weerasinghe was born on 18 february 1949 in algiriya, matara in southern sri lanka. he was the youngest child to his parents henry weerasinghe and sepalin weerasinghe. in 1954, weerasinghe started schooling from good shepard family convent in nuwara eliya, and later moved to vidyachakra buddhist school ruwan eliya, welimada maha vidyalaya, pannipitya dharmapala vidyalaya and gamini maha vidyalaya nuwara eliya.<br>