Dhanapala was born in Tissamaharama and educated at Mahinda College, Galle and Allahabad University in India.
His pen portraits of the movers and shakers in the then Ceylon made his writing style unique in the country at that time.
After a while his disagreements with the Lake House resulted in him leaving and going on to teaching as the principal of Dharmaloka Vidyalaya Kelaniya.
Dhanapala started in journalism working at the Ceylon Daily News newspaper published by the Lake House Group.
His ability to influence political thinking in the Sinhala-speaking population is believed to have caused concern among the politicians in power in the incumbent government (from the United National Party) as he supported the campaign of S.W.R.D.
[3] Dhanapala was a well-known biographer of leading personalities in Ceylon and is best known for his book on contemporary political figures Among those Present.
He was the father of filmmaker D. B. Nihalsinghe and photographer D. B. Suranimala,[10] who married Ranjini Ediriweera (who acted in the film Wer stirbt schon gerne unter Palmen [de] (1974)[11] and later joined her brothers as a director of Ceylon Tours) the daughter of his friend and business partner PA Ediriweera.