Born on the 8th of January 1959, Hon. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa is a lawyer by profession. During his studies at the Law Collage, he was elected as the Secretary of the Colombo Law College Literacy Association in 1980 and was an active member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party Student Union.
He practiced as a lawyer in Kuliyapitiya and he took to national politics in 1989. He became the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organizer of Katugampola Electorate in 1984.
In 1991 he contested for Pradeshiya Sabha Election to win the election with the highest number of votes in entire Kurunegala District.
In 1993 he was elected in the provincial council election and was sworn as Minister of Health Women’s Affairs for the North Western Provincial Council with the highest number of preferential votes. He then entered Parliament at the 1994 General Elections.
In 1997 he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Media, Posts and Telecommunications. He also held portfolio Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education. In 2001 he has appointed to the cabinet minister of Media. This was followed by the being appointed as the Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries in 2004. Currently he handle the portfolio of Minister of Mass Media & Information.
He is a nephew of the late I. M. R. A. Iriyagolla, the famous Sinhala writer and a former Minister of Education. He once functioned as a Vice President of the Kuliyapitiya Lions Club.
He is widely viewed as a media friendly politician with a disarming affability and humility.
