Sri Lankan veteran film star Malini Fonseka has been named by CNN among Asia’s 25 best film artistes of all time.

Indian stars Amitabh Bachchan, Nargis, Meena Kumarai, Pran and Guru Dutt are also on the list, which includes actors from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea,Singapore, Thailand, Malyasia and Cambodia.

The CNNGo.com website said: "In the history of the Academy Awards (airing on March 7th), only two Asians have ever taken home a Best Actor or Actress statue (we don’t count Ben Kingsley as a true Asian).

Yet Asia has produced incredibly talented thespians that have changed the course of their nation’s cinematic history. In anticipation of Oscar night, we’ve narrowed the list of greats to 25."

Referring to Malini Fonseka, the portal added: "The Queen of Sinhalese cinema had a diverse career that spanned many decades, beginning with her moving performance in 1968’s ‘Punchi Baba’. She was the first Sri Lankan actress to reach international heights, winning awards at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1975 and New Delhi Film Festival in 1977.

Her best role was in ‘Nidhanaya’ (1972), which is known as one of the best works in Sri Lanka’s cinematic history. Fonseka memorably played a guileless lady who meets a man and stumbles into tragedy.