Her first public appearance as an actress was in the late 1950s in Prof Ediriweera Sarathchandra’s ‘Raththarang” at the University of Peradeniya. Bad enough she was a raw fresher … worse still or better still … she was a fresher who was honoured with the female lead.
24 year old Somalatha played an old woman and was greeted with a five minute l-o-n-g unwavering hoot from the male members of the audience. It was literally a baptism by fire as she unflinchingly carried on … undaunted. There was no turning back. Somalatha Subasinghe has since then played a diverse array of characters on stage, on screen and on television … with great aplomb and infinite ease.
Listen to her recall memorable landmarks of a 50 year old career, the different roles she has played in real life – leading light of the ‘Playhouse for Children and Youth’, wife to Lionel Fernando, mother to Kaushalya and Shyamalika, grandmother cum confidante to two grandsons and two granddaughters
Added to this is also her ‘stint’ as wife of Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Malaysia, the Netherlands and France … her phobia for snakes and her revulsion for durian.
Somalatha Subasinghe turns 75 on July 02 this year, but still has the fire to command audiences with her electrifying presence on stage and screen. Catch it all on Celeb Chat at 9.30 pm on Monday, 25 April on CSN
The repeat telecast will be on Tuesday, 26 April at 8.00 am. Catch the popular ‘Celeb Chat’ on CSN on UHF 22, Channel 75 on Dialog TV and also on PEO TV. |
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