Trivia

He was diagnosed with HIV in 1988.

He was married to Adeline Perera whom he met while performing the play.

Nanayakkara had one of his most celebrated performances in Rekawa (1956), which is considered a landmark in film.

He appeared as the old shaman in Steven Spielberg's 1984 Oscar-winning movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Starting as a child, he was drawn to music and learned to play the Japanese mandolin.

Playing lanky villains and comedic characters, Nanayakkara gained popularity in movies like Rekava, Kurulu Bedda, and Sikuru Tharuwa.

Nanayakkara's last film Ahas Maliga was screened five years after his death.

In 1984, Nanayakkara was chosen as one of the Sri Lankan actors in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In the movie he played the old shaman of Mayapore.

As a young adult, Nanayakkara showed interest in theater and became a regular attender of stage plays. At one such drama around 1936, he was noticed by playwright Sirisena Wimalaweera who took him into his troupe of players. Later he was chosen to play the role of Saranapala in the play "Amma".

D.R. Nanayakkara was a Sri Lankan actor in Sri Lankan cinema as well as in British drama.

Due to the fact that he couldn't speak English, Steven Spielberg had to feed him his lines while filming Indiana Jones and the temple of doom.

Nanayakkara's debut in film came when Wimalaweera adapted the play "Amma" into a motion picture in 1949, two years after the release of the first major Sinhalese film Kadawunu Poronduwa. Nanayakkara dabbled as a vocalist in Wimalaweera's films singing two songs for Amma. He continued to appear in Wimalaweera's movies up to Wimalaweera's death in 1963.

He won the Sarasaviya Best Actor Award for his role in Bicycle Hora in 1968.

He attended the Kolonnawa Govt. School and St. Matthew's College, Dematagoda.

Working with Lester James Peries in Baddegama (1981), he played another major negative role as the Medicine Man.