Pitiyage Mervyn Piyadasa Jayatunga (; 9 March 1940 – 1 November 1993), popularly known as Mervyn Jayathunga, was an

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

in Sri Lankan cinema and stage drama. He was a highly versatile actor, who popularized

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

ous roles. Jayathunga acted in several critically acclaimed films, such as ''Raktha'' and ''Pasamithuro''.

Personal life

Jayathunga was born on 9 March 1940 in

Moratuwa Moratuwa () is a large municipality on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo (Galle road) main highway, south of the centre of Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(near Colombo), as the eldest of nine siblings. His father, James Jayathunga, was a furniture maker. His mother was Merlin Florida Fernando. He had four brothers—Sumanadasa, Karunadasa, Jinadasa, Nimaladasa—and four sisters—Malani Chandrawathi, Padma Kusumawathi, Ashoka Induwathi, and Bhadra Kanthi. He started his education at Sri Chandrasekara Maha Vidyalaya, Horethuduwa. At grade 4, he went to Moratu Maha Vidyalaya, where he started studying drama under the guidance of the school principal. He was also a good athlete and a good

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

ist. After finishing school, he got a job at Kotuwa Cargo Corporation. Then he worked as a train driver at the Department of Railways. After some years, he started to work as a

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

designer in Department of Survey. He was trained in cartography in Hyderabad, India. He learned martial arts from karate master D.A. Welgama. He was married to Nalini Hemalatha. She completed her education from Presbyterian Girls' School, Mount Lavinia. The couple had one daughter, Priyadashani Hemali, and one son, Shammie Prabath. Jayathunga's grandson, Ryan Jayathunga, is also an actor.

Acting career

Initially, Jayathunga was part of an art circle of government service officers. In 1961, he acted in a minor role for the drama ''Sumudu Bharya''. He then joined with drama maestro

Henry Jayasena Kala Keerthi Dr Bastian Koralage Henry Rudrigo Jayasena (born 6 July 1931 – died 11 November 2009 as Sinhala: හෙන්රි ජයසේන), popularly known as Henry Jayasena, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and televi ...

and played in his stage dramas such as ''Hunuwataye Kathawa'', ''Diriya Mawa'', and ''Apata Puthe Magak Nathe''. Under Jayasena's guidance, he acted as a hunter in the television film ''Elephant Boy''. Jayathunga, who was in charge of Jayasena's stage design, was allowed to go to East Germany to study stage drama. After returning to Sri Lanka, he acted in ''Gamanak Saha Minihek'', ''Ekadipathi'', ''Sthree'', ''Ran Salakuna'', and ''Kadadasikoti''. He was the third ''Wedi King'' of the drama ''Maname'' by

Ediriweera Sarachchandra Veditantirige Ediriweera Ranjitha Sarachchandra (born Veditantirige Eustace Reginold de Silva; 3 June 1914 – 16 August 1996), popularly known as Ediriweera Sarachchandra ), was a Sri Lankan playwright, novelist, poet, literary critic, essayist ...

Filmography

Following his stage drama career, Jayathunga was introduced to the

silver screen A silver screen, also known as a silver lenticular screen, is a type of projection screen that was popular in the early years of the motion picture industry and passed into popular usage as a metonym for the cinema industry. The term silver scr ...

by Wehalle Piyathilaka. His first film acting role was as a music master in ''Vismaya'' by Charles Perera. A turning point in his career was the 1977 film ''Chandi Putha'', which established him as a character artist. In 1992, he starred in 17 films, a record at the time in Sri Lankan cinema. On the day he died, he acted in the English television film ''Fellow Me''. In total, Jayathunga acted in more than 200 films across many genres. * No. denotes the Number of Sri Lankan film in the Sri Lankan cinema.

Awards

Presidential Awards

, - , , 1983 , , , ''Pasamithuro'' , , Merit award , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayathunga, Mervyn Sri Lankan male film actors 1940 births 1993 deaths