1966—
Countries · Southeast Asia
Politics · Business · Athletes · CultureMyanmar
77 lives connecting independence and federal promises to parliamentary government, military rule, private enterprise, international sport and cultural resistance.
Country archive
Myanmar was known internationally as Burma for most of the lives in this archive. The profiles preserve the place names appropriate to each period while using Myanmar for the present country archive. They also separate documented fact from contested political memory.
- 01
Politics
Colonial office, independence, every presidential, vice-presidential and prime-minister era, military rule, minority rights and rival post-coup authority across 44 connected lives.
Explore Politics - 02
Business
Banking, conglomerates, capital markets and the contested political economy of private wealth.
Explore Business - 03
Athletes
Asian Games swimming gold, Olympic boxing and badminton, world titles and a historic FIFA generation.
Explore Athletes - 04
Culture
Literature, publishing, political satire and experimental art shaped under colonialism and military rule.
Explore Culture
Nineteen connected guides
Connect the biographies to modern Myanmar history
Follow the federal bargain and independence, the 1958–1960 caretaker government, the 1962 military takeover, the country’s changing presidents, vice-presidents and heads of government, the 1988 uprising, the Saffron Revolution, the military-designed constitution, the disputed 2010 vote, the NLD’s full history and 2012 parliamentary breakthrough, the 2015 handover, the 2020 election and fraud claims, limited democratic transition, the Rohingya crisis and the conflict after the 2021 coup.
Curated Myanmar collections
Compare lives by field
Four focused paths connect office, enterprise, sport and culture without flattening their different evidence and institutions.
All Myanmar biographies
77 lives in the archive
1959—
Kyaw Thu
Actor, director and humanitarian; Free Funeral Service Society co-founderKyaw Thu moved from a prominent screen career into humanitarian work, helping establish free funeral assistance and broader community services with fellow volunteers.Read biography
1991—
Ni Ni Khin Zaw
Singer, songwriter and former The Voice Myanmar coachNi Ni Khin Zaw moved from a 2008 singing-competition breakthrough into solo albums, concert performance, regional competition and television coaching.Read biography
Birth date unverified
Zin Mar Aung
Myanmar democracy activist and opposition NUG foreign ministerZin Mar Aung moved from eleven years of political imprisonment into civic education, elected parliamentary service and diplomacy for Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government.Read biography
Birth date unverified
Chit Thu Wai
Myanmar singer, actress, producer and education advocateChit Thu Wai combines singing and screen work with health, education and humanitarian advocacy, later continuing creative work amid the displacement and repression following Myanmar’s 2021 coup.Read biography
1965–
Lay Phyu
Burmese rock singer and songwriter associated with Iron CrossLay Phyu is a Burmese rock singer and songwriter closely associated with Iron Cross. His career connects adapted international rock, original Burmese songs, public performances and collective charitable recordings.Read biography
1979–
Sai Sai Kham Leng
Burmese hip-hop and pop performer, actor and entrepreneurSai Sai Kham Leng is a Burmese performer whose career developed through hip-hop and pop recordings, concerts and acting, with later ventures connecting his public profile to cosmetics and digital services.Read biography
1938–2014
Kin Maung Yin
Burmese modernist painter and architectKin Maung Yin was a Burmese painter with architectural training who helped shape Myanmar’s modern art movement. His work encompassed abstract canvases, landscapes and distinctive portraits, alongside a life devoted to painting.Read biography
Birth year not verified
Ma Thanegi
Myanmar writer, painter and translatorMa Thanegi is a Myanmar writer, painter and translator whose work explores food, travel, art and everyday life. Her writing also records imprisonment following the 1988 democracy movement and brings other Burmese authors into English.Read biography
Myanmar film and community work
Thet Mon Myint
Film actress and modelThet Mon Myint is a Myanmar actress and model whose screen career grew through advertising, music videos and feature films. Contemporary records document Best Actress honours for the 2010 and 2016 film years, alongside later work in Deception.Read biography
1981–
Nay Toe
Film actor and stage comedianNay Toe is a Myanmar film actor and comedian whose work spans dramatic roles, live performance and cross-border productions. His fourth Academy Award recognised Hnaung, or Bound, in the 2024 film-year competition presented in February 2025.Read biography
1982—
Midi Z
Film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmakerThe Myanmar-born Taiwanese filmmaker whose fiction and documentaries follow migration, difficult livelihoods and women's struggles across Myanmar, Taiwan and China.Read biography
1973—
Aung Myat Htay
Artist, curator and educator working across sculpture, installation and performanceThe Mandalay-born artist whose sculpture training developed into installations, curatorial research and shared learning about contemporary art in Myanmar.Read biography
Birth date unconfirmed
Khin Aung Myint
Former Myanmar upper-house and Union Parliament speakerThe former military officer and culture minister who became a leading parliamentary figure during Myanmar’s partial opening after 2011.Read biography
1990—
Win Morisaki
Actor, singer and film directorThe Myanmar-born performer who developed a career in Japan, appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and moved into directing with SEN.Read biography
Contemporary
Zaw Naing Thein
Supreme Group engineering and power-sector executiveThe Myanmar business executive whose documented career connects engineering companies, power-generation partnerships and networks supporting young entrepreneurs.Read biography
1952–2023
Nyi Pu Lay
Writer, visual artist, photographer and PEN Myanmar presidentThe Mandalay writer and artist whose satirical fiction, literary networks and persistent visual practice connected cultural work with a commitment to freedom of expression.Read biography
Contemporary
Ken Tun
Parami Energy founder and energy entrepreneurThe Myanmar entrepreneur whose Parami Energy career connects services for international energy companies with LPG distribution, rural mini-grids and educational initiatives.Read biography
Birth date unconfirmed
Maykhala
Myanmar pop vocalist and recording artistA long-established Myanmar vocalist whose recorded work connects social commentary, interpretations of older songs and collaborations with younger performers.Read biography
1993–
Bobby Soxer
Myanmar rapper, singer and songwriterA Myanmar rapper and songwriter known as Htet Htet, whose career connects collaborative hip-hop recordings, a solo album and commercial music-video production.Read biography
1915—1947
Aung San
Independence leader and architect of modern BurmaThe nationalist organiser and military leader who negotiated Burma’s route to independence but was assassinated before sovereignty arrived.Read biography
1907—1995
U Nu
First prime minister of independent BurmaThe writer, student activist and AFPFL politician who became independent Burma’s first prime minister and the central civilian leader of its parliamentary era.Read biography
c. 1910—2002
Ne Win
Military ruler of Burma from 1962 to 1988The general who overthrew U Nu, nationalised much of the economy and built a one-party military state that lasted until the 1988 uprising.Read biography
1909—1974
U Thant
Third secretary-general of the United NationsThe teacher and Burmese diplomat who became the first non-European UN secretary-general and led the organisation from 1961 through 1971.Read biography
1945—
Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel laureate, NLD leader and former state counsellor of MyanmarThe opposition leader who spent about fifteen years in detention, won a parliamentary seat in 2012 and later led Myanmar’s civilian government through the office of state counsellor.Read biography
1987—
Wai Wai Nu
Rohingya human-rights lawyer and founder of Women’s Peace NetworkThe Rohingya lawyer who rebuilt her education after imprisonment and created organisations linking minority rights, women’s justice and democratic reform.Read biography
c. 1895—1962
Sao Shwe Thaik
First president of the Union of BurmaThe saopha of Yawnghwe who helped bring Shan participation into the Panglong settlement and became the independent union’s first head of state.Read biography
1887—1963
Ba U
Chief justice and second president of the Union of BurmaThe Cambridge-trained jurist who became independent Burma’s first chief justice and its second president under the 1947 Constitution.Read biography
1916—1989
Win Maung
Third president of the Union of BurmaThe Karen politician and former cabinet minister who served as president from 1957 until soldiers removed and imprisoned him in 1962.Read biography
1918—1996
San Yu
General and fifth president of BurmaThe wartime independence soldier and senior general who succeeded Ne Win as president inside Burma’s one-party socialist state.Read biography
1924—2004
Sein Lwin
General and sixth president of BurmaNe Win’s security enforcer who briefly led the party and state in 1988 before mass protest forced his resignation.Read biography1921—2006
Aye Ko
General, vice-president and acting president of BurmaThe former army chief and BSPP vice-president who briefly kept the constitutional office functioning during the collapse of one-party rule.Read biography1925—1994
Maung Maung
Jurist, writer and seventh president of BurmaThe civilian legal scholar who helped shape Burma’s socialist constitutional order and became its final president before the September 1988 coup.Read biography1928—1997
Saw Maung
Military ruler and prime minister of Myanmar from 1988 to 1992The army commander who seized power during the 1988 uprising, promised multiparty elections and retained military rule after the opposition won them.Read biography
1939—
Khin Nyunt
Military intelligence chief and prime minister of MyanmarThe longtime intelligence chief who negotiated ceasefires, monitored domestic opposition, briefly became prime minister and was purged by his own military government.Read biography
1947—2007
Soe Win
Prime minister of Myanmar from 2004 to 2007The army general who rose through regional commands, became secretary-1 of the ruling council and led the government after Khin Nyunt’s removal.Read biography
1933—
Than Shwe
Military ruler of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011The senior general who ruled Myanmar for nineteen years, suppressed organised opposition and designed the constitutional system that followed direct military government.Read biography
1945—
Thein Sein
President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016The former general whose presidency released political prisoners, widened civic space and transferred power after the 2015 election without ending military autonomy.Read biography
1946—
Htin Kyaw
President of Myanmar from 2016 to 2018The economist, writer and longtime Aung San Suu Kyi associate who became Myanmar’s first civilian president in more than fifty years.Read biography
1951—
Win Myint
Lawyer and former president of MyanmarThe lawyer, 1988 democracy activist and parliamentary speaker who became president before the military detained and removed him in the 2021 coup.Read biography
1950—
Duwa Lashi La
Kachin lawyer and acting president of Myanmar’s National Unity GovernmentThe Kachin lawyer and civil-society leader appointed vice-president and acting president of Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government.Read biography
1951—2025
Myint Swe
Military officer, first vice-president and disputed acting presidentThe former general who became Yangon chief minister, military-selected first vice-president and the formal constitutional instrument of the 2021 takeover.Read biography
1956—
Min Aung Hlaing
President of Myanmar and leader of the 2021 military takeoverThe former commander-in-chief who led Myanmar’s 2021 coup, presided over nationwide war and became president through a military-controlled political process in 2026.Read biography
1953—
Serge Pun
Founder of SPA Group, FMI and Yoma StrategicThe entrepreneur who built a regional business network across real estate, financial services, automotive distribution and consumer sectors.Read biography20th century—
Aung Ko Win
KBZ Group chairman and former executive chairman of KBZ BankThe former teacher who acquired Kanbawza Bank with his wife, helped expand a family-owned group and became the bank’s chairman emeritus in 2017.Read biography
1967—
Zaw Zaw
Founder and chairman of Max Myanmar GroupThe entrepreneur whose Max Myanmar group expanded across construction, energy, hospitality and banking while he became a powerful football administrator.Read biography
1985—
Aung La N Sang
Retired mixed martial artist and former two-division ONE championThe Myanmar-born Burmese Python who won two ONE world titles, retired after a 2025 farewell victory and entered the promotion’s Hall of Fame.Read biography1999—
Thet Htar Thuzar
Olympic badminton playerThe Myanmar women’s singles player whose 2018–19 international titles led toward Olympic appearances at Tokyo and Paris, where she carried her country’s flag.Read biography
1996—
Aung Thu
Myanmar international footballerThe forward whose youth-team goals helped deliver a historic World Cup qualification before he became a prominent Myanmar player in Thai football.Read biography
1876—1964
Thakin Kodaw Hmaing
Poet, dramatist, journalist and nationalistThe writer whose poetry, plays and political satire helped shape Burmese nationalism before he became a prominent peace activist.Read biography
1917—1982
Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay
Novelist, journalist and publisherThe novelist and newspaper publisher whose fiction examined family, gender, nationalism and the social damage of colonialism.Read biography1951—
San Minn
Modern and experimental artistThe painter associated with Yangon’s experimental art circles whose coded images tested the boundaries of expression under military rule.Read biography
1893—1977
Ba Maw
First premier of separately administered Burma and wartime head of stateThe lawyer and nationalist politician whose career crossed constitutional colonial government, imprisonment and leadership under Japanese occupation.Read biography1923—1979
Kyar Ba Nyein
Olympic boxer, trainer and pioneer of modern lethweiThe featherweight Olympian who turned international boxing experience into coaching, officiating and a modern rules framework for Burmese lethwei.Read biography1938—1974
Tin Maung Ni
Olympic swimmer and two-time Asian Games championThe distance freestyler who won two Asian Games gold medals and represented Burma at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.Read biography
1915—2008
Ludu Daw Amar
Writer, editor, publisher and chronicler of Mandalay cultureThe Mandalay journalist and author who combined anticolonial activism, independent publishing and decades of writing on Burmese cultural life.Read biography
1961—
Zarganar
Comedian, poet, filmmaker and freedom-of-expression advocateMyanmar’s best-known political satirist, whose wordplay, films and humanitarian work repeatedly led to censorship and imprisonment.Read biography
1915—1987
Ba Swe
Second prime minister of independent BurmaThe student nationalist, socialist organiser and defence minister who briefly succeeded U Nu as prime minister during Burma’s parliamentary era.Read biography1919—1993
Sein Win
Prime minister of socialist Burma from 1974 to 1977The independence-era soldier and Revolutionary Council member who became prime minister when military rule was recast as a one-party constitutional system.Read biography1920—1995
Maung Maung Kha
Prime minister of Burma from 1977 to 1988The former army officer and industrial administrator who served eleven years as prime minister before the economic and political crisis of 1988.Read biography1920—2020
Tun Tin
Final prime minister of Burma’s one-party socialist stateThe independence activist, army officer and finance minister who became prime minister during the last eight weeks of the 1974 constitutional order.Read biography
1952—
Mahn Win Khaing Than
Prime minister of Myanmar’s National Unity GovernmentThe Karen lawyer and former upper-house speaker who became prime minister of the parallel National Unity Government in April 2021.Read biography
Living
Nyo Saw
First vice-president and former military-appointed prime minister of MyanmarThe retired general and military-business executive who briefly headed the cabinet during the junta’s election transition and then became first vice-president.Read biography
1927—2024
Tin Oo
Former army commander and co-founder of the National League for DemocracyThe former commander-in-chief who was purged by Ne Win, imprisoned and later helped found the NLD after the 1988 uprising.Read biography
1943—2026
Dr Sein Win
Prime minister of Burma’s government in exile from 1990 to 2012The mathematician, elected parliamentarian and cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi who led the NCGUB government in exile for twenty-two years.Read biography
1962—
Min Ko Naing
Student leader and veteran democracy activistThe student organiser whose adopted name means “conqueror of kings” and whose repeated imprisonment made him a symbol of Burma’s 88 Generation.Read biography
1979—
U Gambira
Former Buddhist monk and Saffron Revolution organiserThe former monk whose organisation turned protests over fuel prices into a nationwide moral challenge to military rule.Read biography1969—2022
Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy)
Writer, 88 Generation activist and political prisonerThe writer and veteran student activist who spent much of his adult life in prison before Myanmar’s military executed him in 2022.Read biography
1950—
Htay Oo
Former USDP vice-chair, agriculture minister and major generalThe former major general and agriculture minister who converted junta-era mass organisation into electoral party leadership before losing Hinthada in 2015.Read biography
1968—
Htay Kywe
88 Generation student leader and democracy activistThe student organiser whose activism connected the 1988 uprising to the opening phase of the Saffron Revolution nineteen years later.Read biography
1947—
Shwe Mann
Former general and speaker of Myanmar’s lower houseThe former senior general who became parliament’s first lower-house speaker, challenged parts of the executive’s agenda and lost his party leadership before the landmark 2015 vote.Read biography
1958—
Henry Van Thio
Second vice president of Myanmar from 2016 to 2024The former army major and Chin State senator whose sudden nomination placed an ethnic Christian politician in Myanmar’s 2016 executive trio.Read biography
1950—
Sai Mauk Kham
Physician and vice president of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016The Shan physician and cultural organiser who became vice president during Myanmar’s first post-junta government and then returned to parliament in the 2015 election.Read biography
1950—
Tin Aung Myint Oo
General and first vice-president of Myanmar from 2011 to 2012The former SPDC secretary and military nominee who entered Myanmar’s new presidential executive in 2011, then left office after little more than a year.Read biography
1954—
Nyan Tun
Admiral, second vice-president and former member of ParliamentThe former navy commander who entered Thein Sein’s reform-era executive as second vice-president and later represented his home township in Parliament.Read biography
1954—
Than Htay
Former USDP chair, cabinet minister and retired brigadier generalThe former army officer and energy minister who rebuilt the USDP after its 2015 defeat, won a parliamentary seat in 2020 and challenged the NLD landslide.Read biography
1969—