Joseph Peter Moraes Fernando (born 31 January 1923 – died 1998 May 24 as Sinhala: ප්රේම්නාත් මොරායස්), popularly as Premnath Moraes, was an actor, film director and scriptwriter in Sri Lankan cinema as well as appeared in versatile forms: singer, lyricist, film production executive, weightlifter, athlete, gymnast, journalist and sports administrator.
[2] He firs attended to St. Benedict's College, Colombo, but the school was later moved to Veyangoda due to World War II.
As a student in Maris Stella, he captained football team, played cricket and appointed as the Head Prefect.
However, he spoke openly at the funeral of a colleague gunned down when leading an unarmed raid, Moraes was sacked from the police.
Moraes was the first General Secretary of the Old Bens Sports Club and later served under the Presidencies of Colonel Sydney Jayawardena, Dougie Livera and Granville Perera.
After returning to Sri Lanka, he excelled as a singer where he contracted to the HMV label and recorded few solos as well as duets with Latha Walpola and Chitra Somapala.
In the meantime in 1953, Moraes became the production assistant as well as second unit Director for the Hollywood film Elephant Walk directed by William De Telle.
Meanwhile, he worked as the sports editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper and also served as a copy writer in advertising industry.