Silver Screen Sri Lankans

Do you remember Albert Moses? The name doesn’t ring a bell? How about Ranjeet Singh? Ranjeet Singh, is the Sikh in the hit sitcom of the 80’s ‘Mind Your Language’, who would often say “a thousand apologies, sir-ji”. Now you remember him, don’t you?

Having left the hills of Kandy, Moses found his way into quite a few Blockbuster movies, including two James Bond movies – ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ and ‘Octopussy’. It’s a fairly well known fact that Moses is an actor who is of Sri Lankan origin, but would you believe there are other Sri Lankans who have made it into Blockbuster movies? It’s likely that you’ve seen them in movies, but were completely oblivious to the fact that they share their country of birth with you. So, we at Roar, compiled a little list of Hollywood actors and actresses of Sri Lankan birth to clue you in.

Bernard White

Born June 8, 1959 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

You’ve seen him as Rama-Kandra in The Matrix Revolution (2003) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003) as well as Councilman Singh in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Sri Lankan-born, Detroit-raised American actor, screenwriter and film director, has performed alongside Kevin Spacey, Hugh Grant, Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, in movies such as Pay It Forward, American Dreamz, and City of Angels.

He’s also made guest appearances in popular TV series such as Silicon Valley as the spiritual adviser, JAG (1996 – 2004), Grey’s Anatomy, Touch, Castle, The Good Wife, Bones, Numb3rs, 24, CSI: Miami, The X-Files, ER, NYPD Blue, L.A Law, and yes, even The Knight Rider.

Amara Karan

Born January 1, 1984 in Wimbledon, London

Alright, so she wasn’t exactly born in Sri Lanka, but her parents are Sri Lankan. We’ve listed her because we must! She played a fairly important role in The Darjeeling Limited as Rita- Wes Anderson’s Love interest. As Rita, she has acted with Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Bill Murray.

However, there’s more to why we felt we had to list her. At just 31 years, she has already received praise on TIME and Variety, commending her acting and describing her as ‘lovely’ and ‘sexy’. We have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of her on screen, so she’s definitely a name to keep in mind.

Sanjit de Silva

Born October 31, 1976 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

This dashingly good-looking actor has acted as Tom in The Company Men. Starring in the movie are Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, and Tommy Lee Jones. Sanjit also acted in American Desi and Arranged.

He’s also appeared in popular TV shows such as Homeland, The Good Wife, and on several episodes of Law & Order. For Sanjit too, there are clearly more movie roles lying in wait. An undoubtedly talented actor, he’s been praised for his stage performances on Broadway.

Thusitha Jayasundara

Born 1971 in Sri Lanka

Thusitha Jayasundara is more of a TV actor than a movie actor. The first movie she’s acted in is The C Word which was released on May 03, 2015 and has been receiving great reviews.

There are more movies to come for Thusitha, but as a British TV actress she has been cast in Holby City and The Bill, in fairly important and recurring characters.

What’s quite common to all these actors, including Albert Moses, is that they’ve mostly played characters that are Indian. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the years.