Vietnam · Politics1890—1969
Countries · Southeast Asia
Politics · Business · Athletes · CultureVietnam
56 lives connecting anticolonial revolution and state-building with Đổi Mới enterprise, Olympic firsts, painting, literature, spiritual practice, cinema and music.
Country archive
Vietnam’s modern history can be followed through people who negotiated empire, war and reunification, then built new companies, sporting ambitions and cultural forms within a rapidly integrating economy.
- 01
Politics
Monarchy, anticolonial revolution, rival republics, wartime diplomacy, party institutions and postwar reform.
Explore Politics - 02
Business
Private enterprise emerging from Đổi Mới through technology, retail, manufacturing, industrial parks, aviation, hospitality and consumer brands.
Explore Business - 03
Athletes
Olympic breakthroughs, regional swimming dominance and the football moments that became shared national memory.
Explore Athletes - 04
Culture
Painting, literature, Buddhist thought, classical performance, cinema and Vietnamese-language pop moving across generations and borders.
Explore Culture
History guides
Seven turning points in modern Vietnam
Move from colonial war, division and reunification through economic renovation, diplomatic normalization, enterprise reform and WTO membership.
Curated paths
Vietnam within wider stories
Follow political transition, business building, reform leadership, women’s public lives, creative influence, football and Olympic development through focused collections.
All Vietnam biographies
56 lives in the archive
Browse the complete country collection or refine the directory by country, field, name, office, company, sport or achievement.
Vietnam · Politics
Vietnam · Politics1911—2013
Võ Nguyên Giáp
General and defence ministerThe teacher turned general who organised revolutionary armed forces and became the best-known military commander of modern Vietnam.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1901—1963
Ngô Đình Diệm
First president of South VietnamThe anticommunist politician who became South Vietnam’s first president and was overthrown and killed during a military coup in 1963.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1911—1990
Lê Đức Thọ
Party organiser and peace negotiatorA senior communist organiser and negotiator who reached the Paris agreement with Henry Kissinger and became the only person to decline a Nobel Peace Prize voluntarily.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1944—2024
Nguyễn Phú Trọng
General secretary of the Communist Party of VietnamVietnam’s dominant party leader from 2011 to 2024, known for ideological discipline, a far-reaching anti-corruption drive and pragmatic foreign balancing.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1968—
Phạm Nhật Vượng
Founder and chairman of VingroupThe entrepreneur who moved from an instant-noodle business in Ukraine to build Vingroup and launch Vietnam’s most ambitious global vehicle brand.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1956—
Trương Gia Bình
Co-founder and chairman of FPT CorporationThe mathematician and entrepreneur who co-founded FPT in 1988 and helped turn it into a multinational technology, education and digital-services group.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1971—
Đặng Lê Nguyên Vũ
Founder of Trung Nguyên LegendThe entrepreneur who founded Trung Nguyên in Buôn Ma Thuột and used coffee retail, instant products and cultural branding to expand internationally.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1974—
Hoàng Xuân Vinh
Olympic sport shooterThe pistol shooter who won gold and silver at Rio 2016, delivering Vietnam’s first Olympic title and its most successful single Games.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1996—
Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên
Olympic swimmer and SEA Games championVietnam’s most decorated swimmer, a three-time Olympian whose range and endurance produced 25 Southeast Asian Games titles.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1985—
Lê Công Vinh
Former Vietnam national football captainThe striker and captain whose 51 international goals and late 2008 championship header made him the defining Vietnamese footballer of his generation.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1926—2022
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Zen teacher, writer and peace activistThe Vietnamese Zen teacher and writer who developed engaged Buddhism and helped make mindfulness practice accessible to a worldwide audience.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1979—
Ngô Thanh Vân
Actor, director and producerThe actor and producer known internationally as Veronica Ngo, whose action films created new space for women-led Vietnamese commercial cinema.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1994—
Sơn Tùng M-TP
Singer, songwriter and producerThe singer-songwriter whose online releases, visual branding and fan community made him one of the most visible figures in contemporary Vietnamese pop.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1981—
Mỹ Tâm
Singer, songwriter and producerThe singer-songwriter whose powerful ballads, self-produced albums and large live shows have sustained one of Vietnamese pop’s longest leading careers.Read biography1927—
Nguyễn Thị Bình
Diplomat and former vice president of VietnamThe revolutionary diplomat who represented the Provisional Revolutionary Government at the Paris negotiations and later served as education minister and vice president.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1954—
Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân
Former chairwoman of the National Assembly of VietnamThe economist and legislator who held labour and parliamentary leadership posts before becoming Vietnam’s first female National Assembly chair in 2016.Read biography1970—
Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo
Founder and chairwoman of VietJet AirThe entrepreneur who founded VietJet, expanded private aviation in Vietnam and became the country’s first self-made woman billionaire after the airline listed.Read biography1953—
Mai Kiều Liên
Chief executive of VinamilkThe dairy engineer who joined Vinamilk’s predecessor in 1976 and has led the company as chief executive through modernisation, listing and international expansion.Read biography1974—
Trần Hiếu Ngân
Olympic taekwondo medallistThe taekwondo athlete whose featherweight silver at the Sydney Olympics became the first Olympic medal in Vietnam’s history.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1995—
Nguyễn Thị Oanh
Middle-distance and long-distance runnerThe runner and steeplechaser who combined regional dominance with an Asian Games bronze and four gold medals at a single SEA Games.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1973—
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Poet, novelist and translatorThe bilingual poet and novelist whose family-centred fiction brought twentieth-century Vietnamese history to a wide international readership.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1992—
H’Hen Niê
Model, public advocate and Miss Universe Vietnam 2017The Êđê model and public advocate whose Miss Universe Top 5 finish set a Vietnamese record and gave her a platform for education and community campaigns.Read biography1985—
Hoàng Anh Tuấn
Olympic weightlifting silver medallistThe weightlifter whose 290 kg total at Beijing 2008 made him Vietnam’s first male Olympic medallist and the country’s second Olympic medallist overall.Read biography1989—
Trần Lê Quốc Toàn
Olympic weightlifting bronze medallistThe weightlifter who finished fourth at London 2012 with a 284 kg total and later became the Olympic bronze medallist after an anti-doping disqualification.Read biography1942—2014
Phạm Huỳnh Tam Lang
Football defender and championship-winning coachThe centre-back who captained South Vietnam to the 1966 Merdeka Cup, then guided Cảng Sài Gòn through a title-winning era after reunification.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1970—
Nguyễn Hồng Sơn
Former Vietnam football midfielderThe skilful Thể Công midfielder who defined Vietnam’s 1990s golden generation and was named the best player of the 1998 Tiger Cup.Read biography1972—
Lê Huỳnh Đức
Former Vietnam striker and championship-winning coachThe powerful striker who won Vietnam’s first Golden Ball in 1995, scored 34 international goals and later became a title-winning V.League coach.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1991—
Huỳnh Như
Vietnam women’s national team forward and captainVietnam’s record women’s goalscorer, a five-time Golden Ball winner who captained the country at its first FIFA Women’s World Cup.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1997—
Nguyễn Quang Hải
Vietnam international football midfielderThe playmaker whose “Rainbow in the Snow” symbolised Vietnam’s 2018 breakthrough before he won the AFF Championship MVP and Golden Ball.Read biography
Vietnam · Athletes1993—
Đặng Văn Lâm
Vietnam international football goalkeeperThe Moscow-born goalkeeper who became Vietnam’s number one, won the 2018 AFF Championship and opened a Vietnamese pathway into Japan’s J1 League.Read biography1939—2001
Trịnh Công Sơn
Songwriter, poet and painterThe songwriter whose love songs and antiwar compositions became an enduring musical language for Vietnamese memory across division and reunification.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1958—
Đặng Thái Sơn
Classical pianist and professorThe Hanoi-born pianist who won the 1980 International Chopin Piano Competition and built a global career as a performer, recording artist and teacher.Read biography1920—1988
Bùi Xuân Phái
Modern painterThe modern painter whose weathered streets, façades and everyday figures made Hanoi’s Old Quarter inseparable from his name.Read biography1955—
Nguyễn Nhật Ánh
Novelist and children’s authorThe prolific author whose novels and series turned ordinary Vietnamese childhood, friendship and first love into stories read across generations.Read biography
Vietnam · Culture1984—
Hà Anh Tuấn
Singer, producer and concert organiserThe singer who moved from a national television breakthrough to carefully produced concerts, digital performance series and environmental advocacy.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1913—1997
Bảo Đại
Last emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and Chief of State of VietnamVietnam’s last emperor, whose abdication in 1945 and return as chief of state in 1949 traced the country’s passage from monarchy into revolution and competing postcolonial governments.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1923—2001
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
President of the Republic of VietnamThe South Vietnamese general and president who consolidated civilian authority during the war, signed the Paris agreement under pressure and resigned in April 1975.Read biography1907—1988
Trường Chinh
Communist Party leader, political theorist and head of stateThe senior communist theorist whose career stretched from the 1945 revolution and land reform to a late political shift that helped open the Đổi Mới reform era.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1906—2000
Phạm Văn Đồng
Prime minister and diplomatThe revolutionary diplomat and long-serving prime minister who represented North Vietnam at Geneva and provided governmental continuity through war, reunification and postwar planning.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1922—2008
Võ Văn Kiệt
Prime minister and economic reformerThe southern revolutionary and prime minister who accelerated market reform, backed the North–South power line and led Vietnam through a decisive period of international integration.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1916—2001
Dương Văn Minh
South Vietnamese general and final president of the Republic of VietnamThe general who led the 1963 coup, briefly headed South Vietnam’s military government and returned as its final president before surrender.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1907—1986
Lê Duẩn
Communist Party leader and wartime strategistThe party leader who drove North Vietnam’s war strategy, presided over reunification and remained Vietnam’s dominant political figure until the eve of Đổi Mới.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1888—1980
Tôn Đức Thắng
Trade-union organiser and president of VietnamThe labour organiser, colonial prisoner and head of state who succeeded Hồ Chí Minh in 1969 and became the first president of reunified Vietnam in 1976.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1915—1998
Nguyễn Văn Linh
Communist Party general secretary and Đổi Mới reform leaderThe southern party organiser who became general secretary in 1986 and gave political force to Đổi Mới while preserving Communist Party rule.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1917—2018
Đỗ Mười
Prime minister and Communist Party general secretaryThe former construction administrator who served as prime minister and then party general secretary as Vietnam stabilised reforms and re-entered regional and global diplomacy.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1933—2018
Phan Văn Khải
Prime minister and economic reformerThe technocratic prime minister who advanced business reform, negotiated deeper global integration and made a landmark visit to the United States in 2005.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1949—
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Former prime minister of VietnamVietnam’s prime minister from 2006 to 2016, associated with WTO-era growth, a more assertive executive style and costly failures in state-owned conglomerates.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1931—2020
Lê Khả Phiêu
Army political officer and Communist Party general secretaryThe career army political officer who led Vietnam’s Communist Party from 1997 to 2001, stressing discipline and continuity during a contested phase of reform.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1940—
Nông Đức Mạnh
Former Communist Party general secretary and National Assembly chairmanThe forestry-trained legislator who led Vietnam’s Communist Party for a decade spanning the U.S. trade agreement, WTO accession and accelerating global integration.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1969—
Nguyễn Đức Tài
Co-founder and chairman of Mobile World Investment CorporationThe retail entrepreneur who co-founded Mobile World in 2004 and helped expand it from a Ho Chi Minh City phone shop into a nationwide group spanning electronics, groceries and other consumer formats.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1964—
Đặng Thành Tâm
Founder and chairman of Kinh Bac City Development Holding CorporationThe marine engineer turned industrial-park developer who founded Kinh Bac City and built manufacturing locations around northern Vietnam’s growing export economy.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1955—
Nguyễn Thị Nga
Founder and chairwoman of BRG GroupThe entrepreneur who founded BRG as an import-export business in 1993 and expanded it into a private group with interests across finance, property, hospitality, golf and retail.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1970—
Lê Hồng Thủy Tiên
Chief executive officer of Imex Pan Pacific GroupThe former actor and flight attendant who moved into retail management and became chief executive of IPPG, helping scale international fashion, food-and-beverage and airport retail in Vietnam.Read biography
Vietnam · Business1983—
Bùi Quang Minh
Founder and chairman of Beta GroupThe entrepreneur known as Minh Beta who founded Beta Group in 2014 and built a cinema, production and distribution business around lower-cost access to theatrical film.Read biography
Vietnam · Politics1952—