Personal Info
Birth date
1981-06-01 (44 Years)
Gender
Male
Known for
Acting
Place of birth
Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK
Also known as
-Prasanna Puwanarajah
Biography
Prasanna Puwanarajah (Tamil: பிரசன்னா புவனராஜா; born 1981) is a British actor, director, writer, and former junior medical doctor. 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. He trained in Medicine at New College, Oxford. 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.
Filmography
The Crown
8.2
Overview:
The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.Patrick Melrose
7.527
Overview:
A critical and often humorous look at the upper class, tracking the protagonist's harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery.The Sarah Jane Adventures
7.073
Overview:
Sarah Jane Smith is a truly remarkable woman who inhabits a world of mystery, danger and wonder; a world where aliens are commonplace and the Earth is under constant threat. A world that Maria Jackson, a seemingly ordinary girl, can only dream of – until she moves in next door. Nothing will ever be ordinary again.Too Much
NYR
Overview:
When a heartbroken New Yorker moves to London hoping for a love story, she falls for an indie musician who's anything but the typical romantic hero.You, Me and the Apocalypse
6.8
Overview:
When the news is announced that a comet is on an unavoidable collision course with Earth, the most hilarious and unexpected chain of events imaginable is set in motion.Ten Percent
5.5
Overview:
A London talent agency’s employees must scramble to keep their star clients happy and their business afloat after the sudden death of their founder.The Listeners
4.3
Overview:
An English teacher begins to hear a low humming sound that no one else around her can hear.Payback
6.2
Overview:
Lexie Noble lives a great life on the outskirts of Edinburgh… until her husband is murdered. As she struggles to make sense of what happened, she learns he had been laundering money for notorious crime boss Cal Morris. As a partner in her late husband's accountancy firm, both Morris and the police will be interested in controlling her next moves.Defending the Guilty
7.1
Overview:
Will Packham is an idealistic pupil barrister - or idealistic for now. Can Will hold onto his principles and prove he has what it takes?Critical
6.8
Overview:
The Major Trauma Centre is a state-of-the-art unit which treats only the most gravely ill or seriously injured. Whether that patient lives or dies is determined by knife-edge decisions and procedures, but can the diverse team of medical professionals knit together and rise to the challenge? Our team hold a life in their hands but in every case they face the agonisingly real fear that it could slip through their fingers.Breathtaking
6.6
Overview:
A searing, thought-provoking and poignant account of an NHS doctor in the eye of the storm during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.The Stoning of Soraya M.
7.6
Overview:
In 1986 Iran, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village, enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant ended in tragedy.The Gunman
5.7
Overview:
Eight years after fleeing the Congo following his assassination of that country's minister of mining, former assassin Jim Terrier is back, suffering from PTSD and digging wells to atone for his violent past. After an attempt is made on his life, Terrier flies to London to find out who wants him dead -- and why. Terrier's search leads him to a reunion with Annie, a woman he once loved, who is now married to an oily businessman with dealings in Africa.Möbius
5.729
Overview:
An FSB officer falls in love with his agent, an American woman who works as a trader in a Russian bank.Diana
5.6
Overview:
During the last two years of her life, Princess Diana campaigns against the use of land mines and has a secret love affair with a Pakistani heart surgeon.The Vote
8.4
Overview:
On 7 May, churches, school halls, and back rooms of community centres will be turned into polling stations, staffed by council workers and volunteers. A church polling station is the backdrop for a real-time play for theatre and TV, called The Vote, staged at the exact moment in which the action is set - the last 90 minutes before polls close.National Theatre Live: Hamlet
7.8
Overview:
A 2010 broadcast of Hamlet returns to cinemas as part of the NT's 50th anniversary celebrations. Following his celebrated performances at the National Theatre in Burnt by the Sun, The Revenger's Tragedy, Philistines and The Man of Mode, Rory Kinnear plays Hamlet in a dynamic new production of Shakespeare’s complex and profound play about the human condition, directed by Nicholas Hytner. He is joined by Clare Higgins (Gertrude), Patrick Malahide (Claudius), David Calder (Polonius), James Laurenson (Ghost/Player King) and Ruth Negga (Ophelia).Ballywalter
6.6
Overview:
A university drop-out living with her mum and making money as an unlicensed minicab driver picks up a budding stand-up comic whose marriage has recently broken up.National Theatre Live: Dara
9
Overview:
1659 Mughal, India. Two brothers, Dara and Aurangzeb, are both heirs to the Muslim empire. Dara, the crown prince, has the love of the people – and of his emperor father – but younger brother Aurangzeb holds a different vision for India’s future. Now they fight ferociously for succession.Boy
6.885
Overview:
The winner of British Airways ”Great Britons” competition, the film tells the story of a carpenter at the Olympic Velodrome track and his cyclist son.National Theatre Live: London Assurance
7
Overview:
Grace has agreed to marry Sir Harcourt in return for his financial support of her family. At a house party in her father's place, Harcourt's son Charles also falls in love with Grace. When his father appears on the scene, he has to convince him that there is a case of mistaken identity and he is somebody else. Then Lady Gay Spanker, a married woman also visiting at the house, is persuaded by Charles to seduce his father and thus divert his attention from Grace. Much confusion and scheming ensues.Acting
2025Too Much (10 Episodes) as Unknown
2024The Listeners (4 Episodes) as Paul
2023Payback (6 Episodes) as DC Jibran Khan
2023Malcolm as Joe
2022Ten Percent (8 Episodes) as Dan Bala
2020National Theatre Live: Dara as Prosecutor Talib
2018Defending the Guilty (6 Episodes) as Ashley
2018Patrick Melrose (4 Episodes) as Johnny
2016The Crown (2 Episodes) as Martin Bashir
2015You, Me and the Apocalypse (5 Episodes) as Rajesh
2015The Vote as Tom Baird
2015Critical (13 Episodes) as Ramakrishna Chandramohan
2015The Gunman as Doctor (UCL)
2013Diana as Martin Bashir
2013Möbius as Saïd
2010National Theatre Live: Hamlet as Guildenstern
2010National Theatre Live: London Assurance as Servant
2009The Stoning of Soraya M. as Revolutionary Guard
2007The Sarah Jane Adventures (1 Episode) as Car Salesman
Production
2024Breathtaking (3 Episodes) ... Executive Producer
Creator
2024Breathtaking ... Creator
Directing
2023Ballywalter ... Director