Karuna Banerjee

Actress

Biography

Karuna Banerjee (Bengali: করুণা ব্যানার্জী) was a Bengali actress best known for her role in Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959) as the long suffering mother, Sarbajaya. She was nominated for Best Actress at the 1959 BAFTA Awards for her performance in Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu Trilogy. She appeared in a number of other films after that, including Ray's Devi (1960) and Kanchenjungha (1962). She graduated from the Jogamaya Devi College, an affiliated women's college of the University of Calcutta. Banerjee's acting career expanded over more than two decades in Bengali cinema and theatre. She is best known for her memorable performance as Sarbajaya, the mother in the first two parts of Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956). Her performance in the latter earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1959 BAFTA Awards. She acted in a few more films, including two more by Ray, two by Mrinal Sen, and one by Ritwik Ghatak that was never officially released.

Personal Info

Occupation Actress

Place of Birth Khulna, Bangladesh

Birthday 1919-12-25

Featured Crew Taste

Filmography by Year

2014

1972

1971

1967

1962

1960

1958

1956

1955