Hon. Gamini Fonseka MP
Gamini Fonseka
3rd Governor of the North Eastern Province
In office 13 January 1995 – 20 October 1998
President	Chandrika Kumaratunga
Preceded by	Lionel Fernando
Succeeded by	Asoka Jayawardena
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
In office 9 March 1989 – 24 June 1994
President	Ranasinghe Premadasa D. B. Wijetunga
Prime Minister	D. B. Wijetunga Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Norman Waidyaratne
Succeeded by	Anil Moonesinghe
Member of Parliament for Matara District
In office 9 March 1989 – 24 June 1994
Majority	19,618 preferential votes
Personal details
Born	Sembuge Gamini Shelton Fonseka (1936-03-21)21 March 1936 Dehiwala, British Ceylon
Died	30 September 2004(2004-09-30) (aged 68) Ja-Ela, Sri Lanka
Political party	United National Party
Spouse	Dorothy Margaret Valancia ​ ​ (m. 1962)​
Domestic partner	Angela Seneviratne
Children	6
Parent(s)	William Fonseka Daisy Fonseka
Education	S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
Occupation	Actor, film director, politician
Known for	Cinema Sakwithi

Kala Keerthi Sembuge Gamini Shelton Fonseka (Sinhala: සෙම්බුගේ ගාමිණි ශෙල්ටන් ෆොන්සේකා; 21 March 1936 – 30 September 2004) was a Sri Lankan film actor, film director and politician.^[1] Often considered the greatest actor in Sinhala cinema,^[2] Fonseka dominated the industry in the 1960s and 1970s and won several Best Actor and Popular Actor awards throughout his career.^[3] Apart from acting, he also served as the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from 1989 to 1994 and the Governor of the North Eastern Province from 1995 to 1998.

He is widely regarded as one of the Kings of Sri Lankan cinema, and was the first of the three crowned kings (the other two being Joe Abeywickrama and Tony Ranasinghe) to pass away.^[4]

Fonseka was born on 21 March 1936 in Dehiwela as the third child of William and Daisy Fonseka. Starting school at a Presbyterian institution, he later transferred to S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. As a child, he gained a reputation for imitating administrative figures at school. Foneska also prospered in the study of the Sinhala language and literature (under the guidance of D. S. Jayasekera, who is also reputed to have introduced him to acting in stage plays)^[5] and placed in the upper fourth for a Sinhala literature prize. The award for this achievement was presented to him by S. Thomas' graduate and Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake. Foneska was also an accomplished cricket player.

Fonseka married his longtime girlfriend Dorothy Margaret Valencia also known as "Tina" in 1962, and the couple had four children: Chamila, Thanuja, Dammith and Ishara. Many years later he fathered Kaushalya and Poornima with his partner Angela Seneviratne.

Through his 6 children, Fonseka has 10 grandchildren: Yasara, Vivek, Indula,Daniel, Tarik, Janik, Hrithik, Ruveka and Tiasha. Fonseka remained married to Tina until his death in September 2004.

His son Damith was a popular film actor in 1990s. He acted in many commercially successful films such as Chandi Rejina, Ira Handa Illa, Chandiyage Putha, Cheriyo Darling, and Raththaran Malli.

Fonseka died on 30 September 2004 at the age of 68 at his residence in Ja-Ela.^[6][7][8]

Fonseka abruptly ended his secondary education and dove into the film industry. He originally wanted to be a cameraman and in this line worked as the second Assistant Director on David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lester James Peries' Rekava (1956). Fonseka was first on-screen in Rekava as part of a crowd. He also did some work on an English television series filmed in Sri Lanka.

Fonseka's first credited acting role was in Daiwa Yogaya (1959) in which he played a minor role. Lester James Peries' Sandesaya (1960) first established Fonseka in a leading role. With films like Adata Wediya Heta Hondai, Ranmuthu Duwa, Getawarayo, and Dheevarayo, Fonseka achieved popularity and became a box-office draw.^[9]

Seeking to not play in only commercial roles, Fonseka appeared as Jinadasa in the groundbreaking Gamperaliya (1964), working again with Peries. In Titus Thotawatte's Chandiya, Fonseka played his first anti-heroic role in Sri Lankan cinema and in Mike Wilson's Sorungeth Soru (1968), he played the role of Jamis Banda, the Sinhalese James Bond.^[10] In 1964, at the first awards ceremony of the United Ceylon Fan Club held on 12 January at the Royal College Hall, Colombo, Gamini won the Best Actor award in 1963 for his role as Jinadasa in the film Gamperaliya. This was Fonseka's first acting award.^[11]

Fonseka also tried out directing many accolades. His debut directorial work Parasathu Mal was warmly received. He directed a political satire Sagarayak Meda.^[12] Other films directed by Fonseka include Koti Waligaya and Nomiyana Minissu. He entered television as well and became the best teledrama actor for the role he played in Kalu Saha Sudu.^[10]

Fonseka's role as Willie Abeynayake in Nidhanaya (1972) and as ASP Wicrema Randeniya in Welikathara (1971) are widely considered to be his crowning achievements. Both films have been recognised by Presidential Awards as amongst the 10 Best Sri Lankan films of all time. In 1979, Fonseka played Jaffna Tamil clerk Nadarajah in Sunil Ariyaratne's Sarungale. He has also has written some songs for the movies Sarungale (1979) and Mayurige Kathawa (1980).

In 1989, Fonseka entered politics after joining the United National Party. He was elected to Parliament in 1989 as a representative of the Matara District with the highest number of preferential votes and was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was later appointed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga as Governor of the now-defunct Northeastern Province.

Until his death, Fonseka acted in 108 films, 86 of them as a lead actor and 19 more as a supporting actor. He directed 10 films and produced 2 films.^[15][13]

• Parasathu Mal (1966)^[16]
• Uthumaneni (1980)^[17]
• Mayurige Kathawa (1980)
• Sagarayak Mada (1981)
• Bandura Mal (1981)
• Ra Manamali (1981)
• Sakwithi Suwaya (1982)
• Koti Waligaya (1986)
• Nomiyena Minisun (1994)
• Anthima Reya (1998)

• Gamini Fonseka at IMDb
• Official Website – Gamini Fonseka Foundation
• Official Website – National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka
• Gamini Fonseka: A Man of the Troops
• Gamini's Film History in Sinhala
• http://www.nfc.gov.lk/artist/gamini-fonseka-132/
• ගාමිණී 13 යි Archived 19 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• දැවැන්ත වෘක්ෂයේ සෙවණ ලැබූ අපේ සිනමාවේ සරුඵල

• ගාමිණි – විශ්වීය රූපණවේදයක ආසියානු පුරෝගාමියා
• අපේ සිනමාව ගැන ලියැවුණු මිළ අධිකම ග්‍රන්ථය රුපියල් 6000
• ගාමිණී ෆොන්සේකලා හිටියේ එක්කෙනයි එයාට හිටියෙත් එක පුතයි
• සමන් පිච්ච මල් අරණක කවි, ගී පබැඳූ ගාමිණී..
• හෙළ සිනමාවට මිණි කැටයක් වූ මගේ වීරයා, ගාමිණී අයියා....