Douglas Ranasinghe

Douglas Ranasinghe was born on 27 May 1945 in Thorawathura village, Kurunegala as the fourth child of the family. His father, James Ranasinghe, was a landowner and planter where he also served as a Village Head and Village Administration Secretary as well. His mother Seelawathi Valimuni was a teacher. Douglas was educated at St. Anne's College, Kurunegala. He is a fluent speaker of the College Sinhala and English Debating Team, a boxer, a member of the Cadet Corps and an athlete. He topped the 200 meters as a long distance runner and was also a short story writer.^[3]

The Ranasinghe couple had seven children.^[2] The eldest in the family, Malkanthi Gunaratne was also a writer and married to the owner of Maradana Ratna Book Publishing Company, L. A. Gunaratne. The second is Rupa Khemaratne, an English teacher. The third was Prema Srimathi worked as a Teacher Training Housing Superintendent in Ihalagama. The fifth is Lionel, a planter. Chandrara Siriwardena is the sixth child who served in the Ports Authority.^[3] Youngest one is Thilaka Ranasinghe, an actress and broadcaster. Thilaka Ranasinghe worked at Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.^[4] Thilaka was married to singer Narada Disasekara.^[5] The couple has one son Saranga Disasekara, an actor in Sinhala cinema and television.^[6] Saranga was married to popular actress Dinakshie Priyasad.

He studied at St. Anne's College, Kurunegala, and excellent in sports.^[7] After the school, he was interested to become a lawyer and applied for Law College.^[7] However, then he applied for the post of Sub Inspector.^[2] He failed twice, but succeeded in third attempt. He was then transferred to a training course at Kalutara.^[8]

Ranasinghe is married to Sandya Kumari, and the couple has one son, Shribodhi Indrakeela.^[9]

Douglas came to Colombo from Kurunegala in 1966 to meet playwright Sathischandra Edirisinghe with his close relative Peter Amarasinghe. Then he got a character certificate from Edirisinghe for a police service interview. However, Edirisinghe brought Douglas to Henry Jayasena for his play.^[3] He was chosen to play the role in stage drama Hunuwataye Kathawa by Henry Jayasena.^[8] This turned him towards the drama career. He acted in many critically acclaimed stage plays including Henry Jayasena's Apata Puthe Magak Nathe^[10] and Ediriweera Sarachchandra's Hotabari Yuddhe.^[11] He also appeared in the plays: Dunḍu Berē, Janēlaya, Kuvēṇi, The wedding, Taming of the Sorrow and Ahas Māḷigā. His last stage drama acting was Kusa Pabawathi.^[3]

His maiden cinema acting came through 1970 film Akakra Paha, however his second film Romeo Juliet Kathawak directed by G. D. L. Perera released before Akkara Paha.^[12] He acted in the short film Bhavana, directed by the Paul Zils.^[7] With that film, he was able to entered into the Berlin Film Festival of 1970/1971.^[8] Then he completed a three-year course at the London School of Filmmaking.^[11] After the course, he was asked to stay back and take part in Shakespearean productions. However, he refused the offer and landed to Sri Lanka.^[2]

In 1980s, he was the voice actor in the programs Guwan Viduli Ranga Madala and Keti Katha produced by Sugathapala de Silva. As a radio sound administrator, he recorded high drama, feature and music programs. He has directed few stage plays and television serials including Ranmasu Uayana and Sasara Chakra respectively.^[2] As a television actor, he made notable roles in the serials: Avasanda, Maṭa Mahalu Vayasē, Ranmasu Uyana and Kaḷu Hansayō. He attended a three-year course at the International Film School in London, where he wrote the screenplay for the film Dancing Devils.^[3]