Asoka Ponnamperuma

Samaraweera Asoka Ponnamperuma (born 3 May 1936 – died 2 April 1993 as අශෝක පොන්නම්පෙරුම) [Sinhala]) was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema as well as a singer, scriptwriter and filmmaker. Considered as "Sri Lanka's Sivaji Ganeshan", Ponnamperuma has acted more than 40 films in a career spanned for more than three decades.

Personal life He was born on 3 May 1936 in Colombo. His father Don Charles Ponnamperuma was a journalist, who worked as editor-in-chief of the Buddhist paper Sinhala Bauddhaya in 1950. His mother was Premawansha Mithrawaththa. Ashoka completed his education from Ananda College.

He was married to a fellow film actress, Manel Lona Elizabeth Perera. The wedding was celebrated on 4 December 1965. Manel first acted in the film Deepashika and then appeared in few films such as Sihina Hathak, Sekaya, Layata Laya, Ruhunu Kumari and Sanda Nega Eddi. The couple has three sons - Anuradha, Sumedha, Chaminda and one daughter, Manjula. Although all funeral work is to be completed within 24 hours after his death, his request was unable to comply due to curfew in the country and the delay in the post mortem. Then he acted in many popular films such as Sihinaya, Sundara Birinda, Suwineetha Lalani, Ganthera and Samiya Birindage Deviyaya.