Aung San Suu Kyi.

Born on June 19, 1945 in Rangoon, Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi was the daughter of independence leader General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947 when she was two years old. Her mother, Khin Kyi, served as Burma’s ambassador to India. Suu Kyi attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Rangoon, then studied at the University of Delhi and Lady Shri Ram College for Women in India. She earned a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and also studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

In 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma to care for her ailing mother and was drawn into the pro-democracy protests sweeping the country. On September 27, 1988, she co-founded the National League for Democracy. On July 20, 1989, the military government placed her under house arrest for what it deemed treason. While detained, the Nobel Committee awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which her sons accepted on her behalf. She remained under house arrest for nearly 15 of the next 21 years, repeatedly rejecting offers of exile. After her release in 2010, she led the NLD to a landslide victory in the 2015 elections, becoming State Counsellor and effectively the country’s leader.

Suu Kyi married British scholar Michael Aris in 1972, and they had two sons, Alexander Aris and Dannian Kim Arundel Aris. The family lived in Oxford, but in 1988 Suu Kyi returned to Burma to tend to her mother. She did not see her husband again before his death from cancer in 1999, as the regime denied him a visa. Her brother, Aung San Oo, lives in the United States. Her extended family includes her sons and grandchildren.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s nonviolent struggle against military dictatorship made her an internationally recognized symbol of democracy and human rights. Time magazine named her to its 100 most influential people list in 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2016. She has received numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008. In 2011, Michelle Yeoh portrayed her in the film The Lady, directed by Luc Besson. Her courage and sacrifice, symbolized by her choice to remain in Burma under house arrest rather than abandon her people, define her legacy.