Pria Viswalingam

Who is Pria Viswalingam?

Pria Viswalingam is a prominent Australian documentary and filmmaker. He is of Tamil Sri Lankan ancestry and was born in 1962 in Malaysia. He was schooled there, as well as in Britain, Singapore and Australia. He is a Sydney-based journalist and television presenter, best known for his work for the Australian Special Broadcasting Service network.

He moved to Australia in 1978 and after finishing his schooling, he graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1987. His broadcasting experience began in radio, as a newsreader and as a reporter, specialising in politics and international affairs.

In 1989, he moved to SBS Television and worked for News and Current Affairs, where he presented and reported live-to-air programming. As well as anchoring the network's World News, he hosted Dateline, Tonight, Asia Report and Wine Lovers’ Guide to Australia. Most popular and memorable were his A Fork in the Road travelogues from 1992 until 2005. Including A Fork in Australia, A Fork in Asia, A Fork in Africa and A Fork in the Mediterranean, 62 episodes of approximately 25 minutes length were aired. The Fork series has been broadcast on SBS for 19 years.

In 2001, he wrote, produced, directed and narrated for SBS Class, a 4 x 52 minutes series "that looks at the slow death of egalitarian Australia. A society changing into an economy in which new wealth-driven divisions are widening the gap between rich and poor", said the summary by the Australian Film Commission.