b. 1945

The daughter of General Aung San, assassinated architect of Burma's indepedence from Britain, Ms. Kyi studied and lived abroad for much of her life, but returned to her homeland in 1988. Once there, she joined the pro-democracy movement and pushed for political reforms. In 1989, after gaining huge public support and momentum as a speaker for the growing freedom movement, Ms. Kyi was placed under house arrest by the military junta.

Spent six years under house arrest, during which time she wrote many essays and books that served to further galvanize the pro-democracy activists. Also won the Nobel Peace Prize, and established a health and education trust for the people of Burma with the prize money,. To this day she is under extremely restrictive supervision by the military junta.