- Chulalongkorn
King Chulalongkorn the Great or Rama V (royal name: Phra Chula Chomklao Chaoyuhua was the fifth king of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand. He is regarded as one of the greatest kings of Siam. The Thais call him "The Great Beloved King" Chulalongkorn was born September 20, 1853 in Bangkok as the oldest son of King Mongkut (Rama IV) and Queen Debsirinda.
- Vang Pao
Vang Pao (born ca. 1931) is a former Major General in the Royal Lao Army. He is an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.
- Dieter Dengler
Dieter Dengler (May 22, 1938 - February 7, 2001) was a United States Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. He was the sole survivor of an escape attempt from a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos.
- Bouasone Bouphavanh
Bouasone Bouphavanh (born June 3, 1954 in Ban Tao Poun, Muang Salavan, Salavan Province) is the prime minister of Laos. He was officially appointed to the office by the National Assembly of Laos on June 8, 2006, during a major government reshuffle. He replaced Bounnhang Vorachith who became vice president. Bouasone had previously served as first deputy prime minister since October 3, 2003.
- Choummaly Sayasone
Lieutenant General Choummaly Sayasone (born March 6, 1936 in Attapu) is president of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and general secretary (leader) of the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party since March 21, 2006. He was elected general secretary on that date by the party's 8th Congress. He previously served as defense minister. Formerly vice president of the country, he was officially appointed president on June 8, 2006, replacing Khamtai Siphandon, …
- Setthathirath
Setthathirath (1534-1572) is considered one of the great leaders in Lao history. In 1570, he successfully defended Laos against the military campaign of the Burmese conqueror Bayinnaung, who had already subdued Xieng Mai (Chiang Mai) in 1556 and Ayutthaya in 1569. Setthathirath was a prolific builder and erected many Buddhist monuments including Wat Xieng Thong in Louang Phrabang and the That Luang in Vientiane.
- Kong Le
Captain Kong Le is a U.S.-trained former paratrooper who led a "coup d'état" in Laos in 1960.
- Souphanouvong
Prince Souphanouvong (July 13, 1909 - January 9, 1995) was, along with his half-brother Prince Souvanna Phouma and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak, one of the "Three Princes" who represented respectively the communist (pro-Vietnam), neutralist, and royalist political factions in Laos. He was the figurehead president of Laos from December 1975 to August 1991, a period where the country was effectively under the control of Vietnam.
- Henri Mouhot
Henri Mouhot was a French naturalist and explorer of the mid-19th century. He was born in Montbéliard, Doubs, France - near the Swiss border, and died near Naphan, Laos. He is remembered mostly in connection to Angkor.
- Somsavat Lengsavad
Somsavat Lengsavad (born 1945) is a deputy prime minister of Laos. An ethnic Chinese who hails from Luang Prabang with ancestry from Hainan, he was a protege of Kaysone Phomvihane. He became foreign minister in 1993 and served until June 8, 2006, when he was replaced by Thongloun Sisoulith.
- Thongloun Sisoulith
Thongloun Sisoulith (born November 10, 1945 in Houaphan province, Laos) is foreign minister and a deputy prime minister of Laos. He was appointed foreign minister on June 8, 2006, replacing Somsavat Lengsavad. He has been a deputy prime minister since 2001. He is a politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, ranking eighth. Sisoulith studied at Pedagogical College of Neo Lao Hak Sat in Houaphan from 1962 to 1969. He was further educated in the Soviet Union.
- Ellsworth Bunker
Ellsworth Bunker (May 11, 1894 - September 27, 1984) was an American diplomat. Trained as a lawyer, Bunker first worked in the private sector before becoming an academic. He then moved to government during the Eisenhower administration. In 1956 he was appointed ambassador to India where he played a crucial role in the covert alliance between the two powers against China. He was replaced by John Kenneth Galbraith in 1961. After a period back in Washington, DC, USA, …
- Alan Davidson
Alan Eaton Davidson was a British diplomat and historian best known for his writing and editing on food and gastronomy. He was the author of the 900-page, encyclopedic "Oxford Companion to Food" (1999). The son of a Scottish tax inspector, Davidson was born in Northern Ireland. He studied classical languages at Oxford. During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy. In 1948, Davidson joined the Foreign Office and served in diplomatic posts in Washington, Tunis, …
- Amélie Nothomb
Amélie Nothomb is a Belgian writer. She was born in Kobe, Japan to Belgian diplomats, before living in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, and Laos. She is the grand-niece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a Belgian foreign minister (1980-1981). Her first novel, "Hygiène de l'assassin" was published in 1992. Since then, she has published approximately one novel per year with a.o. "Les Catilinaires" (1995), …
- Boun Oum
Prince Boun Oum (also Prince Boun Oum Nachampassack) (December 12 , 1912 - March 17, 1980) was the son of King Ratsadanay, and was the hereditary prince of Champassack (replaced the "king" system). He was born in Don Talad. A political conservative sympathetic to French control of Laos, he commanded a force of 15,000 that fought Japanese occupiers and the Lao Issara in the south of Laos.
- Bounnhang Vorachith
Bounnhang Vorachith (born August 15, 1937) is the vice president of Laos. He served as deputy prime minister from 1996 to 2001, and then was appointed prime minister. He became vice president on June 8, 2006 when Bouasone Bouphavanh was appointed prime minister. He is member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
- Phoumi Nosavan
Phoumi Nosavan (1920-1985) was a Lao military and political figure of the Second Indochina War. Backed by the CIA and the Programs Evaluation Office, Phoumi, then a colonel, became a cabinet minister in the right-wing government of the Kingdom of Laos in February 1959 and a general several months later. Shortly after Kong Le's neutralist coup, he sought help from Sarit Dhanarajata to establish a competing capital in Savannakhet.
- John McCarthy
John McCarthy (b. 1942) has served as Australia's Ambassador to Vietnam (1981-83), Ambassador to Mexico (1985-87), Ambassador to Thailand (1992-94), Ambassador to The United States from (1995-97), Ambassador to Indonesia (1997-2001) and Ambassador to Japan (27 July 2001-2004). He has also served in Damascus, Baghdad and Vientiane. Mr McCarthy took up the appointment of Ambassador to India in 2004.
- Bryan Thao Worra
Bryan Thao Worra (1973-) is a Laotian American poet, writer, and journalist. He was born Thao Somnouk Silosoth in Vientiane, Laos on January 1, 1973 during the Laotian Secret War (1954-1975). He came to the United States in July, 1973 as the adopted child of an American pilot working in Laos for Royal Air Lao. Bryan Thao Worra's early years were spent in Missoula, Montana, Anchorage, Alaska, and Saline, Michigan.
- Matthew McDaniel
Matthew McDaniel (born in 1959; former carpenter in Oregon) is a human rights activist working to improve human rights for the Akha people of Thailand and Laos. He lived in Thailand for many years. On April 18, 2004, he was arrested at Thailand's border with Myanmar by Thai immigration authorities and later deported. He then lived in Laos for awhile, and now lives in the USA with his Thai Akha wife and their children.
- Chai Vang
Chai Soua Vang (born September 24, 1968) is a a naturalized U.S. citizen and a Hmong immigrant from Laos. While hunting, Vang shot eight deer hunters in northern Wisconsin on November 21, 2004. Eventually, six of the hunters died and two were left wounded. According to court proceedings prior to his conviction, Vang acknowledged shooting the hunters, including one woman, …
- Suryavarman I
Suryavarman I was king of the Khmer Empire from 1010 to 1050. After the reign of Udayadityavarman I, which ended around 1000, there was no clear successor. Two kings, Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, both claimed the throne. Suryavarman I was a Buddhist who was said in the Chronicles of Chieng Maï to be of Malaysian origin. He claimed to be the son of the Brahmin Kaundinya and Princess Soma. After nine years of war, Suryavarman I won the throne.
- Mee Moua
Mee Moua (born June 30, 1969) is a Hmong American politician and member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She currently serves in the Minnesota Senate representing a district in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is serving her third term, chairs the Judiciary Committee and holds the highest office of any Hmong American politician. She was first elected to the District 67 seat on January 29, 2002 with 60% of the vote, replacing previous senator Randy Kelly, …
- Gary Yia Lee
Gary Yia Lee (born 1949) is a Hmong anthropologist and author based in Australia. Lee was born in Ban Houei Kouang, Muong Mok, Xieng Khouang, Laos. In 1961, his family was displaced by the civil war and they joined other Hmong refugees in the city of Vientiane. In 1965, after completing high school, Lee traveled to Australia for further education under the Colombo Plan.
- Soulivong Savang
Crown Prince Soulivong Savang (born May 8, 1963), grandson of the last King of Laos Savang Vatthana, is the pretender to the Lao throne. Laos was a constitutional monarchy until 1975, when the Communist Pathet Lao took over the nation. Soulivong Savang lives in exile in Paris, France.
- Sisavath Keobounphanh
Sisavath Keobounphanh (born 1928) was the third Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of Laos. the vice president of Laos. He was succeeded by Boungnang Vorachith. He is a member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
- John Newman
John Paul Newman, born John Naumenko, (December 8 1946 - September 5 1994) was a member of the New South Wales state parliament and Member for the seat of Cabramatta. He was the first politician to be assassinated in Australia. John Newman was the son of Austrian and Croatian parents, who settled in Cabramatta when he was a small child. He was educated at Cabramatta Primary School and Liverpool High School. He went on to work at Borg Warner in Fairfield.
- Charles Dean
Charles "Charlie" Dean was the brother of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Democracy for America Chairman Jim Dean and political activist Bill Dean. In 1974, Charlie, who had been traveling through southeast Asia at the time, was captured and killed by Pathet Lao guerrillas. His death and the subsequent repatriation of his remains to the United States have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
- John Plaster
Major John L. Plaster (US Army-Ret.) is a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier regarded as one of the leading sniper experts in the world. A decorated Vietnam War who served in the covert Studies and Observations Group (SOG), Plaster co-founded a renowned sniper school that trains military and law enforcement personnel in highly specialized sniper tactics. He is also the author of "The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers", …
- Phoumi Vongvichit
Phoumi Vongvichit (April 6 1909-1994) was a leading figure of the Pathet Lao and an elder statesman of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. He was born April 6, 1909 in Xieng Khouang, the son of a civil servant. He was educated in the Lao capital Vientiane, after which he joined the colonial civil service. After postings in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang, he was promoted to mayor ("chao muang") and served in Xieng Khouang (1939) and Vientiane (1940 - 1945).
- Chloe Dao
Chloe Dao (born June 15, 1972 in Pakse, Laos), is an American fashion designer of Vietnamese ancestry who lives and works in Houston, Texas. She was the winner of the second season of the reality show "Project Runway" with a collection of women's evening wear. Many of the pieces in her finale collection featured billowing, voluminous sleeves, removable shrugs and strong brocade prints.
- Nouhak Phoumsavanh
Nouhak Phoumsavanh or Phoumsavan (born April 9, 1914) was a longtime Pathet Lao revolutionary and communist party official who succeeded Kaysone Phomvihane as president of Laos on the latter's death in November 1992. He had been First Deputy Prime Minister when Kaysone was Prime Minister until 1991. Though the presidency had become an executive position, prime minister Khamtai Siphandon had taken the country's most powerful position, …
- Raoul Salan
Raoul Albin Louis Salan was an officer in the French Army and the fourth French commanding general in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Salan was one of four generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation and then founded the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) terrorist group. Salan was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn.
- Khairul Amri
Khairul Amri (born march 15, 1985) is a Singaporean footballer who plays as a striker for Young Lions in Singapore's S.League. A National Football Academy graduate, Amri is a player in the Singapore national football team. He was amongst the top scorers in the 2006 season of the S.League. He has scored many goals from free kicks, and crucial goals against Iraq. He has also scored in the 2004 Tiger Cup.
- Cy Thao
Cy Thao is a Laotioan-born Hmong American state representative (DFL) in Minnesota. In 1975, his family fled from Communists in Laos and lived in a refugee camp in Thailand. In 1980, his family moved to the United States. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Boy Scouts of America and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Thao credits Scouting with helping him blend into American society and teaching him the values of community obligation.
- Phia Sing
Chaleunsilp Phia Sing (Luang Prabang, c. 1898-1967) was royal chef and master of ceremonies to the kings of Laos, and in this capacity he worked at the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. He was also, according to Alan Davidson, "physician, architect, choreographer, sculptor, painter and poet". In addition he was mentor to the Laotian princes Souvanna Phouma and Souvannavong, and accompanied them when they studied at the University of Hanoi in the 1920s.
- Khamphoui
Queen Khamphoui was born in Louang Phrabang, Laos on July 12 1912. She is reported to have died in a re-education camp near Sop Hao on December 12, 1981. On August 7 1930, she married King Savang Vatthana and they had seven children, Crown Prince Vong Savang, Prince Sisavang, Prince Savang, Prince Sauryavong Savang, Princess Savivanh Savang, and Princess Thala Savang. Her husband abdicated the throne on December 2 1975.
- William H. Sullivan
William Healy Sullivan (born October 12, 1922) is a career United States Foreign Service officer, and served as United States Ambassador to Laos in 1964, the Philippines in 1973, and Iran from 1977 to 1979. Sullivan was born in Rhode Island. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Iran from 1977 until 1979. During this time, he played an important role in communicating U.S. wishes to Mohammad Reza Shah, the second and last Pahlavi king.
- Touby Lyfoung
Touby Lyfoung (1919 - 1979) was a Hmong political and military leader. Born in 1919 in Nong Het, Laos, he became the first Hmong politician to achieve national prominence. During his long career, which began under French colonial rule and extended to the communist takeover in 1975, he supported the Royal Lao Government and American involvement in the Secret War.
- Khun Lo
Khun Lo was the eldest of the sons of Khun Borom and first of the Lao kings. The royal families of Laos trace their lineage to him. He died in 780 and was succeeded by Khun Sung.