Veteran Actor W Jayasiri passes away

Veteran Actor W. Jayasiri passed away at the age of 77, this morning. Jayasiri was a Sri Lankan actor in Sri Lankan cinema, stage drama and television. Highly versatile actor from drama to comedy, Jayasiri is a multi-talented personnel that working as a script writer and lyricist.

He started to play major roles only after turned 40 years of age. His maiden stage drama acting came through Harima badu Hayak second edition in 1966. He played roles in de Silva's popular stage dramas such as Dunna Dunugamuwa, Muthu Kumari and then in Dharmasena Pathiraja's Eya Dan Loku Lamyek. He became popular with the films Seilama and Visidela, both directed by H. D. Premaratne.

His critically acclaimed stage drama acting came through stage drama Mara Sade in 1985, which is considered as a milestone in the Sinhala theatre.  He is the lyricist of popular film Bambaru Awith. In 2005, Jayasiri translated the television script Sanda Mudunata which was originally written by director Samy Pavel in French.

In 2018, he refused to attend to attend the Kalabooshana state awards festival to protest the October 26 political conspiracy. In social media, he condemns the anti-democratic and anti-constitutional acts of president Maithripala Sirisena and receiving an award from such a person is disgusting to him.

Jayasiri was a strong supporter of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National Peoples Power (NPP)