Sir John Lionel Kotelawala (1897–1980) was Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1953 to 1956, succeeding Dudley Senanayake.
He served in the Ceylon Light Infantry, held ministerial office from 1936, and was Minister of Transport and Works in the first post-independence cabinet. As Prime Minister he hosted the 1954 Colombo Powers Conference, at which the leaders of Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Burma and Indonesia met — a meeting that led directly to the Bandung Conference of 1955 and the beginnings of the Non-Aligned Movement.
He lost the 1956 general election decisively to S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's coalition. He later donated his family estate at Kandawala to the state; it became the Kotelawala Defence Academy.