Christy Leonard Perera

Kala Keerthi Madurawela Arachchilage Christy Leonard Perera (born 27 July 1932 – died 23 December 2015 as ක්‍රිස්ටි ලෙනාඩ් පෙරේරා) [Sinhala]), popularly known as Christy Leonard Perera, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema as well as a musician and comedian.

Personal life Perera was born on 27 July 1932 in Colombo. He completed education from St. Lucia's College Colombo 13 . His father worked as a port checker. He has two sisters. After the sudden death of his father, his mother worked as a midwife at Suleiman Hospital. In the meantime, his older sister died suddenly. The other sister also died with that sadness.

He was married to Mary Loretta Rachal Perera, a trained teacher. Perera married Rachel at St. Lucia Cathedral in Kotahena on 7 August 1982 at the age of 43. At that time, Perera was working at the Polythene Factory in Kotahena. His remains were brought to his residence at Maligawatte housing scheme. His final rites were held on 26 December 2015 at Borella Cemetery.

Cinema career In 1946 he participated in an amateur program at Radio Ceylon coordinated by Thevis Guruge. He imitated comedian Eddie Jayamanne and won the contest. In 1948, Perera joined as a comedian in Radio Ceylon. He learned music under renowned composer B. S. Perera. Then he worked as a musician and playback singer. His first song was Kullen Pola Pola. He sang the duet Hitha Yana Atha Yannata Heka with Gamini Fonseka and then sang the song Tikiri Lande Ali Nawathina Colomba Nagare with H. R. Jothipala. His song Sakala Sirin Piri Siri Lankawe was an integral part of music shows back then.

His classmate Prem Jayanth was the main actor in the film Sujatha. He started cinema career in 1954 with the film Warada Kageda directed by T.R. Sundaram. The film was released at Gamini theatre, Colombo and became highly popular. His only television acting came through Athma Pooja directed by Ajith Perera. But the teledrama was not aired.