Hon. Geetha Kumarasinghe
ගීතා කුමාරසිංහ கீதா குமாரசிங்க
Kumarasinghe in 2023
Minister of State for Women and Child Affairs
In office 8 September 2022 – 24 September 2024
President	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime Minister	Dinesh Gunawardena
Minister of State for Cultural and Performing Arts
In office 18 April 2022 – 9 May 2022
President	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime Minister	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Member of Parliament forGalle District
In office 20 August 2020 – 24 September 2024
Majority	63,357 Preferential Votes
In office 1 September 2015 – 3 May 2017
Succeeded by	Piyasena Gamage
Majority	63,955 Preferential Votes
Personal details
Born	Kumara Vidugalage Dona Geetha Samanmalee Kumarasinghe (1955-07-05)5 July 1955 (age 70) Badulla,Sri Lanka
Political party	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
Spouse	Chris Fuhrer Ferdinand (m 1977; div 2018)
Residence	Galle
Alma mater	Sangamitta Girls College
Occupation	Film actress
Awards	Sarasaviya Best Actress Award Sarasaviya Most Popular Actress Award

Kumara Vidugalage Dona Geetha Samanmalee Kumarasinghe (born 5 July 1955:Sinhala:ගීතා කුමාරසිංහ), popularly known asGeetha Kumarasinghe, is aSri Lankan filmactress & politician. She previously served as a Member of a Parliament as well as being the State Minister of Women and Child Affairs from 2022 to 2024.^[1]

She made her debut in veteran director K. A. W. Perera's1975 film,Wasana but it wasNeil Rupasinghe'sLassana Kella which was released first. Since then, She is often referred to as"the prettiest girl (  සිංහල සිනමාවේ ලස්සන කෙල්ල)" on Sri Lankan silver screen and she has appeared in over 80 movies, winning theSarasaviya Best Actress Award four times, in 1991, 1996, 2000 and 2004. She has also received theSarasaviya Most Popular Actress Award) several times.

She was born on 5 July 1955 in Hamburugala village, Bentara, Sri Lanka as the eldest of the family.^[2] Her father Wijepala Kumarasinghe first worked as a warehouse manager at the Navy Headquarters. As a journalist, he made several columns, Buddhist articles and worked as a deputy editor of the 'Bauddhaya' newspaper for some time. Her mother Udulawathi Siriwardena was a housewife. She grew up in Bentara,Elpitiya and had her education atElpitiya Ananda College,Aluthgama and Holy Family Convent,Kalutara. She was also a talented member of the netball team during her college days. She has five younger sisters: Nayana, Kokila, Dammika, Dinusha, Shyama and two younger brothers: Thilak and Upendra.^[3]

Her father's elder sister Aruna Wickramapala was married to Hinni Appuhamy's aka Maliban Mudalali's brother A. G. Wickramapala. Geetha's father died in 1983 and mother in 2016.^[3]

As a child, she showed her talent for singing and dancing. She played the role of 'Kundalakeshi' in the playChora Pabbatha on the school stage. Though her father did not approve of a film career. Meanwhile, the neighbors demanded her parents submit Geetha to the 'Avurudu Rupa Sundari' competition organized by the 'Savasa' newspaper in Bentota. Dad gave the permission after the request of family friend Amitha Abeysekara.^[3] In 1973 at the age of 16, Geetha won the competition. During the participation in the beauty pageant, her mother was always with her. Her aunt, Anula Wickramapala, was also a friend of renowned directorLester James Peiris. Incidentally, her aunts' mansion was used as the location for his filmRansalu.^[4] Little Geetha, who used to spend her school vacations in her aunt's house in Kollupitiya would imitatePunya Heendeniya, her childhood heroine.

She signed contracts for 21 films before her debut film was released, a record in Sri Lankan Cinema.^[5] It was in the year 1975 that Geetha debuted inK.A.W. Perera'sVasana but it was Neil Rupasinghe'sLassana Kella which reached cinemas first. Kumarasinghe, who is often cast in controversial roles, has also performed the foreign filmsPakistani,Hindi,Japanese,Tamil andFrench productions. She acted oppositeSivaji Ganesan inMohana Punnagai which was released on 1981. During the filming ofPodi Malli in Bambarakele, Nuwara Eliya in 1976, her car met with a major accident and then she had plastic surgery on the face.^[3]

She received critical acclaim in roles such as 'Dulcie' inPembara Madhu, 'Dotty' inPalama Yata, 'Punna' inLokuduwa and 'Amali' inRan Diya Dahara. In the novel 'Palama Yata' written by Kulasena Fonseka, it was made into the film adaptation where Geetha was the lead actress as well as is producer. She won 10 awards at the 1991 Sarasaviya Awards, 09 awards at the Swarna Sankha Awards, 07 OCIC Awards and a total of 26 awards. Geetha won both Best Actress Award and the Best Producer Award for this film. It was also the highest-grossing film of all time at the Regal Cinema for 100 consecutive days. Geetha also represented Sri Lanka at the 1990 Singapore International Film Festival with the film.^[3]

In 2006, she launched official website with a ceremony at Water's Edge at Battaramulla.^[6] As a film producer, she later produced the filmsSalambak Handai,Loku Duwa,Anuragaye Ananthaya,Wasuli andGeetha.^[7] Both of her productions,Palama Yata andLoku Duwa won her theBest Film Awards at theSarasaviya Awards Festival.

Geetha was an ardent supporter of Mahinda Rajapakse at 2010 presidential elections and was appointed as the chief organizer to Elpitiya electorate. She unsuccessfully contested at the 2010 general elections and blamed election irregularities for her defeat.

She contested the provincial council elections in 2014 and took oath as a counselor at the Southern Provincial Council.

Geetha contested for the2015 Parliamentary Election fromGalle District. She was elected to the15th Sri Lankan Parliament by receiving 63,955 preferential votes.^[8]

On 3 May 2017, the Sri Lanka courts disqualified her as a member of parliament because she had held dual citizenship in Sri Lanka and Switzerland. Under the constitution of Sri Lanka, no person can be elected to the parliament if they hold dual citizenship.^[9] She applied in supreme courts, but the supreme courts reconfirm that she is disqualified to hold office as a member of parliament^[10] because she had held dual citizenship in Sri Lanka and Switzerland.^[11][12]

In a parliament session in November 2015 Kumarasinghe complained the lack of time given to her and made a communal statement claiming that ethnic minority Tamil members from the north received more time than her unaware that the time allocated for her was decided by her own party. She also criticised the lifting of highly discriminatory taxes on imported English and Tamil dramas. Kumarasinghe's parliamentary seat could be taken away as a result of the ongoing court case challenging her becoming a lawmaker while holding Swiss nationality and is having her own court battle after being accused of ignorance of the constitution.^[13]

On 2 September 2017, she was admitted to a private hospital in Colombo with burn injuries.^[14] Reports said that injuries sustained in a domestic accident when a gas leak caused an explosion in her home, where her abdominal area and legs were sustained with injuries.^[15][16]

Though her first act came through filmWasana, it was released on cinemas on 1975 after two of her late films were screened. She quit from cinema after award-winning filmRandiya Dahara and focused on politics. However, after 10 years, she played a minor role inSiri Daladagamanaya in 2014.^{[17][deprecated source]}

• No. denotes the Number of Sri Lankan film in the Sri Lankan cinema.^[18]

• Geetha Kumarasinghe launching her website...
• Geetha goes on line
• Glamorous web address

• Official Website of Geetha KumarasingheArchived 10 January 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Geetha Kumarasinghe's Biography in Sinhala Cinema Database
• Official Website - National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka
• Official Website of Lester and Sumitra Peries
• Cine Star Foundation
• Geetha Kumarasinghe in Sinhala 1Archived 19 December 2008 at theWayback Machine
• Geetha Kumarasinghe in Sinhala 2
• සිනමාව මගේ සිහිනය දේශපාලනය මගේ සේවය

• Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka
• Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka
• 1955 births
• Living people
• Sri Lankan Buddhists
• Sri Lankan film actresses
• 20th-century Sri Lankan actresses
• 21st-century Sri Lankan actresses
• Swiss people of Sri Lankan descent
• Women legislators in Sri Lanka
• 21st-century Sri Lankan women politicians
• Kala Keerthi

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from June 2018
• Articles containing Sinhala-language text
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• Articles with deprecated sources from November 2024
• Webarchive template wayback links
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• Place of birth missing (living people)