The Most Famous
ACTORS from Malaysia
Top 6
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Malaysian Actors of all time. This list of famous Malaysian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Michael Gough (1916 - 2011)
With an HPI of 60.64, Michael Gough is the most famous Malaysian Actor. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages on wikipedia.
Francis Michael Gough ( GOF; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer horror films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthur Holmwood in Dracula, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth from 1989 to 1997 in the four Batman films directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. He appeared in three more Burton films: Sleepy Hollow, voicing Elder Gutknecht in Corpse Bride and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland. Gough also appeared in popular British television shows, including Doctor Who (as the titular villain in The Celestial Toymaker (1966) and as Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity (1983)), and in an episode of The Avengers as the automation-obsessed wheelchair user Dr. Armstrong in "The Cybernauts" (1965). In 1956 he received a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. At the National Theatre in London Gough excelled as a comedian, playing a resigned and rueful parent in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce (1977). When the comedy transferred to Broadway in 1978 he won a Tony Award. One of Gough's most well-received West End roles was as Baron von Epp in the 1983 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me.
2. Michelle Yeoh (1962 - )
With an HPI of 59.99, Michelle Yeoh is the 2nd most famous Malaysian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 51 different languages.
Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng ( YOH; born Yeoh Choo Kheng; simplified Chinese: 杨紫琼; traditional Chinese: 楊紫瓊; 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian actress. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early films in Hong Kong, she rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s after starring in Hong Kong action films where she performed her own stunts. These roles include Yes, Madam (1985); Magnificent Warriors (1987); Police Story 3: Supercop (1992); The Heroic Trio (1993); Holy Weapon (1993); and Tai Chi Master (1993). After moving to the United States, Yeoh gained international recognition for starring in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in Ang Lee's martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), the latter for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her Hollywood career progressed with roles in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Sunshine (2007), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Reign of Assassins (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), and The Lady (2011), in which she portrayed Aung San Suu Kyi. Yeoh played supporting roles in the romantic comedies Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019), as well as in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and the television series Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2020). For her starring role as Evelyn Wang, an overwhelmed matriarch navigating the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Asian to win the category, and the first Malaysian to win an Academy Award. The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes ranked her the greatest action heroine of all time in 2008. In 1997, she was chosen by People as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", and in 2009 the same magazine listed her as one of the "35 All-Time Screen Beauties". In 2022, Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people on its annual listicle and its Icon of the Year.
3. Claudia Wells (1966 - )
With an HPI of 46.86, Claudia Wells is the 3rd most famous Malaysian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Claudia Grace Wells is an American actress and businesswoman, best known for her role as Jennifer Parker in the 1985 film Back to the Future.
4. Henry Golding (1987 - )
With an HPI of 40.91, Henry Golding is the 4th most famous Malaysian Actor. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.
Henry Ewan Golding (born 5 February 1987) is a British actor. He is known for his film work, starring in the romantic comedies Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019), the thriller A Simple Favor (2018), the action comedy The Gentlemen (2019), as well as playing the title character in the action-adventure Snake Eyes (2021).
5. Simon Russell Beale (1961 - )
With an HPI of 38.75, Simon Russell Beale is the 5th most famous Malaysian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awards, and a Tony Award. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. Beale started his acting career at the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. He has received ten Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning three awards for his performances in Volpone (1996), Candide (2000), and Uncle Vanya (2003). For his work on the Broadway stage he has received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his performance as George in the Tom Stoppard play Jumpers in 2004. For his role as Henry Lehman in The Lehman Trilogy, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and was nominated for an Olivier Award. Beale made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama Orlando (1992). He gained prominence for his roles in Persuasion (1995), Hamlet (1996), My Week with Marilyn (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Benediction (2021), and The Outfit (2022). In 2017, he portrayed Lavrentiy Beria in Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin, for which he received the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. Beale has also appeared in the television projects The Young Visiters (2003), Dunkirk (2004), and Vanity Fair (2018). He earned two British Academy Television Awards one for Best Actor for A Dance to the Music of Time (1998), and the other for Best Supporting Actor for Henry IV, Part I and Part II (2012). From 2014 to 2016, he was part of the main cast of Showtime's Penny Dreadful.
6. Angelica Lee (1976 - )
With an HPI of 34.38, Angelica Lee is the 6th most famous Malaysian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Lee Sinje (Chinese: 李心潔; pinyin: Lǐ Xīnjié; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lí Sim-kiat; born 23 January 1976) is a Malaysian film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lee starred in The Eye, the hit Asian horror film by the Pang Brothers, winning her the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress, Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards and a Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Awards. She is among the very few Asian artists to be awarded Best Newcomer Awards at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001 for her role in Betelnut Beauty. Lee has also starred in the films 20 30 40 (where she co-starred with the person who discovered her, Sylvia Chang), and Koma. She worked with the Pangs again on Re-cycle, which was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Pantheon has 6 people classified as actors born between 1916 and 1987. Of these 6, 5 (83.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living actors include Michelle Yeoh, Claudia Wells, and Henry Golding. The most famous deceased actors include Michael Gough. As of April 2022, 1 new actors have been added to Pantheon including Angelica Lee.
Living Actors
Go to all Rankings
Michelle Yeoh
1962 - Present
HPI: 59.99
Claudia Wells
1966 - Present
HPI: 46.86
Henry Golding
1987 - Present
HPI: 40.91
Simon Russell Beale
1961 - Present
HPI: 38.75
Angelica Lee
1976 - Present
HPI: 34.38
