LONGEVITY AND SUCCESS IN A WORLD OF FILMS, THEATRE AND TREES

Iranganie Serasinghe packed a number of careers, projects and issues into her long and eventful life, but still looks serene as she celebrated her 98th birthday, just two years short of a century. Is her signature serenity the secret of her longevity?

- By Gamini Akmeemana

She made her theatre debut in 1948, film debut in 1960, and has outlived most of her theatre and cinema contemporaries. These are very demanding and stressful arenas of work. In addition, she was a journalist for the Times of Ceylon, another stress-filled field. At the Times, she was accompanied on assignments by famous photographers such as Nihal Fernando and Pat Dekker. As if this wasn't enough, she was raising a family with two sons and took up the cause of environmental issues.