Sri Lanka's new prime minister is widely seen as a moderate who supports a negotiated settlement to the island's long-running ethnic conflict.
He is lesser known for his roles in local films.
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Confidants say Rajapakse has been supportive of Norway's attempts to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed in the country and had refused to criticise his predecessor's peace efforts at the cost of going against his party line.
Rajapakse has maintained cordial ties with outgoing PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, who handled the peace bid and was criticised for it by his main rival, President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Rajapakse, born on November 18, 1945, to Sinhalese parents was a lawyer by training but turned to politics at the age of 24, entering parliament from the southern district of Hambantota.
His father had also been a legislator representing the constituency between 1947 and 1960.
He was a controversial minister in Kumaratunga's cabinet from 1994 to 2001 when he moved to introduce a labour charter and set up villages for fishermen when he held the portfolios of labour and fisheries.
His labour reforms were resisted by employers who pressured Kumaratunga to oust him from the labour ministry.
His labour charter remained a key election promise of Kumaratunga's 1994 government. It was never implemented.
He was then shifted to the fisheries ministry where he became even more popular among the public by setting up houses for fishermen who had been living in temporary dwellings for decades.
Despite his work as fisheries minister, the country's Buddhist clergy, who oppose fishing as a sin, took the extraordinary step of conferring an honour on him for his services to the country as a politician.
An Indian aesthetic studies institution too recognised him for his contribution to art, although his contributions have been limited to acting in a few films.
He has also been an active supporter of the Palestinian cause and a leading member of the Palestine Solidarity Movement.