Prasanna Puwanarajah

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Prasanna Puwanarajah (Template:Langx; born 1981) is a British actor, director, writer, and former junior medical doctor.

Early life and education

Puwanarajah was born at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk to Tamil Sri Lankan parents from Sri Lanka, his mother a psychiatrist and his father a dentist. He spent his early childhood on Churchill Avenue in Ipswich before the family moved to Hampshire when he was four. He participated in school plays and spent a season with the National Youth Theatre, but thought of acting as more of a hobby than a career choice at the time.^[1]

He trained in Medicine at New College, Oxford.^[2] After working as a junior doctor in reconstructive surgery for over three years, Puwanarajah decided to take a year out. It was during this time he decided to become a full-time actor, describing it as "more of a strong pull towards something else" than a "push away from" his medical career.^[3]

Personal life

Template:As of, Puwanarajah was living in north-west London.^[4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Stoning of Soraya M.	Guard
2009	Clamp and Grind	Template:N/a	Director, writer, producer; short film
2010	London Assurance	Servant	National Theatre Live
2010	Hamlet	Guildenstern	National Theatre Live
2011	The Half-Light	Template:N/a	Director, writer; short film
2012	Boy	Template:N/a	Director; short film
2012	Southbank Centre Goes Bollywood	Graham	Short film
2013	Möbius	Saïd
2013	Diana	Martin Bashir
2015	The Gunman	Doctor
2016	The Complete Walk: Richard III	First Murderer	Short film
2016	The Baby Shower	Eric	Short film
2020	Dara	Talib	National Theatre Live
2023	Malcolm	Joe
TBA	Ballywalter	Template:N/a	Director^[5]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Car Salesman	Episode: "The Mark of the Berserker: Part 2"
2012	Coming Up	Template:N/a	Writer, episode: "Spoof or Die"
2012–2014	Silk	Dr Malik	3 episodes
2015	Critical	Ramakrishna Chandramohan	Main role
	The Vote	Tom Baird	Television film
	New Tricks	Sanjeev Da Silva	Episode: "Prodigal Sons"
	You, Me and the Apocalypse	Rajesh McNeil	Miniseries; main role
2016	Cold Feet	Sam Harvey	1 episode
2017	Doctor Foster	James Mohan	Series 2 (4 episodes)^[6]^[7]
2018	Patrick Melrose	Johnny Hall	Miniseries^[8]
2018–2019	Defending the Guilty	Ashley Jeevaratnam	Main role
2019	Mum	Kumar	Episode: "Monday"
2019	World on Fire	Major Taylor	2 episodes
2020	Unprecedented: Real Time Theatre from a State of Isolation	Template:N/a	Writer; 1 episode
2021	Line of Duty	Haran Nadaraja	Series 6
2021	Three Families	David Fortress	Part 2
2022	Ten Percent	Dan	8 episodes
2022	The Crown	Martin Bashir	Supporting role (Season 5)
2023	Payback	DC Jibran Khan

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Romeo & Juliet	Escalus	Battersea Arts Centre, London
2008	Something I Wrote in a Hurry	Template:N/a	Director; Tabard Theatre, London
2009	On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco	Template:N/a	Director; New End Theatre, London
	Thyestes	Messenger	Arcola Theatre, London
	Twelfth Night	Priest	Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Duke of York's Theatre, London
	Amadeus		North Wall Theatre, Oxford
2010	London Assurance	Servant	Royal National Theatre, London
	Hamlet	Guildenstern	Royal National Theatre, London
	The Wages of Thin	Template:N/a	Director; Old Red Lion Theatre, London
2011	Emperor and Galilean	Medon / Oribasius	Royal National Theatre, London^[9]
2011	Nightwatchman		Writer Part of Double Feature at the Royal National Theatre, London
2013	Moth	Template:N/a	Directed; HighTide Festival, Aldeburgh / Bush Theatre, London^[10]
2013–2014	Henry V	Montjoy	Noël Coward Theatre, London^[11]
2014	Peddling	Template:N/a	Director; HighTide Festival, Aldeburgh / Arcola Theatre, London / 59E59 Theaters, New York
2014	Dara	Talib	Royal National Theatre, London
2015	The Iliad and The Odyssey		Almeida Theatre, London
2015	Macbeth	Banquo	Young Vic, London
2017–2018	The Reluctant Fundamentalist	Template:N/a	Director; Yard Theatre, London^[12]
2018	Absolute Hell	Nigel Childs	Royal National Theatre, London^[13]^[14]
2019	Venice Preserv'd	Template:N/a	Director; Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon^[15]^[16]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2009	Ian Charleson Awards			Thyestes	Template:Nom

References

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External links

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