Sawunda Hannadige Martin Gunadasa (born 12 February 1930 – died 9 February 2010 as මාටින් ගුණදාස) inhala, popularly known as Martin Gunadasa, was an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

in Sri Lankan cinema, stage drama and television. His most popular role was that of Polee Mudalali in the television serial ''

Kopi Kade Kopi Kade (''Coffee Shop'') ( Sinhala:කෝපි කඩේ) is a popular Sri Lankan comedy-drama television series broadcast on the Independent Television Network. One of Sri Lanka's iconic television series in history, Kopi Kade remains the mos ...

''.

Personal life

Martin Gunadasa was born on 12 February 1930 in Matara. Gunadasa died on 9 February 2010 at the age of 79 after a brief illness. His remains were buried in Borella cemetery on 11 February 2010.

Career

He acted in Vesak and Poson stage dramas during school times. Later he arrived Colombo to succeed his ambition to be an actor. Meanwhile, he worked in the government press. Then he became a trade unionist and lost the job during 1981 July strike. After losing his job, he started to produce stage dramas. In 1965, Gunadasa made his maiden cinema appearance in the film ''Saaravita''. However, his second film ''Sudo Sudu'' screened before his first film. Then he acted in many supportive roles particularly as the arrogant "Mudalali" in many films including, ''Hatha Maha Nidhanaya'', ''Hathara Wate'', ''Kapatikama'', ''Pickpocket'', ''Indunila'', ''Kalana Mithuro'' and ''Sinawai Inawai''. He also worked as a singer and musician. In 2007, he acted in the stage play ''Weyan Piyambahi'', which centers around HIV/AIDS disease discussing the effects of the disease. In 1987, Gunadasa was selected to the television serial ''

'' by

Thevis Guruge Thevis Guruge (died 23 July 1989) was a distinguished broadcaster with Radio Ceylon and subsequently the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් ව ...

. His role as "Poli Mudalali" became highly popularized among the public and he was usually known by his character name rather than real name. He appeared in the series from the beginning which first aired on 1 April 1987. He continued to act in the series for more than 20 consecutive years in 1192 episodes.

Filmography

References

External links

"කෝපි කඩේ" ටෙලි නාට්‍ය මාලාව: ශිල්පීන් ඇගයීම

* ttp://news.tharunaya.us/news-Art-23900.html කෝපි කඩේට තිස් වසරයි ග්‍රාමසේවක ආරියසේන හඳුවල විස්තර කරයි {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunadasa, Martin Sri Lankan male film actors 1930 births 2010 deaths