From Anita Sarawak to Fann Wong – here are Singapore’s most influential celebrities who have found success and fame overseas

For decades, Singapore’s most captivating talents have tested the limits of geography, language, and cultural expectation, often with little precedent and even less fanfare. Long before social media or streaming algorithms allowed for viral breakthroughs, women like Anita Sarawak, Kit Chan, and Fann Wong carved out space for Singaporean artists on the international stage. Their careers was all about sustained grit, reinvention, and an instinctive understanding of audience.

Today, that legacy continues. Whether it’s Stefanie Sun commanding sold-out stadiums in Greater China, Tan Kheng Hua winning over Hollywood casting rooms, or Nathania Ong making West End audiences weep with her voice, each has brought something distinctly Singaporean to the world and had it resonate far beyond home.

In this list, we spotlight the women who’ve not only broken into regional and global entertainment markets, but reshaped the idea of what success from a small city-state can look like. Some are veterans. Some are just beginning. But all have left an imprint that’s impossible to ignore.

Anita Sarawak

Born Ithnaini Mohamed Taib in 1952, showbiz trailblazer Anita Sarawak was entertainment royalty from the start. Her mother, Siput Sarawak, was a revered Malay film actress; her father, S. Roomai Noor, a director. Performing from her teens, Anita released her first English-language album With A Lot O’ Soul at just 17, and was soon performing across Europe and the U.S.

By the mid-1980s, she had done what no Singaporean entertainer had yet achieved: headlined her own shows in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world. Her multilingual repertoire – swing, soul, Malay ballads – made her a rare crossover act. Her long-running residencies at venues such as Caesar’s Palace cemented her status as a consummate global entertainer.

Public fascination followed her off-stage too: her glamour, marriages, and eventual retreat from the spotlight became media fixtures across decades. Though she hasn’t performed publicly since the 2010s, recent sightings in Vegas suggest she remains in good health. Retired, perhaps, but far from forgotten.

Kit Chan

For many Singaporeans, Kit Chan is the voice you hear when you think of home. Her 1998 ballad “Home” remains the most enduring National Day song in the republic’s history. 

But Kit’s influence runs deeper than patriotic sentiment. She was one of the earliest Singaporean artists to break through Taiwan’s fiercely gatekept Mandopop scene, doing so with poetic Mandarin lyrics, vocal precision, and a theatrical stage presence that defied genre.

Kit’s 1994 album Heartache marked her regional debut. While Singapore’s pop industry was still nascent, she was already performing in musicals alongside Cantopop royalty like Jacky Cheung (Snow.Wolf.Lake, 1997), and releasing Cantonese tracks that landed on Hong Kong charts. Unlike her peers who stuck to mainstream pop, Kit diversified early into acting, writing poetry, and even starring in stage productions from Shanghai to Singapore, where she recently played Kwa Geok Choo in The LKY Musical.

In 1999, she was named Her World’s Young Woman Achiever, a recognition that cemented her status as a national pop icon and a cultural trailblazer – one who had defied industry boundaries and helped put Singaporean artistry on the regional map.

Her journey hasn’t been without valleys. In 2025, she opened up publicly about a personal nadir – vocal cord nodules, emotional burnout, and a renewed spiritual awakening that reframed her identity beyond performance. It was a rare, candid glimpse into a star who had long maintained control over her image.

Far from retreating, she continues to release new music  (2024’s “落花如雨” being one example) while sustaining cultural relevance through both spectacle and artistic integrity.

Fann Wong

Before the term “Singaporean celebrity” had international cachet, Fann Wong had already crossed the Pacific. She was just teenager when she won the Her World Cover Girl competition in 1987, launching a modelling career that would soon catapult her into television, film, music –  and eventually, global stardom. By 24, she was one of Singapore’s most recognisable stars; by 32, she had become the first Singaporean actress to lead a Hollywood blockbuster, starring opposite Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in Shanghai Knights (2003).

Her 1995 sweep at the Star Awards – taking Best Actress, Best Newcomer, and Top 5 Most Popular Female Artistes in a single year – marked a generational shift. Fann wasn’t just a pretty face on magazine covers. She was a force who built her career across mediums and markets: leading roles in regional dramas like The Return of the Condor Heroes (1998), Mandarin pop albums (Fanntasy, Shopping), and crossover success in Hong Kong and China at a time when few Singaporean artists dared to venture that far.

Her 2009 marriage to actor Christopher Lee made tabloid headlines, but Fann’s star was never built on gossip. In 2014, she gave birth to their son Zed Since then, she has spoken candidly about the joys and trade-offs of motherhood, often choosing quality over quantity when it comes to work. Her evolution from breakout star to working mother has only deepened her resonance with audiences across generations.

Even now, more than three decades in, she remains a style icon, businesswoman, and face of multiple beauty campaigns, while continuing to embrace her roles as both artist and mother.

Stefanie Sun

Before Spotify metrics and TikTok virality came to define musical relevance, Stefanie Sun was selling out stadiums and outselling regional pop giants – all while proudly carrying a Singaporean passport. Born Sng Ee Tze in 1978, Sun rewrote the rules of cross-border stardom with her 2000 debut Yan Zi, a Mandarin-language album that moved over half a million copies in Greater China. It was an audacious move and an unlikely triumph for a newcomer from a country better known for bureaucracy than ballads.

Educated at NTU and trained at a local music school, Stefanie entered Taiwan’s fiercely competitive Mandopop market with no famous surname and no manufactured image. What she had instead: crystalline vocals, unforced charisma, and a catalogue of emotionally fluent hits like Cloudy Day, Encounter, and My Love – tracks that became part of a generation’s emotional soundtrack across Asia. Her breakout success effectively broke a glass ceiling for Singaporean singers in the Chinese music industry.

By 2001, she was named Her World’s Young Woman Achiever, a title that affirmed what fans across the region already knew: Stefanie Sun was a rising pop star and a cultural force.

With over 30 million albums sold, a Golden Melody Award, and multiple world tours under her belt to date, Stefanie is often credited as Singapore’s most successful cultural export. And yet she has remained remarkably grounded. In 2025, it emerged that had donated “over 10 million yuan (approximately $1.9 million) Han Hong Love Charity Foundation over the years to underprivileged communities in China – an act of anonymous philanthropy that enhanced her public esteem, not her streaming figures.

Now in her 25th year in music, Stefanie is on an anniversary concert tour (Aut Nihilo) and selling out venues like Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium.

Tan Kheng Hua

Before Singapore exported Crazy Rich Asians to the world, Tan Kheng Hua had already laid the groundwork for cross‑border visibility. A stage‑trained actress with a commanding presence and sharp comic timing, Tan rose to local prominence in the 1990s as Margaret Phua in the sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd which is widely considered as a national institution.

Aside from this, Kheng Hua has also worn many hats – actress, producer, playwright, cultural ambassador – with equal finesse. Her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed: Tan is a recipient of the DBS Life! Theatre Award for Best Actress (2002) and the Art Nation Best Actress Award (2003). She was also highly commended by the Asian Television Awards for her comedic and dramatic performances, and recognised by the JCCI Singapore Foundation for her cultural contributions. Even as a student, she won multiple Founders Day Awards at Indiana University for scholastic excellence – an early sign of her all-rounded discipline.

By her 50s, she had already made the leap into Hollywood and regional markets. Her portrayal of Kerry Chu in Crazy Rich Asians earned her international recognition, and the U.S. television series Kung Fu (2021–2023) on The CW further solidified her presence in Western entertainment.

In 2025, she returned to screens in Worth the Wait, an all-Asian ensemble rom-com set between Seattle and Kuala Lumpur. Tan plays Mary, the strong-willed mother of a woman grappling with stillbirth – a role that demands both gravitas and restraint.The role demonstrates her emotional range, and her knack for elevating cross-cultural narratives.

While many actors fade with age, Kheng Hua shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, she’s proving that for women in entertainment, the third act can be the most expansive.

Nathania Ong

In an era where global stages remain dominated by Western names, Nathania Ong has quietly but commandingly staked her claim. The 27-year-old Singaporean actress-singer is now based in London, where she has carved out a steady ascent through some of musical theatre’s most storied institutions.

Nathania ’s journey is not one of overnight success, but of relentless persistence. After being rejected by every UK drama school she initially applied to, she juggled three part-time jobs to fund a final audition trip. That risk paid off: she earned a spot at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts – a decision that would soon place her on the radar of London’s West End.

She made her debut as Jenna Rolan in Be More Chill, but her true breakout came as Éponine in Les Misérables – first on the UK and Ireland tour, then in the West End production, making her the first Singaporean to play the role on that stage. She was just 25 when Her World featured her on its cover in 2023, fresh off the success of Les Mis. Reflecting on her rise, Nathania shared, “I’ve been surprised by how much more capable I am than I initially thought.”

That momentum has only grown. In 2024, Nathania was cast as Eliza in Hamilton, a move that further solidified her as one of the rare Southeast Asian performers to headline such a role in mainstream British theatre. She’s also garnered acclaim for her lead in Into the Woods, a production that underscored both her vocal dexterity and emotional range.

What sets Nathania  apart are her talent and her deliberate reckoning with identity and representation. In interviews, she’s spoken candidly about the emotional dissonance of being “the only Asian in the room,” and the weight of visibility that comes with that. Yet her presence on these stages has been anything but tokenistic. Critics have praised her vocal precision, dramatic nuance, and emotional intelligence – qualities often honed, not inherited.

As of 2025, Ong continues her run as Eliza while quietly building a transnational career, one that’s equally grounded in prestige and purpose.

Tanya Chua

Tanya Chua is arguably the country’s most decorated and perhaps most quietly radical musical talent. With four Golden Melody Awards for Best Mandarin Female Singer, Tanya has earned her place among the greats of Mandopop through sheer musical craftsmanship.

Tanya began her career in English, performing in cafes while studying at Singapore Polytechnic. But it was her 1999 shift to Mandarin music and her eventual relocation to Taiwan that marked a turning point. Her breakout albums (Amphibian, Goodbye & Hello, Sing It Out of Love) blended vulnerability with sonic experimentation, establishing her as a writer-performer-producer with full creative command. Her 2021 album Depart, which swept four awards at the Golden Melody Awards, cemented her as a singular voice in a sea of commercial sameness.

She has never been one for tabloid scandals. But in 2024, the Where I Belong singer made headlines, revealing she had battled clinical depression for 14 years, a candid admission that resonated deeply in an industry slow to address mental health. As she turned 50 in 2025, she reflected publicly that ageing was “not that scary,” offering yet another defiant note in a business that prizes youth.

Today, she remains based in Taiwan – her spiritual and creative home –  still writing, producing, and refusing to dilute her sound for broader appeal.

Shazza

At 23, Shareefa Aminah, famously known as Shazza, has emerged as a defining voice of Singapore’s Gen Z music movement. Her claim to fame is not from chasing trends, but by staking out emotional truth in her lyrics and harnessing the digital stage with precision.

The hijabi singer-songwriter’s 2023 debut album Chapter One was both a calling card and a manifesto: an intimate blend of R&B, bedroom pop and acoustic vulnerability that culminated in Right Person, Wrong Time – a track that amassed over 2 million streams and catapulted her onto a Spotify billboard in Times Square. In a scene where most Singaporean artists rarely breach regional boundaries, Shazza has done so with no industry dynasties behind her – just a diary’s worth of songs and a fiercely relatable online presence.

The Her World cover girl in August 2024, she reflected on the tension between visibility and self-doubt: “I may not look like other people in the industry, but why should I let that stop me?” That clarity, coupled with her featherlight vocals and lyrical vulnerability, has made her one of the most compelling new voices in Southeast Asia.

Far from a one-algorithm wonder, Shazza’s strategy has been methodical. She’s released a steady stream of singles since 2020, played a headline show within three years, and became a fixture on Spotify’s global artist development campaigns. Even a casual TikTok duet with Canadian pop duo Crash Adams turned into a viral moment – a milestone that has now reshaped global trajectories.

Now balancing a university education with a music career, she is signalling plans for Chapter Two. But her bigger project may be this: becoming a new template for Southeast Asian music exports that is all about voice, craft, and cultural nuance.