
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.

The Crown
TV • 2016

Silk
TV • 2011

The Sarah Jane Adventures
TV • 2007

Patrick Melrose
TV • 2018

You, Me and the Apocalypse
TV • 2015

Too Much
TV • 2025

The Listeners
TV • 2024

Critical
TV • 2015

Payback
TV • 2023

Ten Percent
TV • 2022

The Gunman
MOVIE • 2015

Defending the Guilty
TV • 2018

Möbius
MOVIE • 2013

Diana
MOVIE • 2013

The Stoning of Soraya M.
MOVIE • 2009

Malcolm
MOVIE • 2023

The Vote
MOVIE • 2015

National Theatre Live: Hamlet
MOVIE • 2010