Biography

Tissa Wijesurendra was born on April 4, 1949 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was an actor, known for Rupantharana (2014), Sihina Lowak Soya and Hathara Denama Surayo (2008). He was married to Savithri. He died on May 11, 2020 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

He is the only Sri Lankan actor to continue playing the protagonist in all films he acted in since the maiden film.

Tissa Wijesurendra was educated at Nalanda College Colombo. He qualified to become a doctor but became an actor instead.

Tissa starred in a feature film Nim Walalla in 1970 directed by Ranjith Lal and shot by a group of students at Ananda College. This film was his first screened film. It is the only feature film made by a group of school children. In the film, he was the brother of Swarna Mallawarachchi.

One of the most popular actors of the 1970s, Wijesurendra played many dramatic roles in a career spanned for four decades.

His maiden cinema appearance came through the 1971 film Kalana Mithuro directed by Kingsley Rajapakse. It was a remake of a popular Hollywood film "Dosthi" and the reason to cast Tissa was that he and Sudhir Sawant of Dosthi looked similar.