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|occupation = Teacher (Musaeus college)<br>Journalist (''Times'', [[SLBC]])<ref name="lankadeepa.lk"/> <br>Film, Television and Stage actress
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[[Kala Keerthi]] '''Iranganie Roxanna Meedeniya''', (born 9 June 1927<ref name="ReferenceA">"Irangani As Told to Kumar de Silva", Kumar de Silva, Samaranayake Publishers, 2013</ref>), popularly as '''Iranganie Serasinghe''', is an actress in [[Sri Lanka]]n [[Cinema of Sri Lanka|cinema]], theater and television. Since her debut in ''[[Rekava]]'', Serasinghe has become recognized for playing motherly figures in various films and television serials.<ref name="iranganie1">{{cite news| title =A Shining Star striving to protect Planet Earth| publisher =Daily News(Sri Lanka)| url =http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/05/23/fea12.asp| date =23 May 2007| access-date =3 March 2008| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110604115434/http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/05/23/fea12.asp| archive-date =4 June 2011| url-status =dead}}</ref> She is the aunt of Sri Lankan [[Prime Minister]] [[Ranil Wickramasinghe]].<ref name="Beloved">{{Cite web |title=Beloved mother of Sinhala cinema: Irangani Serasinghe |url=http://www.silumina.lk/2020/12/19/තරංග/සිංහල-සින%C2%ADමාවේ-ආද%C2%ADර%C2%ADණී%C2%ADය-අම්මා-අයිරාංගනී-සේරසිංහ |archive-date=2021-06-07 |access-date=2021-06-07 |website=Silumina}}</ref>
== Early life and education ==
She was born on 9 June 1927 in Mudungomuwa, Ruwanwella, Sri Lanka to Joseph Hercules Meedeniya, [[Rate Mahatmaya]] of [[Ratnapura]] and Violet Ellawela. Her paternal grandfather was [[J. H. Meedeniya|J. H. Meedeniya Adigar]] was elected unopposed to the Ruwanwella seat in the State Council and her uncles included [[D. R. Wijewardena]] and Sir [[Francis Molamure]]. Her mother was the sister of Nanda Ellawala's father who was a Member of Parliament for Ratnapura. She had three siblings, Indrani Meedeniya, Kamani Vitharana who married Professor [[Tissa Vitharana]] and Mahinda Meedeniya.<ref name="Beloved" />
Her early touches with nature later led her to become an environmental activist. While attending [[Bishop's College (Sri Lanka)|Bishop's College]] she played in several end-of-term plays; at [[Girls' High School, Kandy]] whilst pursuing a HSC; Meedeniya took a leading role in Bernard Shaw's ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]''. Against her father a Rate Mahatthaya's wishes, Meedeniya entered the [[University of Ceylon]] in 1947 with the support of her cousins. He died in her first year away at a time when [[Marxist]] ideas were the norm. She immersed herself in the Ceylon theater scene while there under the guidance of Professor [[E. F. C. Ludowyk]]; she also became a proficient dancer with lessons from [[Chitrasena]].
He was the first student to study drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and The Bristol Old Vic Theate School under the guidance of Professor Ludowyk.<ref name="Beloved" /> She eventually graduated with an Arts degree and traveled to [[London]] with letters of recommendation from Ludowyk following a marriage to Professor Dissanayake (they divorced some time later). There with the help of actresses [[Flora Robson]] and [[Sybil Thorndyke]], Meedeniya attended [[Bristol Old Vic Theatre School]] for a year and the London School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art for two years.<ref name="iranganie2">{{cite news| title =Iranganie Serasinghe: Mischievous young girl who turned a brilliant actress| publisher =Daily News (Sri Lanka)| url =http://www.dailynews.lk/2006/04/29/spice03.asp| date =29 April 2006| access-date =3 March 2008| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080316090318/http://www.dailynews.lk/2006/04/29/spice03.asp| archive-date =16 March 2008| url-status =dead}}</ref>
She was first married to a contemporary student at the university and later became a specialist dentist, Professor S. B. Dissanayake. That marriage did not last long. She was then married to fellow actor Winston Serasinghe, during playing English stage plays. There was a 17 year age gap between the two. Winston had appeared in Rekava and some other productions with her. The couple had one son, Ravi, who died by an accident at the age of 31. Her husband Winston died in 1999.<ref name="Beloved" />
==Career==
Returning to [[Sri Lanka]], Meedeniya met up with Ludowyk and Austrian Jew director Neuman Jubal and got back into theater. The [[Lionel Wendt Art Centre]] theater portion of the center opened on 12 December 1953 with the production of Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths", starring Iranganie Serasinghe and produced by Neuman Jubal. Doing mainly English roles at first, she started playing in Sinhala theater in Henry Jayasena's ''Apata Puthe Magak Nethe'' and followed with roles in Damma Jagoda's Sinhala version of ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'', ''Ves Muhunu'', and ''Porisadaya''. The following years saw Meedeniya in constantly changing settings–teaching briefly at [[Musaeus College]], working for ''[[The Times of Ceylon]]'' after returning from London, doing a stint at the [[Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation|SLBC]] and handling a post in the tourist trade working as a junior executive and guide of Walkers Tours and Travels (Pvt)Ltd. Accordingly, Serasinghe is the first Sri Lankan actress to have received an academic training in acting.<ref name="Beloved" />
Meedeniya started her career in cinema in [[Lester James Peries]] "Be Safe or Be Sorry" for the Government Film Unit
==Beyond Drama==
▲Meedeniya started her career in cinema in [[Lester James Peries]] "Be Safe or Be Sorry" for the Government Film Unit . Peries subsequently cast her in his debut feature film ''[[Rekava]]'' as a mother .<ref>{{Cite web |title=Love the world ... the world will return and love you infinitely |url=http://www.silumina.lk/2021/03/06/රසඳුන/ලෝක%C2%ADයට-ආද%C2%ADරය-කරන්න-ලෝකය-පෙරළා-අසී%C2%ADමි%C2%ADතව-ඔබට-ආද%C2%ADරය-කරාවි |archive-date=2021-06-05 |access-date=2021-06-05 |website=Silumina}}</ref>
Prior to entering the film industry, she was the editor-in-chief of the Times of Ceylon. As a revolutionary political figure, Iranganie was a communist militant at university. As a result, Peter Kehnemann, Bernard Zoysa, and Doric de Souza became active in politics at a time when Colvin R. De Silva has repeatedly invited her to contest a seat from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.<ref name="Beloved" />
==National Awards==
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