U.W. Sumathipala Awards
Year Award Winner Notable work
1996 Titus Thotawatte Director , actor and founder of Sri Lankan dubbing cartoon history
1997 Gamini Fonseka Actor , director , politician and first crowned king of Sinhala cinema
1998 Denawaka Hamine Actress and the grand old lady of Sinhala cinema
1998 Hugo Fernando Actor , lyricist , assistant director and music director
1999 K.A.W Perera Producer , director and screen play writer
1999 Joe Abeywickrama Actor , author and second crowned king of Sinhala cinema
2000 Tony Ranasinghe Actor , screen play writer and third crowned king of Sinhala cinema
2000 Christy Leonard Perera Actor , musician and renowned comedian
2001 Iranganie Serasinghe Actress , journalist , teacher and granny of Sinhala cinema
2001 Malani Fonseka Actress , director , producer and the Queen of Sinhala cinema
2002 Henry Jayasena Actor , screenplay writer , director and one of most influential theater actors
2002 Ravindra Randeniya Actor and politician , who awarded more than 6 times as the best actor
2003 Sathischandra Edirisinghe Veteran actor , filmmaker , teledrama director with 50 years service in Sri Lankan art
2003 Robin Fernando Veteran actor , and pioneer of Sri Lankan stunts
2004 Wijeratne Warakagoda Veteran actor , director and icon in Sinhala stage plays
2004 Latha Walpola Veteran singer rated as the Nightingale of Sri Lankan Music industry
2006 Shanthi Lekha Actress who appeared over 350 Sinhala films as the mother
2006 Shan Wickremesinghe Media mogul , broadcaster , broadcast engineer , who is the founder of Sri Lanka 's first television station
2007 Nanda Malini Singer , lecturer , music director and one of most influential singers in Sri Lankan music industry
2007 Stanley Perera Actor , who appeared in more than 40 films in Early phase of Sinhala cinema
Award winners
The Sumathi U.W. Sumathipala Memorial Award is presented annually by the Sumathi Group of Companies associated with many commercial brands for the artists who devoted their life to the improvement of Sri Lankan cinema, theatre and television. The award named in honour of U. W. Sumathipala, the father of current Sumathi Group owner and the founder of Sumathi Awards, Thilanga Sumathipala. The award was first given in 1996, and in some years the award has been given to more than one person individual. The following is a list of the winners of this award.