Somaratne Dissanayake is a Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter and producer.^[1] He was the Chairman of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the president of the Film Makers Guild of Sri Lanka (FMG). He is the winner of the most number of international awards for cinema in Sri Lanka. In 2007, he received Presidential award for directing Samanala Thatu (2006).^[2]

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Somaratne abandoned his life in Australia to pursue a film career in his motherland Sri Lanka. He started the stage play, Mee Pura Wesio in 1984 and then a television drama, Iti Pahan in mid 1990s.^[3] He did not come to the cinema industry at once. He studied cinema for another 10 years. He earned his MA in performing arts from the University of Sydney, Australia. He also obtained his PhD in cinema from the University of Colombo.

He made his debut in the Sinhala film in 2000 with a controversial but blockbuster film Saroja (2000 film). He is also well known for other films he directed and screened such as Punchi Suranganavi, Sooriya Arana, Samanala Thatu, Siri Raja Siri, Bindu and Siri Parakum. In 2016, Dissanayake directed and screened the film Sarigama which was a sinhala remake of the world famous film The Sound of Music.In year 2020 he completed "Tsunami" the blockbuster film, and won many international awards for it. All of his films have been well-received, and almost every film has been a record success.^[4] He still holds the box-office record of films in the history of Sri Lankan cinema.

He is married to producer and television host Renuka Balasooriya.^[5]

In January 2015, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC),^[6] only to resign later, due to personal reasons.^[7]

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