Daughter of Aung San, born in 1945, she was educated in Christian schools and colleges in Rangoon before following her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, who was appointed Burma’s Ambassador to India in 1960, to New Delhi. Once she graduated from Delhi University (1964), Aung San Suu Kyi left for Oxford to get a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (1967).

After marrying a British Tibetologist in 1972, she then spent several years in Bhutan, India, Japan and England. In March 1988, her return to Burma in order to nurse her ailing mother coincided with the beginning of the mass pro-democracy movement. Entering the vibrant political scene through a landmark speech in front of the Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon on August 26, 1988, she has since been the iconic figure of the civilian opposition to the Burmese military regime.

Under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and from 2000 to 2002, she was again arrested in May 2003 after the Depayin incident and has since remained incommunicado, unable to interact with her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). A widow since 1999, she has two children.