Born in 1962, Prasanna Vithanage became involved in theatre on leaving school. He translated and directed Bernad Shaw's 'Arms and the Man' in 1986, and Dario Fo's 'Raspberries and Trumpets' in 1991. In 1992, he directed his first film ' Sisila Gini Gani ' (Ice on Fire). It won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) Awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Four years later in 1996 was his second feature ' Anantha Rathriya ' (Dark Night of the Soul), which he wrote and directed.

It participated in several international film Festivals and won a Jury's Special Mention at the First Pusan International Film festival. The film also won all the main awards at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards (affiliated to FIPRESCI) including awards for Most Outstanding Film, Best Director and Best Scriptwriter.

' Pawuru Walalu ' (Walls Within), his third feature in 1997 won the Best Actress Award for Nita Fernando in her role as Violet, at the 1998 Singapore International Film Festival. It even won ten out of eleven awards in Best Picture and Best Director at the Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards.

His fourth feature ' Purahanda Kaluwara ' (Death on A Full Moon Day) of the same year, 1997, which he wrote and directed was produced by NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation). It won the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the government of Sri Lanka, it has since become the most successful film in the more than half a century history of cinema in Sri Lanka.

Prasanna Vithanage completed “Ira Madiyama”, his 05th film in 2003. it was on to win many international awards and was featured prominently in the world festival circuit.

Based on true incidents, the storyline is based on the ethnic conflict and the ensuring military confrontation between Sri Lankan armed forces and LTTE separatists.

The three different plots in three different geographical locations in Sri Lanka, come directly under the spell of the war. They run parallel and are linked by seemingly simple elements of time and space. They deal with simple human beings, unwillingly, caught up in the throes of a destructive civil war.

Through this emerges the greater dimension of a pathetic human tragedy and the inescapable plight of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, the three main ethnic groups of Sri Lanka.

He is currently working on his 6th feature, a period epic titled “Children of the Sun”. The film follows the fortune of a disgraced noblewoman forced to live amidst the untouchable cast of the rodiya, during the last days of the Kandyan Kingdom.