugar cane’ advising them to grow which had grown wild ...

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NADEEKA GUNASEKERA PHENOMINAL AUTOGRAPHED, ONLY FEMALE GRADUATE ACTRESS HAVING PORTRAYED CINEMATIC ROLES INITIALLY WHILE STILL AN ADVANCED LEVEL STUDENT, CLIMBED TO THE SUMMIT OF CELEBRITY – By Sunil Thenabadu The decades of the seventies and eighties the Sinhala films were in the said ‘Swarname Ugaya”. In the end of 1970 decade Sandya Darshani Gunasekera had entered the cinema changing her name to be more appropriate to an actress to Nadeeka Gunasekera This had been to camouflage her correct name as she was in the advanced level class with just three months to the university entrance examination. The history teacher Ms Ranatunga had warned her as the Principal Ms Fernando was very strict. for her participation in films as studies had to be given precedence. Nadeeka had told her mother she wants to enter the University to do a degree and will not continue has acting vocation as she was a ...

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NITA FERNANDO INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AWARD WINNING ACTRESS DEBUTED IN 1966 CONTINUED ACTING AFTER A SOJOURN OF EIGHTEEN YEARS TO BE STILL A CELEBRITY – by Sunil Thenabadu Image Source : sundaytimes Nita Beatrice Fernando was born on 5th September 1947,in Katuneriya close to Negombo, Sri Lanka is an actress, Kandyan dancer  in the Sri Lankan cinema. She has starred in her ambition initially  was to become a dance teacher as her paternal ancestors all had been dancers .Nita had studied at Holy family convent Wennappuwa eldest among  four siblings, two brothers and a sister. Reminisced that she and siblings had to get up early to attend to six o clock Mass at mother’s school on her insistence. Nita had studied ‘O’ levels but only halfway in the Advanced level as she was invited by sheer quirk to portray roles in films. In school she had been involved in drama and dance events actively. Mother had ...

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Dr Ravindra  Randeniya autographed eminent iconic actor conquered silver screen for over five decades – by Sunil Thenabadu photo Source : info-rain.com Boniface Liyanage Walter Perera now Dr Ravindra Randeniya born on 5th June 1945 second in a family of six siblings, hailed initially from Sapugaskanda his maternal home close to Dalugama where he now residing in. It was a small village filled with paddy fields and watercourses, Ravindra who appreciated highly even to date, with nature growing up often preferring in looking over the flora and habitat. Father LP Perera a renowned businessman who manufactured hardware fittings,accessories like brass hinges for doors and windows, a booming lucrative business entity. Ravindra Randeniya was recently awarded a doctorate considering his immense contribution to the field of arts and cinema in Sri Lanka by the Chancellor of the Visual and Performing Arts University.   For education had initially attended the Kindergarten at St Francis Maha Vidyalaya in ...

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SAMANALEE FONSEKA A PHENOMINAL ACTRESS ,SOCIAL ACTIVIST, ENJOYING A CONTENTED LIFE ON PATH TO EMULATE AUNT MALINI FONSEKA – Sunil Thenabadu Charisma is one of the real surface qualities that one would expect in any actress. Obviously, a performer has to be exclusively charming, expressive, and charismatic.  This is because of performing on camera, which undoubtedly requires a certain amount of expressive energy, so those individuals with high-octanes of energy with the ability to transform that energy on-screen should go without saying. Hard work and commitment are other traits needed to be classified as a successful actress like Samanalee Fonseka We so naturally talented with her hereditary affiliations to her Aunts. Of course hard work, commitment, confidence and passion are the other traits embedded in the personality of Samanalee  who bring one hundred percent of herself to each role she portrays though could obviously be mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. Samanalee is one who could whole-heartedly commit herself ...

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Remembering Mr. K.N. Jayasinghe Soutce:Stcobasydney A stanch product of STC Mount, Mr. Jayasinghe joined the teaching staff in 1958 and served with dedication and loyalty until retirement in 2001. Photo circa 1970 during his heyday as a much sought-after film director, producer and speech writer to several politicians. Sydney/ACT OBA is happy to add, his eldest son Kulasri Jayasinghe “like father like son” is keeping the Thomian spirit alive here Down Under (past committee member and President x 3 years) 41 years of service to College! We bring you reminiscences from students across the generational-divide. My recollections of ‘Pappa’, he always made class interesting which was an achievement in itself to a majority of disinterested and rambunctious students. The class always had his attention, no mean feat, but this  was not by instilling fear or discipline, it was just by making the subject so interesting and grabbing  our total attention, in his own inimitable style.He had a habit of hanging on emphatically to ...

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Malini Fonseka: Completing the circle- by Uditha Devapriya Source:Island Though their performances seem maudlin to us now, the earliest screen actresses earned their living through tears and sobs. When the one-reeler began giving way to the two-reeler, directors began borrowing from Victorian literature. This was a literature of chaste women and rapacious womanisers, in which the heroine usually ended up falling into the wrong hands, having rejected her first lover, and the latter endeavoured to save, if not redeem, her. Not surprisingly, the first directors banked their careers on their actresses, turning them into mascots: thus Florence Lawrence became “The Biograph Girl”, while Mary Pickford became “Little Mary.” The films they starred in offered very little variety: they were all variations on the same stories and themes. But audiences loved them, and audiences kept returning. ...

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