Rita Irene Quyn better known as Shanthi Lekha, was a Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n actress. She played the role of mother in more films than any other actress in Sinhala cinema.

Lekha was born in Kalutara

Kalutara

Kalutara is a resort town located approximately 40 km south of Colombo in Sri Lanka.- Overview :Once an important spice-trading center, the city's name is derived from the Kalu Ganga River . In the 11th Century, the town was temporarily made a capital on the orders of a South Indian Prince...

 on July 1, 1929. She received her stage name from her first husband Shanthi Viraj. They had first met while she was attending Holy Family Convent in Kalutara and starred in composer D. T. Fernando

D. T. Fernando

Danister Thomas Fernando is a pioneer Sri Lankan lyricist. Some of the pioneers, whose names most people could not even remember were honoured. The oldest lyricist, D. T. Fernando, was a forgotten name....

's play Shantha Prabha (1942). She subsequently made a mark as a dancer in plays starring Dommie Jayawardena and Nona Subeda.

With Jayawardena, Lekha had her first film role in Sujatha

Sujatha (film)

Sujatha is a 1953 Sri Lankan romantic musical based on the Bollywood film Badi Bahen. It was the most successful Sri Lankan film made up to that time and started the trend of blatantly copying Indian films.-Plot summary:...

(1953). Wearing a bathing suit, she danced along with Jayawardena to the song "Pem Rella Nagi." The role came with a payment of Rs. 500 and a contract prohibiting her from doing films for other production companies. The producer K. Gunaratnam would subsequently offer her roles in Warada Kageda, Radala Piliruwa and Dostara.

Lekha first played a mother in Sandesaya

Sandesaya

Sandesaya is a 1960 film. The film based on the war between the Sri Lankan people and the Portuguese invaders in Sri Lanka. It was directed by Sri Lankan film director Lester James Peries. It was produced by K...

(1960). She would play this role in over 350 films.

Lekha won Best Supporting Actress Awards at the Sarasaviya Film Festival for Gamini Fonseka's Parasathu Mal (1968) and Mudalinayaka Somaratne's Binaramali (1969). She also won Presidential Awards for Mayurige Kathawa and Ridi Nimnaya.

Shanthi Lekha, the oldest and renowned actress of Sri Lankan cinema, died in France May 11, 2009.

Filmography

• Gamperaliya
  Gamperaliya (film)
  Gamperaliya is a 1964 Sri Lankan drama film directed by Lester James Peries; it was adapted from the seminal novel Gamperaliya by Martin Wickramasinghe. The movie was groundbreaking in Sinhala cinema shot entirely outside of a studio using one lamp and hand held lights for lighting...
  
  
• Uthumaneni
• Tun Man Handiya
• Eya Den Loku Lamayek
• Amal Biso
• Parithyagaya
• Hithawathiya
• Sasara Chethana
• Sakvithi Suwaya

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