Biography

Dinara Punchihewa was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka and from a young age knew she wanted to be an actress.

She completed her education at Ladies' College, Colombo and in 2013 moved to England to complete her undergraduate degree in Theatre and Drama where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Queen Mary University of London. Since then, she has been involved in film and theatre in Colombo and Mumbai. She also worked as a production assistant for Season 2 of the British TV series 'The Good Karma Hospital'. Dinara continued to work on her acting craft by completing a course in Method Acting at the Jeff Goldberg Studio in Mumbai as well.

At the start of 2018, Dinara directed and acted in a short film named 'Maala' and through this she was discovered by director Prasanna Vithanage and was cast as the lead role in his film 'Gaadi - Children of the Sun', which explores the deep rooted caste system in Sri Lanka. This movie premiered At Busan International Film Festival and went on to the list of "100 Asian films not to be missed for 2019".

She played the lead role in an Indian short film named 'Raksa' directed by Shubhalekha soon after, and played the role of Mishka Chandra on season 4 of ITV's British TV series 'The Good Karma Hospital' in 2022.

Her involvement in Sri Lankan films include, the lead role in 'Saho' directed by Professor Ariyrathna Athugala, 'Asu' directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara which premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2022, and 'Peacock Lament' also directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara. Peacock Lament speaks about the sensitive topic of baby farms in Sri Lanka and won the 'Best Artistic Contribution Award' at the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2022. Her most recent film project playing the lead role is called 'Avalu Paha Walakulak' directed by Rukmal Nirosh.

When Dinara is not filming, she conducts performing art workshops for young children through a non-profit named 'Punchi Actors' together with a few like-minded volunteers.
- IMDb mini biography by: D P