List of Famous people born in Malaysia
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng, PSM is a Malaysian actress who rose to fame in 1990s Hong Kong action films and is best known internationally for her roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), along with recent international English-language films and series. She was more recently featured in CBS All-Access'/Netflix's Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2020) where she was the captain of the USS Shenzhou and Emperor from the Mirror Universe. She is also currently set to star in a Star Trek spinoff, about Section 31. Yeoh is credited as Michelle Khan in her early Hong Kong films.
Henry Golding
Henry Ewan Golding is a Malaysian-British actor, model, and television host. Golding has been a presenter on BBC's The Travel Show since 2014. He is known for his film work, playing the role of Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians, as well as Sean Townsend in the thriller A Simple Favor and Tom in the romantic comedy Last Christmas, the latter two directed by Paul Feig.
Namewee
Wee Meng Chee is a Malaysian Chinese hip hop recording artist, composer, filmmaker and actor who is widely known by his stage name Namewee, a bilingual pun on his first name, which sounds like the Mandarin term for name.
Julia Rais
Cik Puan Julia Aishah Binti Abdul Rais, known professionally as Julia Rais, is a Malaysian former model and actress. She is a member of the Bendahara dynasty as the second wife of Abdullah of Pahang, the 6th Sultan of Pahang and 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. Julia had a successful, but short, career in Malaysia as a film actress in the early 1990s and was known for her European features. She played the title character in the 1990 films Isabella and Mira Edora and in the 1992 film Nadia. Julia also had roles in the films Hati Bukan Kristal, Driving School, and Suci Dalam Debu. She received two awards and a nomination for Best Actress at the 9th Malaysian Film Festival in 1991. She ended her acting career shortly after marrying into the Pahang royal family.
Loh Kean Yew
Loh Kean Yew is a Singaporean badminton player.
Lee Chong Wei
Datuk Lee Chong Wei is a former Malaysian badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fourth Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve such a ranking, and is the only Malaysian shuttler who has held the number one ranking for more than a year.
Muhammad V of Kelantan
Sultan Muhammad V is the current Sultan of Kelantan and served as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 13 December 2016 to 6 January 2019. He was proclaimed Sultan of Kelantan on 13 September 2010, succeeding his father, Sultan Ismail Petra, who was deemed incapacitated by illness. He was proclaimed Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 13 December 2016. In an unprecedented move, Muhammad V became the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong to step down from the throne, effective 6 January 2019, while his term was to end on 12 December 2021.
Ronny Chieng
Ronny Xin Yi Chieng is a Malaysian comedian and actor. Chieng is currently a senior correspondent on The Daily Show on Comedy Central and creator and star of the sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student which premiered on ABC (Australia) and Comedy Central Asia in 2017.
Muhyiddin Yassin
Muhyiddin bin Haji Muhammad Yassin is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia since March 2020. He served as the 10th Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs and in many other Cabinet positions under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak and Mahathir Mohamad, from May 1995 to February 2020. As a result of the ongoing 2020 Malaysian political crisis, Mahathir's abrupt resignation on 24 February 2020 led to Muhyiddin being declared Prime Minister by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 29 February 2020. He was formally appointed and sworn in on 1 March 2020 shortly before becoming prominent in Malaysia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lee Zii Jia
Lee Zii Jia is a Malaysian badminton player. He was the men's singles gold medalist at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Anwar Ibrahim
Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who has twice served as Leader of the Opposition. He has held the position since May 2020, and has been President of the People's Justice Party (PKR) since November 2018 and Chairman of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition since February 2020. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Port Dickson since October 2018 and the Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998 and Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998 when he was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the major party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition then.
Rosmah Mansor
Datin Seri Hajah Rosmah binti Mansor is the second wife of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob is a Malaysian politician who served as the Senior Minister for Security and Minister of Defence in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin since March 2020 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Bera since March 2004. He served as the 15th Leader of the Opposition in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration from March 2019 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, Minister of Rural and Regional Development, Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism and Minister of Youth and Sports in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak from March 2008 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018. He is a member and Vice-President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition which is aligned with the ruling PN coalition.
Mandy Lieu
Mandy Lieu is a Malaysian-American model, actress, and TV show host based in Hong Kong. She has appeared in Hong Kong television shows and movies such as Horseplay and To the Fore.
Penny Tai
Penny Tai is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, producer and director. Since her debut in 2000, she has achieved many successes in her music career, including winning 5 Golden Melody Awards.
Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee Meng Soon is a Malaysia born Singaporean actor, host and singer and managed under Catwalk Production House.
Claudia Wells
Claudia Grace Wells is an American actress and businesswoman, best known for her role as Jennifer Parker in the film Back to the Future (1985).
Azizulhasni Awang
Mohd Azizulhasni bin Awang is a Malaysian professional track cyclist. Nicknamed "The Pocket Rocketman" due to his small stature, he is the first Malaysian cyclist to win a medal at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and at the Summer Olympics.
Joe Simpson
Joe Simpson is an English mountaineer, author, and motivational speaker. While climbing in Peru in 1985, he suffered severe injuries and was thought lost after falling into a crevasse, but he survived and managed to crawl back to his base camp. He described the ordeal in his best-selling 1988 book Touching the Void, which was adapted into a 2003 documentary film of the same name.
Mohamad Sabu
Mohamad bin Sabu, commonly known as Mat Sabu, is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Defence in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kota Raja since May 2018, Kuala Kedah from November 1999 to March 2004, Kubang Kerian from April 1995 to November 1999 and Nilam Puri from October 1990 to April 1995. He has also served as the founding and 1st President of the National Trust Party (AMANAH), a component party of the PH opposition coalition and rebranded from the Malaysian Workers' Party (PPPM) after it was taken over by the Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB) led by him which left the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in 2015 thanks to their ideological differences with the PAS leaders, since 2015. He also served as Deputy President of PAS, a former component party of the former Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Alternatif (BA) opposition coalitions, from 2011 to 2015. He was elected to the party deputy presidency in 2011, running on a moderate platform against the conservative incumbent Nasharudin Mat Isa. He had also served as the party Vice-President prior to his election as the party Deputy President. He was the first non-alim elected to the party leadership or deputy presidency in over 25 years.