wedanayake (née vasagam) is the daughter of the acclaimed cinematographer a. v. m. vasagam whose films "shri 293", "chandiya", "dupathega putha", "dheewarayo" and "vaadai kaatru" were box office hits in the 1960s. his early education in cinematography was at the university of mysoor, karnataka, india and he was given a scholarship by the french government to study film direction in the 1960s. wedanayake forayed into the fashion and beauty industry encouraged by her father to follow the tradition in the entertainment and field of arts. she is also a published poet with the national library of north american poets.