Sarala Kariyawasam

Sarala Kariyawasam, who hails from Galle, is a Sri Lankan child actress. A student of Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya, Sarala is the first Sri Lankan child artiste to make an international debut. Currently she hosts a children's TV show in Sri Lanka.

Her favourite subjects are English, Mathematics and Science. She is the youngest in her family and has a sister and brother, elder to her.

Hollywood's Young Artist Award foundation has presented the Best Young Performer in an International Feature Film Award to Sarala, for her role of a child widow (Chuyia) in the award-winning film-maker Deepa Mehta's controversial film, Water.

The film Water has been acclaimed as a regional victory and was shot entirely in Sri Lanka, in partnership with Chandran Rutnam's Film Location Services Lanka Limited and the National Film Corporation. Sarala was selected from out of fifty girls and auditioned by Mehta for this challenging role. She was eight years when she acted but proved to be the most suitable to take up the lead role of the film according to Mehta. Before taking up her role in Water, she has acted in several stage plays in school and had recently won first place in an all island dancing, singing and speech competition.

She says that she wants to concentrate on her studies, so has turned down many offers of acting.

"Sarala performed an absolutely outstanding role in a brilliant film that should have been given more recognition by Hollywood," said Maureen Dragone, President of the Foundation, which is holding its 28th consecutive year of awards recognizing and honoring talented young child artists all over the world.

Sarala, an extremely bright girl, who did not know a word of Hindi had to learn all dialogues by heart but ultimately acted so well many critics were stunned by her performance. When the film was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival a critic said, "The film is centred by the extraordinary performance of Sarala as the young Chuyia, a girl whose spirit remains unbroken. Her refusal to bend to her plight carries considerable emotive power and elevates Water from a harsh tale of deprivation into one of hope and the possibility of overcoming. Mehta has made a film for the ages."

...
Wikipedia