Top 14 Most Famous Figures in Vietnam

He was born on August 5, 1968, and is a Vietnamese entrepreneur, recognized as the first US dollar billionaire on the Vietnam stock exchange since March 7, 2011, with a total asset value reaching approximately $1 billion. Pham Nhat Vuong was first honored by Forbes magazine in 2013 at position 974 in the world with a total asset value of $1.5 billion, until March 2014, it was $1.6 billion. He is also the first Vietnamese billionaire to enter Forbes' world billionaire list, while also being among Forbes' top 20 prominent faces in 2013.

Starting his career in Ukraine, graduating from university, entrepreneur Pham Nhat Vuong became known for his success with the famous instant noodle brand Mivina in Eastern Europe. As one of the most secretive billionaires in the Vietnamese business community, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vingroup Corporation rarely appears in public and has never revealed or disclosed his colossal wealth.

However, looking at the immense wealth with a series of luxury projects in real estate, tourism hotels, healthcare, beauty, and education sectors... such as Vincom Village, Royal City, Vincom Center Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Times City, Vinpearl Villas Hon Tre, The Beach Villas, Vincom Hai Phong, Mytour Hospital, Vincharm Spa system, and hotels, amusement parks throughout the country owned by the conglomerate he leads, one can also imagine to some extent the value of assets that this billionaire holds.

Doan Nguyen Duc born in 1962, nicknamed 'Boss Duc' hails from Binh Dinh. He is a renowned Vietnamese figure both as a football club owner and a successful entrepreneur through the famous brand Hoang Anh - Gia Lai. In 2011, he was rated by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 30 most powerful entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia.

Doan Nguyen Duc is known for his passion for football, and is referred to by the sports media as 'Boss' Duc. Since 2001, he has invested over 10 billion dong annually in football. In 2002, he became famous for recruiting Southeast Asia's top striker Kiatisuk Senamuang to his team. Thanks to this, the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Club went from first division to becoming a two-time V-League champion and one of the leading professional football clubs in Vietnam. Just a few years later, the Hoang Anh Gia Lai brand became famous both domestically and internationally.

In 2007, he founded the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Academy - Arsenal JMG to recruit and train young players based on the model of the Arsenal Football Academy. In 2011, he and other football-oriented entrepreneurs such as Vo Quoc Thang, Nguyen Duc Kien outlined the idea and established the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company, a company specializing in managing Vietnam's professional football league. In 2015, with HAGL FC, his conglomerate generated revenue and profit from football. With revenue sources from ticket sales, advertising, or jerseys, the team from the Central Highlands expects to bring in about 20 billion dong.

Mr. Duc himself is also one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Vietnam and has always dreamed of becoming a world billionaire. In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Duc consecutively ranked first in the list of richest people in Vietnam. In 2012, he ranked second after Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong with a total asset of 5.6 trillion dong.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao born in 1970 in Hanoi, is a female entrepreneur, billionaire currently serving as the CEO of VietJet Air, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of HDBank. She is the second Vietnamese recognized by Forbes as a USD billionaire, after Pham Nhat Vuong. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao was born in 1970 into a Hanoi-origin family, at the age of 17, she went to study abroad majoring in Finance and Economics and soon became famous in the community for her outstanding academic achievements and innate business talent.

As a second-year student, she entered the business world. At that time, the Eastern European market lacked consumer goods, everything was scarce, so she traded in various items, from electronics to agricultural products from Asian countries to Eastern Europe. At the same time, she also imported to Vietnam scarce and essential items such as fertilizers, iron, steel, equipment, etc.

According to Bloomberg, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao earned her first $1 million when she was just 21 years old, by selling fax machines and rubber. After returning to Vietnam, she invested in establishing Techcombank and later VIB - 2 of the first private banks in Vietnam. Nearly 25 years later, she emerged as Vietnam's first female dollar billionaire. Most of her assets come from shares in VietJet and Dragon City (Phu Long) - a 65-hectare real estate project in Ho Chi Minh City. In September 2013, the couple attracted public attention after VietJet Air announced the purchase of 100 Airbus aircraft worth $9.1 billion.

On May 23, 2016, witnessed by US President Barack Obama and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, VietJet Air signed an agreement to lease-purchase 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200 from the US group worth $11.3 billion.

Full name Võ Nguyễn Hoài Linh, born on December 18, 1969 in Quảng Nam, he is a Vietnamese comedian. He is an acclaimed comedian who has won numerous awards such as the Golden Ochna Flower Award, Golden Clown Award, and was the first overseas artist to be honored as the Outstanding Artist of the Year 2015.

As a prominent figure in the Vietnamese and overseas entertainment industry, he is widely known and loved by his fans for his humor and wit. Many fan clubs dedicated to him are a testament to the affection of Vietnamese audiences for this homegrown talent.

With nearly 30 years in the industry, Hoài Linh is regarded as an iconic figure of Vietnam. In addition to his talent and affinity for the profession, he is cherished by audiences for his dedication, humble lifestyle, and approachability.

Trung Nguyên is a remarkable enterprise. Not only renowned for its coffee products, Trung Nguyên is also known for the remarkable mindset of its owner, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu. According to Western businessmen in Vietnam, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu's personal fortune could now reach $100 million. This is a huge figure for a country with an average per capita income of $1,300 like Vietnam.

Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu, CEO of Trung Nguyên Group, has a famous statement: “A country cannot be strong without wealthy individuals.” Besides building Trung Nguyên coffee into an international brand, Mr. Vu always has a desire and dream to contribute to making Vietnam a leading nation, conquering and influencing the world.

He identifies 3 goals to achieve: Globalize Trung Nguyên; contribute to the national strategy for a strong Vietnam; pursue the theory of coffee globally.

Ngô Bảo Châu was born on June 28, 1972 in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is a renowned mathematician known for proving the Fundamental Lemma for automorphic forms conjectured by Robert Langlands and Diana Shelstad. He is also the first Vietnamese in history to receive the Fields Medal. As of 2010, he was the youngest scientist in Vietnam to be appointed as a professor by the State Professorship Council of Vietnam.

He twice won the gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Australia in 1988 and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1989, also becoming the first Vietnamese to win two gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. In 2004, he was awarded the Clay Research Award by the Clay Mathematics Institute along with Professor Gérard Laumon for proving the Fundamental Lemma for Unit Groups. In 2005, at the age of 33, Ngô Bảo Châu was appointed as a professor by the Vietnamese government. At the end of 2009, his work on the Fundamental Lemma for Lie Algebras was voted by Time magazine as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2009. With his scientific contributions, Professor Ngô Bảo Châu was invited to present his papers at the plenary session of the 2010 World Mathematical Congress held in India on August 19, 2010. At the opening ceremony, he was awarded the Fields Medal. On August 29, 2010, a ceremony celebrating his receipt of the Fields Medal was held at the National Convention Center, My Dinh, Hanoi.

To encourage domestic scientific development, the Vietnamese government awarded Ngô Bảo Châu an official apartment worth 12 billion VND in Vincom building, Hanoi. Despite various opinions surrounding the acceptance of the apartment, he affirmed that this award was deserved, and he received the 160 m² house in early November 2010. Earlier, on September 4, 2010, the Hanoi Emulation and Reward Council (in the Capital Patriotic Emulation Campaign program for the period 2010 - 2015 of the city) chose Ngô Bảo Châu as one of the Capital's outstanding citizens for the first time in 2010.

In April 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to award him the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic, and he officially received the award in France on January 27, 2012 at the Élysée Palace. A month later, Ngô Bảo Châu, along with five others, was awarded distinguished service professorships by the University of Chicago. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

On December 12, 2018, he was awarded the Maurice Audin Mathematics Prize at the Henri Poincaré Institute of Research, Paris, France. He is also known as a vocal advocate on education, politics, culture, and social issues in Vietnam.

Ánh Viên was born on November 9, 1996, in Can Tho, Vietnam. She is a female swimmer representing the national swimming team of Vietnam. At the age of 19, she secured 8 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 1 bronze medal for Vietnam, breaking 8 records.

She was recognized as the most outstanding athlete outside of Singapore at the Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore. She also ranks 25th in the world in the 400m freestyle event for women and 32nd in the world in the 400m individual medley. In 2015, she became the youngest army lieutenant in Vietnam and was awarded the Second-class Labor Medal.

After winning the Asian Swimming Championship gold medal in Japan in November 2016 in the 400m individual medley event, the ASIAD gold medal (Asian Games) is the number one target that Vietnam's 'Golden Girl' hopes to achieve in 2018.

At the same time, Vietnamese fans are eagerly awaiting Anh Vien to make a breakthrough at the 2020 Olympics as she enters the prime of her career. Hopefully, Anh Vien will continue to bring pride to Vietnamese fans on major stages like the ASIAD and Olympics in the near future.

He is known as a Vietnamese pop singer. Sơn Tùng has won the Favorite Song award with the songs 'The Rain Passing By' and 'You of Yesterday'. He was also invited twice as a guest performer on the Vietnam Idol music program. In 2015, Sơn Tùng received the Youth Actor award at the Golden Kite Awards for his role in That Boy Back Then. Four keywords related to Sơn Tùng appeared in the top 10 most searched on Google. He is a singer with a stylish and cool personality, beloved by many fans.

With a burning desire to become a singer, Sơn Tùng M-TP's passion drove him to pursue his own path. He went to Hanoi to attend courses on vocal music, RAP, and at this time, Sơn Tùng joined the underground community with other famous RAP singers like LK, Jansaker,... Sơn Tùng M-TP has become the most sought-after singer at the moment, with a huge fan base and impressive achievements after just a few years in his career.

Some of Sơn Tùng M-TP's best songs: Here has me, Let go of each other's hands, You of yesterday, Surely someone will return, Lost in drifting, Is this really love,...

His real name is Huynh Minh Hung, born on October 2, 1971. He participated in cultural activities from the young singer club, district 10 cultural center in 1991. After winning first prize in the young singer selection competition organized by District 10 Cultural Company at Ky Hoa Park in 1992, Đàm Vĩnh Hưng officially embarked on a professional singing career. Đàm Vĩnh Hưng is a famous Vietnamese singer known as Mr. Đàm, the king of Vietnamese music.

When mentioning Đàm Vĩnh Hưng, we immediately think of a unique voice, a distinctive performance style that impresses the audience not only through singing but also through 'shocking' statements, 'flashy' actions, or bold personal performances like 'White Party' with white-decorated halls, white-stage, and even the audience wears all white...

From a barber passionate about singing, Đàm Vĩnh Hưng has become the most popular and successful singer today. Considered a famous pop singer in Vietnam, he also sings nostalgic songs imbued with sentimentality as well as Trinh Cong Son's music. Mr. Đàm performs both domestically and internationally and is loved by many audiences. His music products are well received by both professionals and fans.

10. Đông Nhi

Her real name is Mai Hong Ngoc, born on October 13, 1988, she is a young female singer who is very popular in Vietnam. She has a large fan base and is loved by many.

Đông Nhi is a young singer sought after by many, with diversity in music styles, always reinventing herself, thus becoming one of the most successful singers in the Vietnamese showbiz industry. From the early days of entering the entertainment industry, Đông Nhi encountered many difficulties, but with talent, she became one of the most successful young singers. During the peak of teen music, we cannot overlook songs like Baby Milo, Sweet Confessions, Finding Back... all of which are songs she composed herself. In addition to singing and songwriting, Đông Nhi also tried her hand at roles such as being an MC for some television programs like 'Dancing with the Stars', 'Vpop World'. Moreover, she also participated in acting and was hugely successful, with some movies featuring Đông Nhi such as 'Rescuing Death', 'Tuesday Students'...

Diligently pursuing her artistic career and achieving brilliant success, Đông Nhi is one of the singers who avoids scandals. When talking about Đông Nhi's success, people immediately think of talent, competence, without any tricks. Throughout her music career, she has won many awards such as 'Singer of the Year' at the Dedication Music Awards in 2019, 6 consecutive times winning the 'Most Favorite Female Singer' award from Zing Music Awards from 2011 to 2016, 3 times winning the 'Female Pop Singer' award from the Mai Vang Awards, 1 award for 'Outstanding Vietnamese Singer in Asia' from the MAMA Awards, 'Outstanding Southeast Asian Singer' from the MTV EMA 2016. She won the 'Big Apple Music Awards' (BAMA) and was awarded a certificate of merit by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor for her contributions to music.

11. Trấn Thành (Renowned MC)

Trấn Thành, born Huynh Trấn Thành, is known for his roles as an MC, comedian, actor, and voice actor. He has hosted numerous shows, such as Challenge with Dance Steps, Gala of Laughter 2011, and Quang Le's live show: Singing on the Homeland, among others.

With his versatile and humorous hosting style, Trấn Thành is more recognized by audiences as an MC than an actor, although he studied at the Department of Theater and Film Acting. Some of the MC roles Trấn Thành has participated in include: Mars and Venus (2018 - 2019) - HTV7, Who Is He/She (2018 - 2019) - HTV2, Spring Waves 2019 (2019) - DIDTV, Vietnam's Super Intelligence (2019 - 2020) - HTV2, I'm a Teen (2019 - 2020) - HTV7, Miss Universe Vietnam 2019 (finals) (2019), Spring Waves 2020 (2020) - DIDTV...

Trấn Thành recently released a comedy DVD titled Trấn Thành's Adventure, in which he plays the main character, attracting much attention and love from the audience.

He rose to fame as an MC. With a melodious and expressive voice along with captivating hosting skills, he quickly became a beloved MC and soon became one of the most expensive MCs. Later, he also participated in comedy shows on television with artist Hoai Linh and recently became a judge on some television programs. Due to his hard work, his reputation continues to soar.

12. Mrs. Mai Kieu Lien

Several business performance indicators have shown record-breaking results over the years. In 2017 alone, revenue reached 51.041 trillion VND, with a market capitalization of 302.773 trillion VND, equivalent to over 13 billion USD. 2018 marked the third consecutive year that the company held the top position in the securities market in terms of profitability. The company's products are currently present in 40 markets worldwide.

In 2012, the Asian Management Magazine (based in Hong Kong) voted Mrs. Mai Kieu Lien, Chairwoman of the Board cum General Director of Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), as one of the outstanding CEOs in Asia in the Investor Relations field.

Despite being a woman, Mrs. Mai Kieu Lien has proven herself to be no less capable than any man in business. As a female leader, she has demonstrated that women can excel in intelligence, talent, ethics, and particularly in listening and understanding, which have contributed to her success so far.

13. My Tam

My Tam, whose real name is Phan Thi My Tam, was born on January 16, 1981. She is known not only as a singer but also as a successful businesswoman and music producer in Vietnam. Born and raised in the traditional land of Da Nang, My Tam showed her innate talent with numerous prestigious music awards from a young age until officially embarking on her music career path.

She is one of the powerful women in showbiz, with a large fan base and genuine love from music enthusiasts. My Tam has chosen a unique path in her music career, not following any specific music style but still winning the hearts of her fans.

Although many years have passed, My Tam's beauty has not changed much; she even appears youthful and more beautiful. Without cosmetic surgery and without caring about intervention, the beautiful woman from Da Nang confidently maintains her beauty through natural methods. It's not without reason that people affectionately call My Tam 'the beautiful sister,' as her beauty truly radiates from within.

14. Mrs. Pham Thi Viet Nga

Pham Thi Viet Nga is a pharmacist, an economic doctorate, and the most famous female entrepreneur in Vietnam. She is one of the rare women in Vietnam honored as the most powerful entrepreneur in Asia. Known as a determined and tough woman, she successfully steered the ship of Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company through crises and stood firm in both domestic and international markets.

According to Forbes, since joining Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company in 1988, Mrs. Nga has transformed a nearly bankrupt enterprise into the largest pharmaceutical company on the Vietnamese stock market. Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company currently produces and trades more than 300 types of drugs, becoming Vietnam's number one pharmaceutical brand and recapturing the domestic market from foreign companies. In 2012, the company achieved revenue of 140 million USD. Net profit increased by 18% to 24 million USD.'

Rising from the resistance war, but Mrs. Nga manages the business surpassing even talented peacetime entrepreneurs. Her leadership and business management skills are the result of continuous learning. Mrs. Nga said: “Being disciplined, no matter what job it is, you have to do it with the criteria 'if you want to do, you have to win when you have done it.' Personally, every working session with colleagues, I train them. Learning is a continuous process and learning through work is the most effective way of learning.”