Thailand

Famous Thai People: Thai Artists, Scientists, Leaders, Musicians, Politicians and Athletes

Despite being a favorite tourist destination, Thailand is one country that has not been under any European domination, so their culture and history is rich in their own Thai tradition, making the Thais very unique. They display a carefree attitude and lifestyle and are always ready with a warm smile. And as unique as their country, many Thais have made their country proud of their achievements inside and outside Thailand.

:: List of Famous People from Thailand ::

Queen Suriyothai of Ayutthaya
Queen Suriyothai was a heroine during the 15th century. She was the wife of King Chakraphat. Ever since the foundation of Siam (now Thailand in 1350 the country had been prosperous, with the capital situated in Ayutthaya. When the Portuguese took control of Malacca as their trading base in 1511, assuring King Ramatibodi II that it was all they wanted, the King established a harmonious relationship with the Portuguese and they were able to have the latest weaponry and even military training. Thailand became a very progressive nation in Southeast Asia, with neighboring countries acknowledging the fact and regularly sending tributes to the King.

Civil unrest in its nearest neighbor, Myanmar (now Burma) had always been brewing and the current King Tabinshweti wanted to conquer Siam. King Chakraphat, while meeting with his council and military commanders was told that Myanmar army was almost at the gates of the city of Ayutthaya. Hastily preparing for battle, the Queen decided to fight the invading forces beside her husband. Amid the intense fighting the elephant the King was riding lost footing and the Queen rushed to defend the King. In the exchange of sword blows the Queen’s armor was pierced by a scythe, which caused her death. The King survived and they were able to drive the intruders away but had to mourn the loss of the Queen.

Khun Ying Mo of Thao Suranee/The Princess Suranee of Korat
Khun Ying Mo was born in 1771. She was very intelligent and a skilled rider of horses and elephants. She married Mr. Thongkam in 1796. Her husband worked at the provincial political affairs office of Nakhon Ratchasima or Korat/Khorat and was promoted to be the city secretary of the same office. This position was equal to the rank of noble during that time. In 1827, Prince Anuwongse of Vientiene (Laos) invaded Nakhon Ratchasima and easily overtook the weak defense. They took those who tried to defend the city, the city officials including Khun Ying Mo and other people they can find, intending to take them back to Vientiene. Along the way, Ying Mo devised several plans to delay the journey on foot. She pleaded that the people needed to rest, or asked for tools like axes and hoes to repair carts, cut firewood and such. All of these tactics were to give the herded people some form of weapon. While she went around supervising repairs or telling the people to rest, she was secretly telling them to form into groups, using what they have on hand to defend themselves. She told a group of younger women to lure the soldiers away from the camp that had been set. She led a group of skilled women and her temporary leaders led two attack teams. They then attacked the soldiers and were able to kill most of them while a few escaped. They were victorious and the King conferred Khun Ying Mo the title of Thao Suranee or Princess Suranee of Korat.

King Taksin The Great of Ayutthaya
He was credited as the liberator of Siam (Thailand) from Burmese occupation and caused the unification of Thailand after the Burmese wrought havoc, destruction and fragmentation of the nation. Sin, the name that was given to him by his adoptive father, was born on April 17, 1734. The prime minister during the reign of King Boromakot, the Chao Phraya Chakri adopted him and gave him the name Sin, a Thai name that means treasure or money. He was sent to a Buddhist monastery for his education, including learning several languages. He and his friend, Tong Duang were foretold that they would both become kings. Sin served King Ekatat and became the governor of Tak or Phraya Tak in Thai.

The Burmese wanted to rule Thailand and attacked Ayutthaya in 1765. Sin, who was already known as Phraya Tak and Kosadhibodhi were the generals that led the army that were able to repel the advancing Burmese troops. In 1765 the Burmese attacked the Thai capital, Ayutthaya once again and Phraya Tak again led the defensive force and they were victorious. The capital fell in the hands of the Burmese in 1767 but a year before that Phraya Tak and about 500 loyal soldiers were able to get away from the capital. They formed six splinter groups and the leader of one of the groups was his friend, Tong Duang whose title was Chao Phraya Chakri.

Within 7 months after the fall of the capital city, they were able to drive the Burmese invaders out of the city. Taksin helped the royal family and had a grand ceremony for the cremation of King Ekatat. He became a worthy successor to the King and relocated the capital city to Thon Buri, which was near the sea. He foresaw that it will be easier to defend and they will be able to monitor the movements of any invading forces and can immediately launch a defensive front.

He was crowned the King of Siam on December 28, 1768. His official name was Boromraja IV, the only ruler of Thonbury, but he was more popularly called as King Taksin, combining his title Phraya Tak and his given name, Sin. He faced numerous internal and external enemies during his reign and he has to expand the territory that he was not able to focus on the turn Thon Buri into a great city. While he was able to increase the size of his territory, he also endeavored to revive the economy and negotiated with Chinese merchants for the supply of goods and even inviting some of them to settle in Siam. He spent some of his own money to provide food and clothing to the poor.

After years of facing turmoil and trying to solve economic and social problems, King Taksin showed signs of mental and physical distress and believed himself to be Buddha. His madness and erratic behavior caused chaos and disarray in the government and a coup was put in place to force him to step down. His friend, Tong Duang or Chao Phraya Chakri was still fighting the war when news reached him about the coup. He returned to Thon Buri and restored order. He also ordered that the deposed king be put to death. King Taksin was beheaded on April 10, 1782. Chao Phraya Chakri installed himself as the new king and founded the Chakri dynasty. The Thai cabinet added ‘The Great” to King Taksin’s name through a resolution they passed in 1981.

Chao Phraya Chakri (Rama 1)
Tong Duang, his given name was born March 20, 1736. He served as a page in the palace under the reign of King Ekatat. He also served under his friend, Phraya Tak as a general. He and Phraya Tak were told by a Chinese fortuneteller that they would be kings, which they did not mind. Phraya Tak later became King Taksin the Great, while he became the next king, with the title Rama I given much later by his descendants. Together with Phraya Tak Tong Duang fought many wars and had many victories against the Burmese that he gained the reputation as a very powerful leader of the military. The Chao Phraya Chakri title was actually given to him by King Taksin.

When he installed himself as king, he also founded the Chakri dynasty or the House of Chakri whose descendants are still ruling Thailand up to this day. Tong Duang did not have a royal name when he ascended to the throne and he was instead called Phan Din Ton or The First Kingdom when translated into English. He transferred the capital to a place he named the Rattanakosin, which is on the other side of the Chao Phraya River. This is what is known as Bangkok today.

He began to replace the lost literary works and ancient books that were translated into Thai or salvage those that were partly damaged from the havoc created by the pillaging Burmese. He commissioned these replacements and also revised the existing laws and created the Laws of the Three Seals. He also authored a Thai Buddhist version of Ramakien, a Ramayana epic. Until today that version remains as the only complete version known to exist.

Tong Duang won many more battles during his reign and increased the size of his kingdom that was not done before. He also instituted many reforms in government and on Buddhism. He ruled for over 27 years until September 7, 1809 when he died after a short illness at the age of 73. He was bestowed the title Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chakri Borommanat Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke posthumously. Later the title has been shortened to Rama I.

Bhumibol Adulyadej
Officially his title is King Rama IX. He is the longest serving monarch in the world and the longest reigning King in Thai history, having occupied his position since June 9, 1946 up to the present, a total of 65 years. He was not born in Thailand but in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 5, 1927. He received his education in Switzerland and was set to study science at the Lausanne University when his elder brother died and the government asked his mother, Princess Mahidol for his son to be the king. He stayed in university but pursued law and political science to better prepare him for his role. When he came back to Thailand and became King he spent most of his time learning what his constituents wanted and what their problems were by traveling around the country and getting his information first hand.

While King Rama IX’s position is that of a constitutional monarch, he is credited for Thailand becoming a democratic nation since the 1990s. There were many military regimes that he supported during the 1960s and 2006 to 2008. He also survived 16 constitutional reforms, 27 prime ministerial changes and about 15 coup attempts.

The King is a great supporter of self-sufficiency theory. He owns many shares of stocks in different private companies and his personal wealth is estimated to be about US$30 billion as of 2010 making King Bhumibol one of the world’s richest royals, according to Forbes Magazine. He makes donations to several development projects in Thailand including agriculture, public health, water resources, public welfare, communication and environment. He met his wife, a daughter of the Thai ambassador to France, Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara on one of his many visits to France.

Chang and Eng Bunker
Chang and Eng, the conjoined twins can be two of the most famous people from Thailand. They were born on May 11, 1811 in Siam. Their condition and their place of birth was the source of the term, Siamese twins. They were actually just joined by a cartilage at the sternum. Although their livers were merged, in modern surgery, it would only require a minor operation since the livers functioned independently and were complete.

They were discovered by a British merchant in 1829 when the twins were 18. The merchant, Robert Hunter then brought them on a world tour as a curiosity. After their contract with the merchant expired, they went on the business on their own and decided to settle in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1839. The twins bought a 110-acre farm and eventually became citizens of the United States.

They were quite affluent, settling on a plantation in Traphill and were able to buy slaves. They decided to adopt the name Bunker as their last name. Following their desire to live a normal life, they married sisters Adelaide and Sarah Anne Yates in April 13, 1843. Chang was married to Adelaide and Sarah Anne married Eng. Initially they lived in the same house and slept on a bed made for four. Chang and Adelaide had 10 children while Eng and Sarah Anne had 11. However the wives began to squabble until they were forced to live in two households, with the twins spending 3 days in each home alternately. Their sons fought in the American Civil War and they also lost much of their property during the war.

On January 1874, Chang, who had contracted pneumonia died while still asleep. Eng on the other hand called for help when he discovered his brother dead but even if a doctor was called to perform emergency surgery, Eng refused to be separated from his brother and eventually died three hours later on the same day. Their descendants total 1,500 and some of them have made a name for themselves.

Paradorn Srichaphan
Paradorn Srichaphan may be retired from professional tennis but he is still has the distinction of being the highest ranked single’s player in men’s tennis in his homeland, Thailand. He reached number 9 in the world tennis ranking on September 8, 2003. Paradorn started his professional tennis career in 1997, became a surprise finalist in the 2000 Hopman Cup in Australia and improved his ranking when he defeated Andre Agassi in Wimbledon in 2002.

Paradorn also holds the distinction of being the first player to beat Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam in the third round at Wimbledon in 2003. He was the flag bearer for Thailand during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony and had won one bronze and two gold medals in three appearances in the Asian Games. He retired from professional tennis in June 2010 due to a motorcycle racing accident where he broke his wrist and both of his hands as well as severely injured his knee.

Paradorn played the role of an action hero in the Thai movie sequel Bang Rajan II filmed in 2010. Paradorn is now busy juggling several careers. He is the Thai Davis Cup team coach. He’s also a restaurateur and opened his Italian restaurant, So-Le Café in Bangkok in 2009 and an herbal products company. He married Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005 from Russia in 2007. They divorced in February 2011.

Khemanit Jamikorn
Khemanit Jamikorn was born on May 27, 1988. She is one of Thailand’s famous models and actresses. She was Thailand’s Supermodel Model of the World for 2004 and was voted the 40th sexiest woman in the world by the FHM Thailand edition magazine in 2006. She has starred in more than two dozen soap operas in Thailand and busily endorsing several products. Her nickname is Pancake.

Thongchai McIntyre
Thongchai McIntyre’s full name is Albert Thongchai McIntyre, but he is also known as Bird or Bird Thongchai. He was born on December 8, 1958. He is considered as one of Thailand’s most famous and successful singers, with more than 20 million albums sold in his career that started in 1986. He is not only a singer but an actor as well. He used to work in a bank when his talent was discovered by Kai Varayuth, a TV producer whom Bird met. Bird had won several music awards from Thailand’s music industry award-giving bodies, from MTV Asia, Channel V Thailand and had been featured in Variety magazine and CNN.

Tony Jaa
To those who are into action movies and martial arts, particularly Muay Thai, his name will definitely ring a bell. Tony Jaa, real name Jaa Panom Yeerum was born on February 5, 1976 in the province of Surin in Isaan, Thailand. His family was poor and grew up watching movies at temple fairs, particularly interested in watching his idols Jet Li, Bruce Lee, Vince Lam and Jackie Chan and begged his father to have him taught Muay Thai, even threatening his father that he will kill himself if he was not allowed to do so. It was said that he practiced all the moves that he saw in his favorite films all his waking hours until he can do all of them flawlessly. He became a protégé of Thai stuntman and action-film director Panna Rittikai who had Tony attend the Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education. He learned Taekwondo and became very skilled in Muay Thai.

Eventually he became a movie stunt man and had appeared in several action movies, either as a stunt man, doing cameo roles, and graduating to major roles in movies that have been released in Thailand and internationally. His latest movie is Tom-Yum Goong 2, which will be released in the US in 2012 with the title of The Protector 2.

Su Min Ta Marie Young
Her screen name is Tata Young. Born on December 14, 1980, the 30-year old Thai is a model, actress, pop singer and dancer and one of the most famous singers in Thailand and in Asia. Her father is an American and her mother is Thai. She won the Thailand Junior Singing Contest when she was 11 years old and successfully inked a record deal by age 14 and released her first album at age 15. At 17, she became the youngest performer to receive the Golden Pikkanes God Award given by the Musical Artist Association of Thailand. The multi-awarded singer has released nine studio albums, two of which were completely in English.

Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra was Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 up to 2006. Under his term, he introduced many government reforms and formed the Thai Rak Thai party. He helped alleviate poverty in the rural areas, reducing it in half after four years in office. He also instituted Thailand’s first universal health care program (comprehensive insurance program), drug suppression campaign and went on to invest in infrastructure – the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, public transit system and roads and made inroads to drop the public sector debt as well as corruption in the government.

Thaksin’s government was accused of corruption, conflicts of interest, treason and authoritarianism and suppression of press freedom. He himself was accused of tax evasion, of insulting King Bhumibol as well as selling to international investors some of the assets of Thai companies. He also had issues with his unexplained wealth. Eventually he was removed from office by a military coup while he was abroad on September 19, 2006 and his assets worth US$2.2 billion frozen. After moving from country to country he applied for asylum in the United Kingdom but was denied. On February 26, 2010, he was found guilty of unexplained wealth and 46 billion baht of his frozen assets were seized by the Supreme Court of Thailand. Thaksin has reportedly acquired Montenegrin citizenship in 2009.

Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn in a professional women’s tennis player who was born in the United States but holds dual citizenship as her parents are both Thais. She now lives in Bangkok. Her father is a lawyer, an Olympic basketball player himself in his younger days and coached Tamarine early in her career. Tamarine is a grass court specialist and turned professional in 1994. She had attained the Women’s Tennis Association’s world number 19 ranking on May 13, 2002, the highest ranking ever achieved by a female tennis player from Thailand. She has four singles and five doubles titles to her name.

She may look unassuming and very gentle but she has defeated Amélie Mauresmo, Jelena Jankovic, Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce and Dinara Safina who were all, at one time or another, have been ranked number one female tennis players. Tamarine has four singles and 7 doubles titles, although she has yet to win a Grand Slam title.

Kiatisuk Senamuang
Kiatusuk Senamuang is the first soccer player from Thailand to play outside his country. He was born on August 11, 1973 in Khon Kaen. Nicknamed Zico, he played for one season with Huddersfield FC in England in their 1999 to 2000 season. He then played with several soccer teams in Thailand and joined the Singapore Armed Forces FC in 2001 to 2002 season before joining Hoàng Anh Gia Lai of Vietnam for the 2002 to 2006 seasons. He later managed the Vietnamese team in 2006 and 2010 before moving back to his home country to manage the Chula United FC in Division 1 League in Thailand. During his career as a striker/forward, Zico has scored 65 goals for the national teams and had made 130 international appearances.

Piyapong Piew-on
Piyapong Piew-on is a national football hero in Thailand and the most popular soccer player. Born on November 14, 1959, he was a striker in the national football team of Thailand and was the team’s top goal scorer. From 1984 to 1986, Piyapong Piew-on or Took, which is his nickname played for the Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso, a team in the K-League of South Korea. He was instrumental in the team’s effort to win the K-League Championship in 1985. He is now an active officer in the Royal Thai Air Force and does coaching, modeling and sometime acting on the side. His 16-year old son is also playing football.

Thongchai Jaidee
Thongchai Jaidee, born on November 8, 1969 is a professional golfer. He has made the mark of being the Asian Tour record-holder for most career earnings and career victories. He was also the first golfer to win the US$2 million and the US$3 million prize money on the Asian Tour. What is remarkable that he only played golf when he was already 16 and turned professional only when he was about 30 years old, after a stint in the Royal Tai Army where he was a paratrooper. He also has the honor of being the first Thai player to win on the European Tour, bagging the Carlsberg Malaysian Open trophy in 2004 and even successfully defending his title in 2005. He received a special invitation to play in the Masters Tournament in 2006, being only the second Thai (the first one was Sukree Onsham) to do so. This feat earned Tongchai the distinction of being the first Thai golfer to play in all the four major golf championships.

:: References ::
http://www.thailandsworld.com/en/thai-people/famous-thai-people/index.cfm
http://teachinginthailand.tumblr.com/post/485720746/famous-people-of-thailand
http://www.simply-thai.com/Thailand_History_Ayutthaya_Period_2.htm
http://www.wtatennis.com/player/tamarine-tanasugarn_2257889_8240
http://horizonmuaythai.com/Muay%20Thai/legends.html
http://www.thailandsworld.com/thai-people/chao-phraya-chakri-rama-1/index.cfm
http://kanchanapisek.or.th/biography/index.en.html
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Sr/P/Paradorn-Srichaphan.aspx