Samanalee Fonseka

Samanalee Fonseka is a Sri Lankan actor. She holds a B.A digree from the University of Colombo and a Postgraduate diploma in fine arts from the University of Peradeniya. Samanalee following the footsteps of her aunt Malini Fonseka - the queen of Sri Lankan cinema. Fonseka is married to popular Sri Lankan singer Indrachapa Liyanage and daughter-in-law of the award winning actor Hemasiri Liyanage.

She entered the Sri Lankan film industry as a child artist at the age of five and made her acting debut with 'Paradisaya' by Dinesh Priyasad. Her maiden lead female role was in Aruna Gunarathne's tele-film 'Suriya Vinshthiya' when she was 16 years old. In 2004 she won the Best actress (Short Play) award at the State Drama Festival. Samanalee came to fame with her performance in prolific Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage’s 'Akasa Kusum' (Flowers of the sky). Her signature films are 'Motor Bicycle' by Shameera Rangana Naotunna and 'Premaya nam' (Dirty, Yellow, Darkness) by Kalpana Ariyavansa and Vindana Ariyawansa, 'Nimnayaka Hudakalawa' (Alone in a valley) by Boodee Keerthisena, 'Dewena Vihangun' (Burning Birds) by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara.

Samanalee Fonseka has won the best actress award in many national film festivals for her role in the film 'Premaya nam' (Dirty, Yellow, Darkness) by Kalpana Ariyavansa and Vindana Ariyawansa in 2018. She also has won the best actress in a supporting role for the fiml 'Dewena Vihangun' (Burning Birds) by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara in 2019 at many national award ceremonies. For the role she played in 'Motor Bicycle' by Shameera Rangana Naotunna, she has won several special jury awards for acting.

Some of her upcoming feature films are 'Awilena Sului' (Inflammable) by Chinthana Dharmadasa, 'Soosthi' by Kushan Weeraratne, 'Wisangamanaya' (Isolation) by Ranjan Prasanna.

Fonseka is also a social activist who stands against racism, gender inequality and more social issues in Sri Lanka. She was attacked while raising her voice against Rajapaksa government during the presidential election in 2015.[1]