Anandan Pria Viswalingam is an Australian documentary and film maker. He is a

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based producer, writer and director, known earlier for his work with the

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

(SBS) network. Viswalingam was born in

Kota Bahru Kota Bharu, colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mouth of the Kelantan River. The ...

Federation of Malaya The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, P ...

in 1962. He was educated at a boarding school in England before emigrating to Perth, Western Australia. After graduating from the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

in 1987, his broadcasting experience began in radio, as a newsreader and reporter, specialising in politics and international affairs. In 1989, he moved to SBS Television and worked in news and current affairs, where he presented and reported live-to-air programming. As well as anchoring the network's ''

World News World news or international news or even foreign coverage is the news media jargon for news from abroad, about a country or a global subject. For journalism, it is a branch that deals with news either sent by foreign correspondents or news agencie ...

'', he hosted ''

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'', ''Tonight'', ''Asia Report'' and '' Wine Lover’s Guide to Australia''. Viswalingam is best known for presenting the '' A Fork in the Road'' travelogues from 1992 until 2005, including '' A Fork in Australia'', '' A Fork in Asia'', '' A Fork in Africa'' and '' A Fork in the Mediterranean''. The program was SBS's largest international success, with the series repeated on

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, as well as shown on cable television in Europe, Asia and Canada. In 2001, he wrote, produced, directed and narrated ''Class'', a four-episode documentary series for SBS that looks at the "slow death of egalitarian Australia". Also in 2001, he wrote and directed the four episodes of ''A Yen for a Dollar'', a series which looked at Asian culture through the prism of business. This series aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in February 2002. In 2006, Viswalingam wrote, produced and presented ''

Decadence The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...

'', with reflections on modern life in the West, in six episodes of 25 minutes each. From 2007 to 2008, he co-wrote and co-directed (with Stephen Van Mil of Animal Media) ''The Last Trimate''—a one-hour documentary on the life of Birutė Galdikas and her pioneering study of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

orangutans Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ' ...

, which was narrated by

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

. In 2008, based on the success of the SBS TV series ''Decadence'', Viswalingam began work on a documentary feature film version, which was released to Australian cinemas in December 2011 as ''Decadence: The Decline of the Western World''. Viswalingam has written and directed episodes on all series of Coast Australia and Coast New Zealand for the History Channel and the BBC. He is developing drama projects in Australia and the UK.

References

External links

*
Pria Viswalingam at the Australian Film Commission
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viswalingam, Pria 1962 births Living people Australian television presenters Australian documentary filmmakers Australian television directors Australian television journalists Sri Lankan Tamil film directors Australian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Malaysian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent People from Kelantan Malaysian emigrants to Australia Malaysian people of Indian descent Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts alumni