Icons of Bangladesh

Kazi Nazrul Islam

National Poet of Bangladesh

1899–1976 · Dhaka

The Rebel Poet whose verse fused defiance with devotion, Nazrul wrote thousands of songs that became their own genre, Nazrul Geeti. Invited to Dhaka in 1972, he was later declared the national poet and is buried beside Dhaka University's central mosque.

Muhammad Yunus

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2006

b. 1940 · Chattogram

An economist from Chattogram who pioneered microcredit and founded Grameen Bank, extending collateral-free loans to the rural poor. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the bank in 2006 and holds both the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Founder of BRAC

1936–2019 · Sylhet

After the Liberation War he left a corporate career to start relief work in Sulla, Sunamganj. What began there grew into BRAC, repeatedly ranked the world's largest and highest-rated NGO. He was knighted by the British Crown and received the World Food Prize.

Shakib Al Hasan

Cricket all-rounder

b. 1987 · Khulna

Widely regarded as the greatest cricketer Bangladesh has produced, the Magura-born all-rounder has topped the ICC all-rounder rankings in all three formats and led the national side across three World Cups.

Wasfia Nazreen

Mountaineer and explorer

b. 1982 · Dhaka

Mountaineer, activist and National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, she carried the Bangladeshi flag to the highest point of every continent and later skied to both poles.

Runa Laila

Playback singer

b. 1952 · Sylhet

One of South Asia's most celebrated voices, she has recorded in more than a dozen languages across Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, and is remembered for recording an extraordinary number of songs in a single studio stretch early in her career.

His stark ink drawings of the 1943 Bengal famine became the defining images of that catastrophe. He founded the institution that is now the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka and established the folk art museum at Sonargaon.

The most widely read Bengali novelist of his generation, he wrote more than two hundred books and created the characters Himu and Misir Ali. His television dramas emptied the streets of Dhaka on broadcast nights.

The Satkhira-born striker captained Bangladesh to its first SAFF Women's Championship title in 2022, finishing as the tournament's leading scorer, and remains the country's record international goalscorer.

At twenty-one he became the first Grandmaster in South Asia, having already been the region's youngest International Master. He won the national championship repeatedly and represented Bangladesh at multiple Chess Olympiads.

Chanchal Chowdhury

Actor

b. 1974 · Rajshahi

A National Film Award winner known for Monpura, Aynabaji and Hawa, he is among the few Bangladeshi actors whose work has crossed decisively into the wider Bengali-language streaming audience.

Born in Barishal, he is the most quietly influential Bengali poet after Tagore. Rupashi Bangla and Banalata Sen shaped the modern Bengali imagination of landscape, memory and solitude.

Born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Dhaka, Salman Muqtadir became one of the first Bangladeshi creators to build a mass audience on YouTube through his channel Salman The Brown Fish. His sketches, vlogs and social commentary made him a defining figure of the country's first wave of digital entertainment, and he later expanded into acting and music.

Born in Dhaka, Tahsan began his career with the band Black before launching a solo career that made him one of the most popular romantic voices in modern Bengali music. A graduate of the University of Dhaka's Institute of Business Administration, he also taught there and built a parallel career as a leading television and film actor.

Born in Chattogram, Nusraat Faria began as a radio jockey and model before debuting in film with Aashiqui (2015), a Bangladesh-India joint production. She has since starred in commercially successful Dhallywood and Tollywood titles, becoming one of the most recognisable young stars working across both Bengali film industries.

Tawhid Afridi is one of Bangladesh's best-known YouTubers, building a large audience with vlogs, comedy sketches and travel and lifestyle videos. He became one of the most recognised faces of the country's digital entertainment scene and has also worked in television hosting and brand campaigns.

Iftekhar Rafsan, known online as Rafsan The ChotoBhai, is a Bangladeshi YouTuber best known for food reviews and food vlogs. His energetic restaurant and street-food videos helped popularise food content in Bangladesh, and his channel has since grown to include lifestyle and travel videos.

Ayman Sadiq founded 10 Minute School in 2015, turning free online video lessons into one of the largest education platforms in Bangladesh. Through YouTube and its apps, millions of learners study school curricula, admission preparation and skills courses, making him a leading voice in digital education.

Jhankar Mahbub is a Bangladeshi software engineer and author whose plain-language Bengali books on programming became bestsellers among students. He founded Programming Hero, an online platform that teaches web development to learners in Bangladesh and abroad.

Shakib Khan has been the leading box-office star of Bangladeshi cinema for more than two decades, appearing in well over a hundred films. A several-time winner of the National Film Award for Best Actor, he remains the industry's most bankable lead.

Mosharraf Karim is one of the most admired actors in Bangladesh, celebrated for his range across television dramas, telefilms and cinema. His comic timing and grounded character work made him a household name and a defining performer of modern Bangladeshi TV drama.

Jaya Ahsan is one of the most celebrated actors in Bengali cinema on both sides of the border. She has won multiple National Film Awards in Bangladesh and major awards in Kolkata, and also produces films through her own production house.

Mehazabien Chowdhury rose to fame after winning Lux Channel i Superstar in 2009 and became one of the most popular leading actors of Bangladeshi television drama, later moving into web series and feature film.

Born in Chattogram, Ayub Bachchu was one of the pioneers of Bangladeshi rock. After playing with Souls he founded the band LRB in 1991, and his guitar work, songwriting and voice shaped generations of musicians until his death in 2018.

Faruk Mahfuz Anam, known as James, was born in Naogaon and became one of Bangladesh's most iconic rock voices as frontman of Feelings, later renamed Nagar Baul. He also sang hit songs for Hindi films, including 'Bheegi Bheegi' from Gangster (2006).

Habib Wahid, son of folk singer Ferdous Wahid, transformed Bangladeshi pop in the 2000s by blending folk melodies with modern electronic production. His albums and film songs made him one of the most successful composers of his generation.

Born in Narail, fast bowler Mashrafe Bin Mortaza captained Bangladesh to its greatest era in one-day cricket, including a first World Cup quarter-final in 2015 and the Champions Trophy semi-final in 2017. For years he was also the country's leading ODI wicket-taker.

Chattogram-born opener Tamim Iqbal is Bangladesh's most prolific batter in one-day internationals and the first Bangladeshi to score centuries in all three international formats. His fearless strokeplay defined Bangladesh's top order for more than fifteen years.

From Bogura, Mushfiqur Rahim is one of Bangladesh's greatest batters and the first wicketkeeper in history to score two Test double centuries. A former captain, he is among the country's leading run-scorers in Tests and ODIs.

Born in Dhaka, Fazlur Rahman Khan revolutionised skyscraper design with his tubular structural systems. Working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, he engineered the John Hancock Center and the Sears (now Willis) Tower, and is often called the father of tubular designs for high-rises.

Born in Pairaband, Rangpur, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was a writer, educator and campaigner for women's rights. Her 1905 story 'Sultana's Dream' is a landmark of feminist science fiction, and in 1911 she founded the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in Kolkata.

Born in Narail, S. M. Sultan painted the farmers and labourers of rural Bengal as powerful, muscular figures, celebrating their strength and dignity. One of the most original artists of South Asia, he received the Ekushey Padak and founded an art school for children in his home town.

Lalon Shah, also known as Lalon Fakir, was a mystic poet and songwriter whose akhra at Cheuriya in Kushtia remains a pilgrimage site. His songs reject divisions of caste and creed and are central to the Baul tradition that UNESCO recognises as intangible cultural heritage.

Siddikur Rahman began as a ball boy at Kurmitola Golf Club and became Bangladesh's first international golf star, winning the Brunei Open on the Asian Tour in 2010. In 2016 he became the first Bangladeshi golfer to compete at the Olympic Games.

Khulna-born archer Roman Sana won bronze in the men's recurve at the 2019 World Archery Championships, earning Bangladesh a direct quota place for the Tokyo Olympics — the first time a Bangladeshi athlete qualified for the Games on merit.

Born in Jhenaidah, Jamal Nazrul Islam studied and worked at Cambridge alongside leading cosmologists before returning to Bangladesh to found the Research Centre for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Chittagong. His book 'The Ultimate Fate of the Universe' (1983) was published by Cambridge University Press and translated into several languages.