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.
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 cricket — 36.5× the global rate.
Colombo under-produces writer — only 0.5× the global rate.
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.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Science
- Music
- Other
- Field: Player Clear ×
Pradeeban Peter-Paul
Born 1977
Yoshitha Rajapaksa
Born 1988
Donald Rutnam
1902 - 1968
Harshana Godamanna
Born 1985
Upeshka De Silva
Born 1987
Srinath Sooriyabandara
Born 1989
Navin Samarasinghe
Born 1982
Fathoum Issadeen
Born 1998
Sharya Guruge
Born 1992