6.9170° N, 79.8339° E

COLOMBO

Most Famous People Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Notable people
732
Peak decade
1990s
Median birth year
1967
Most distinctive
Cricket 36.5×

Colombo is essentially a cricket ground with a harbor attached — the sport runs at better than thirty-six times the global baseline, among the most dominant professions on the entire site, and Sri Lankan Test teams have been drafted from the school grounds of Colombo-7 since independence. The Beauty Pageant count and the colonial-era Judge and Diplomat benches tell you the rest: a small anglophone elite that still runs the law courts, the foreign service and the Sunday society pages.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Colombo during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1990s with 133 notable births.

What Colombo Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Cricket is Colombo's biggest profession — 46% of all notables (340).

Colombo over-indexes on cricket36.5× the global rate.

Colombo under-produces writer — only 0.5× the global rate.

  1. Cricket340
  2. Politician49
  3. Actor22
  4. Writer13
  5. Singer13
  6. Swimmer11
  7. Judge11
  8. Business11
  1. Cricket34036.5×
  2. Beauty Pageant821.6×
  3. Judge113.2×
  4. Swimmer113.1×
  5. Diplomat102.3×
  6. Business111.5×
  1. Writer130.5×
  2. Politician490.6×
  3. Actor220.6×
  4. Player90.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Colombo's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All732
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Showing 27 of 732 notable people

0011 ARCHITECT

Geoffrey Bawa

1919 - 2003

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0039 DIPLOMAT

Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe

1913 - 1980

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0044 ACTOR

Hugh Burden

1913 - 1985

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0054 WRITER

Alexander Cordell

1914 - 1997

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0070 PHILOSOPHER

Lynn de Silva

1919 - 1982

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0080 PREACHER

Piyadassi Maha Thera

1914 - 1998

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0102 ILLUSTRATOR

David Morrison Reid Henry

1919 - 1977

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0127 POLITICIAN

Vivienne Goonewardena

1916 - 1996

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0145 FILM

A. S. A. Sami

1915 - 1998

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0153 CRICKET

Fredrick de Saram

1912 - 1983

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0154 JUDGE

Avabai Bomanji Wadia

1913 - 2005

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0200 POLITICIAN

Pieter Keuneman

1917 - 1997

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0259 CRICKET

Laddie Outschoorn

1918 - 1994

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0288 POLITICIAN

Tikiri Banda Subasinghe

1913 - 1995

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0371 ARCHITECT

Justin Samarasekera

1916 - 2003

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0375 POLITICIAN

E. L. B. Hurulle

1919 - 2009

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0395 FATHER

Gratien Fernando

1915 - 1942

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0402 POLITICAL

Atma Jayaram

1915 - 1990

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0423 MILITAR

Deryck Stapleton

1918 - 2018

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0477 ACTOR

Kenneth Villiers

1912 - 1992

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0485 ASSASSINATED

W. D. L. Fernando

Born 1914

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0520 LAWYER

Oswald Leslie De Kretser III

Born 1910

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0527 MEDIA

Reggie Candappa

1919 - 2003

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0531 POLITICIAN

Elina Jayewardene

1913 - 2007

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0555 CAMPAIGN

Royce de Mel

Born 1917

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0648 MILITAR

Rex de Silva

1918 - 2005

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0716 MINISTRY

Dudley de Silva

1911 - 1974

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