Denipitiya Vithanage Sumana Amarasinghe, is an actress in Sri Lankan cinema and television. Highly versatile actress from drama to comedy, she is usually known as the Sweet girl in Sinhala cinema. Apart from acting, she also worked as an assistant director, production manager, costume designer as well as a producer.
Personal life
Kusum Renu was born on 21 February 1948 in Kandy. She currently works at her own beauty shop, Salon Sumana. Amarasinghe is married to Roy de Silva, who was also a renowned actor and director. She met de Silva during the 1969 filmHathara Peraliya. The wedding was celebrated on 30 August 1975. The couple have two children. De Silva died on 30 June 2018 while treated for a heart attack at Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital. His remains were buried on 2 July 2018 at Borella Cemetery. In 2014, Amarasinghe was admitted to the hospital due to sudden illness. During her tour to India for a film, she is known to drank a drink which contained a poison. It has affected her liver as well as her heart. At one point her heart even stopped. This germ has not entered her brain and she recovered slowly.
Acting career
She contested in the beauty pageant "Lassana Muhuna", while she is in school times and won the title. Then she acted in the film Hathara Peraliya directed by L.M Perera. Her maiden cinematic experience came through 1967 filmPipena Kumudu, directed by Ruby de Mel. In addition to acting, she was involved in the beauty industry, where she learned beauty courses in India, Singapore, Canada in 1980. Her first major breakthrough came through 1975 filmSukiri Kella, which earned her nickname "Sweet girl in Sinhala cinema". She acted few films with her real husband, which made a cult in sinhala cinema. Then she joined with Tissa Wijesurendra in many popular films screened for more than 100 days which includes Sudu Paraviyo and Sithaka Suwanda. In 1982, she acted in Kadawunu Poronduwa remake, where she acted the role previously acted by Rukmani Devi. Even though she started film career with dramatic roles, she turned to comedy roles in later stages particularly through films directed by husband. Some of her popular films are Binaramalee, Sunethra, Jonsun and Gonsun and Re Daniel Dawal Migel trilogy.
