The persons in the following folders are arranged according to their country of origin.
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Historical
The Americas
American
- US president Rutherford B. Hayes is rather obscure and unremarkable in American history, best known for his beard, dubious circumstances of his election — specifically, the possibility that he stole the election that brought him to office (hence the nickname "Rutherfraud") — and ending the Reconstruction in the South note . However, he is a national hero in Paraguay, having served as an arbitrator after the War of the Triple Alliance in South America that had pitted Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay against them. Paraguay lost the majority of its pre-war population and there was serious discussion about splitting its territory between Brazil and Argentina. Hayes' ruling in favor of Paraguay's independence, even with drastically diminished territory, forever immortalized him in the country's history as its savior. He has a city (Villa Hayes) and a department (Presidente Hayes) named after him, as well as many schools, roads, and even a soccer team.
- William Howard Taft's stint as Philippine Governor-General is memorable in the Philippines, while Americans mostly know him for his weight and (by extension) the urban legend that he once got stuck in a bathtub.
- Woodrow Wilson's popularity typically wavers in his home country, though he generally maintains a mixed-to-good reputation — on the one hand, his progressive reforms and idealistic foreign policy earn praise, on the other there's some heavy Values Dissonance associated with him, namely racism and clampdowns on WW1 dissenters. Most Eastern Europeans, meanwhile, adore him, since he was integral in breaking up the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tell a Serb about the controversy with which Wilson's racial policy is viewed, and he'll punch you. Likewise, Poles remember him for explicitly calling for an independent Poland. Czechs consider him a national hero of sorts for championing the independence of Czechoslovakia; memorials of him are very common sight in Czechia, and even the main station of Prague is named for him. Wilson is also extremely popular in the country of Albania, because he prevented the division of the country after World War I. It is one of the reasons Albanians remain one of the most pro-American Muslim nations in the world (the other being NATO's intervention against Yugoslavia in 1999, which brought independence to Albanian-majority Kosovo).
- American politicians in general are viewed more positively in Eastern Europe than in the Middle East, Latin America, or even Western Europe, where they're associated often with imperialism and regime change. This is likely because many Eastern Europeans credit the US for pushing for independence for Eastern European states at the end of World War I and later going on to oppose the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
- While an obscure figure in his native United States, Adolf A. Berle is beloved in Latin America as a major architect of the "Good Neighbor policy".
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, while not necessarily hated by most Americans, has reached a Broken Base status, with modern liberals and conservatives either loving or hating his New Deal policies and expansion of the executive branch's powers (at the expense of Congress), and both sides condemning his internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor and his turning away of a ship of Jewish refugees back to Nazi Germany. However, most of Europe and Asia fondly remember him as the President who led the US and the Allies to victory against the Axis Powers, liberating the millions of people suffering under their conquests. His Four Freedoms
and Second Bill of Rights proposals were the basis for, respectively, human rightsnote and the welfare state; the latter speech has itself been forgotten in the United States. - No matter how spotted his career, Filipinos will always think fondly of Douglas MacArthur as the man who liberated them from the Japanese in World War II.
- The Japanese themselves seem to think rather fondly of MacArthur over his Shogun-esque rule of their land. Over in the west, he's remembered more as the guy who refused to acknowledge Emperor Hirohito when the latter tried to apologize for his actions and is widely derided in China for pushing to nuke the country when the latter intervened in the Korean War. Meanwhile in Australia MacArthur is hated for his prima-donna-ism and the way he didn't get along with that country's generals (who sort of knew they were stuck with him because Roosevelt and Marshall wanted him as far away from Washington as possible, for which they did not blame them in the slightest).
- The majority of South Koreans also fondly remember MacArthur to be a hero who saved the country twice with him liberating it from the Japanese Empire in 1945 and from the North Koreans after the Korean War. The city of Incheon erected a statue of MacArthur in 1957, which is considered a symbol of patriotism.
- US diplomat Henry Kissinger is often maligned in America and around the world due to his role in the secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, as well as his support of brutal anti-leftist dictatorships in Pakistan, Indonesia, and South America (like Chile under Pinochet and Jorge Videla's junta in Argentina), characterized by severe human rights violations. Many, noticeably Christopher Hitchens, consider him a War Criminal, and his death in general sparked both mass euphoria along with regret that he was never held to account for his actions. However, he is much more liked in China due to his role in helping open up relations between the US and China during the Nixon years.
- Richard Nixon himself, thanks to 'Gate and 'Nam, is arguably one of the most hated former Presidents in US history... except among Native Americans, who appreciate that he did more to improve their plight in his five years in office than every other President before him put together. He appointed a Mohawk as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and signed laws saving Indian resources and returning many Indian lands to their original owners. Most of all, he put a stop to the horrific policy of Termination, which forced Native American people to "assimilate" by relocating them into unfamiliar cities. He is also well-regarded in China for opening contacts with the country in 1972.
- President Ronald Reagan is viewed rather divisively in the USA, revered by the right, respected by moderate Democrats, and despised by progressives. In Latin America he's linked with American Gunboat Diplomacy and backing of nasty regimes. However, in much of Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, Reagan is hailed as a hero for opposing the Soviet Union until the very end. It isn't uncommon in these countries to see monuments to Reagan and hear many positively compare him to Winston Churchill.
- Januarius MacGahan, a 19th century American journalist, is virtually unknown in his home country, but is widely revered in Bulgaria for spreading awareness of the "Bulgarian Horrors" (the massive atrocities carried out by the Ottomans after crushing the 1876 April uprising) in Europe and so helping in the liberation of Bulgaria.
- William Edwards Deming was largely an obscure figure in his native United States. In Japan, however, he was the man who revolutionized management. His ideas began to be recognized in United States only by the late 1980s, when it looked as if Japanese firms were going to drive US companies out of business.
- While an extremely divisive figure in the US that is often maligned as either a crooked politician whose economic progressivism and seeming anti-racism when compared to other southern politicians was rooted purely in corrupt opportunism or a straight-up protofascist, Louisana governor Huey Long is very popular in Latin America and especially in Paraguay. This is due to his anti-imperialist stance regarding US interference in Latin America and the fact that similar authoritarian populist leaders(namely Juan Peron of Argentina and Getúlio Vargas of Brazil) are still positively regarded by a large number of people in their home countries. With regards to Paraguay, Long himself became a national hero in that country for supporting it over Bolivia during the Chaco War.
Canadian
- Dr. Norman Bethune, a war doctor virtually unknown in his home country of Canada during his lifetime, is considered an icon in China for his medical service during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He gained international attention when Chairman Mao Zedong published his essay In Memory Of Norman Bethune which had been a part of the required reading in Chinese elementary schools since the '60s. Dr. Bethune is also one of the few Westerners to have statues erected in his honour. Canada only noticed Bethune after befuddled travel agents started wondering why all those Chinese tourists want to go to the no-name town of Gravenhurst, Ontario.
Europe
British
- William Ewart Gladstone, a 19th century British prime minister, is considerably more popular and better known in Bulgaria than in his native country for condemning Ottoman rule over Bulgaria and the "Bulgarian horrors" (the massacre of between 15 and 20 thousand Bulgarians after the unsuccessful April uprising).
- Historical individuals from colonising nations tend to not be popular after independence for obvious reasons, but exceptions do exist. One such example is Jim Corbett, a conservationist and big game hunter who specialised in hunting man-eating tigers and leopards in British India during the early 20th century. His outspoken support and actions for wildlife preservation in India made him popular locally, to the point that the country’s first nature reserve was (and still is) named after him in 1957, a decade after India’s independence. Meanwhile, the name 'Jim Corbett' is mostly unknown in his native Britain.
- Winston Churchill is "liked" by the English who, on the whole tend to see him Warts and All, but he's practically deified by America's political class. In America, his writings on history are actually taken seriously whereas the English see them as very well written self-aggrandizements of interest only to Churchill-buffs, and good for nice rhetorical aphorisms rather than genuine information. This has serious political consequences when Churchill's racist imperial-era opinions are cited by American politicians with a straight face. Others praise him for being a war hero and for his stance against appeasement, but ignore his support for Franco, his early enthusiasm for Mussolini, his betrayal of the Greek resistance and reinstallation of Greek fascists, his negligence of the Bengal Famine, and the support of torture in Kenya, (which eventually became an issue in American politics thanks to far-right conspiracy nuts). Likewise, the right cite Churchill's anti-socialist anti-Health Care views, and his tough stance on the Cold War but neglect that Churchill was a "true" conservative, and as such in his third ministry he accepted and supported the NHS. Likewise, on Josef Stalin's death, he encouraged Americans to agree to peace talks with the USSR.
- Margaret Thatcher is universally considered an important stateswoman. In the U.K. her legacy is more polarizing. To the upper class and big companies she is revered as a visionary politician. To the middle and lower classes, Scotland, and all Oop North she is hated to this day because of her economic policy. When her death was announced in early 2013, people literally danced in the streets and threw Maggie Thatcher Death Parties. The song "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead" was requested (and played) constantly on radio stations, shooting to the top of the charts in Scotland, and number two in England.
- She's hated in Ireland and Argentina as well. The Argentines hate her over the Falklands War and the Irish hate her for the South Africa-esque oppression of Catholics in Stroke Country.
- Many Germans also tend to remember her as the most prominent opponent of German Reunification after the Wall fell.
- Thatcher is much beloved by the American right wing, who praise her for being a strong Cold War ally and love to reverently quote her criticisms of socialism,note ignoring her disastrous effect on the British economynote And it certainly helps that she was good friends with Reagan, whom the right also loves. It's almost a rite of passage for a highly-touted Republican woman to get "is she the American Thatcher?" coverage in right-wing media (Sarah Palin, of all people, got some headlines like this in 2008).
- Thatcher was not liked all that much either in Belgium. Back in the 80s, haters of Guy Verhofstadt accused him of being like her. That being said, most people there found the idea that someone would throw parties for the death of an everyday politician to be disgusting and horrifying.
French
- Voltaire the philosopher was very popular among the Russian aristocracy during the reign of Catherine the Great.
- The Marquis de La Fayette is famous in the US for his role helping the colonists win The American Revolution. In his home country, he isn't esteemed as highly.
- Maximilien Robespierre is considered to be a polarizing figure in French history by the French and widely derided in England and the United States as the forerunner to Stalin and Pol Pot due to his conduct in the Reign of Terror (which even codified the trope), which is seen as the forebearer of modern totalitarianism. However, in Haiti he is more revered due to his anti-slavery stance, having passed laws making slavery illegal in France and its colonies before England and America.
- Robespierre and the Jacobins are generally regarded more positively or neutrally in France's former colonies such as in Indo-China (General Vo Nguyen Giap cited him as his hero), Algeria and in the islands of the Francophone. This is mostly because Robespierre's memory was rejected by the same French establishment that colonized their lands in the name of benevolent "mission civilatrice". Robespierre, among others, provided them a means to appreciate French values without the baggage of resentment and bitterness of the colonial experience, especially given Robespierre's anti-war and anti-expansionist views.note
- To some extent, his reputation in America wasn't as negative during the days of the revolution itself, with Thomas Jefferson and the American Republicans supporting the reign of terror, though both of them opposed and denounced Robespierre after Thermidor. In England, Robespierre would later be cited during the Chartist Revolts, and receive a positive biography by George Henry Lewes.
- Napoléon Bonaparte is viewed in much of Europe as a warmonger and aggressor. He is disliked in parts of Germany,note Spain, Portugal, and Russia. Even in his native France, admiration for his abilities and victories is balanced by the recognition that he ultimately lost and that he played a large part in ensuring the French Revolution did not put France on a democratic path, not to mention the one million plus casualties the country suffered in his wars. Yet he is very popular among Jews and in Israel, mainly because of his Jewish emancipation policies.
- He is also big in Poland for briefly allowing them to run the Duchy of Warsaw, expressing support for reviving the vanished Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and treating the Polish forces under his command with utmost respect ("For my Poles", said Napoleon, "nothing is impossible."). To the point that he is explicitly mentioned by name in their national anthem — the only non-Pole so honored.We'll cross the Vistula
We'll cross the Warta,
We shall be Polish!
Bonaparte has shown us,
How to be victorious! - Also popular in Slovenia and Croatia, where he is seen as a savior from feudalism and Austro-Venetian imperialism (briefly, in the second case).
- The less said about him in Haiti, Guadaloupe and other parts of the Caribbean the better however. His only real fanboy in that region is, fittingly, Fidel Castro.
- The English tend to have a Love to Hate attitude towards Napoleon, mixed between Worthy Opponent, Draco in Leather Pants and Tragic Villain.
- He is also big in Poland for briefly allowing them to run the Duchy of Warsaw, expressing support for reviving the vanished Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and treating the Polish forces under his command with utmost respect ("For my Poles", said Napoleon, "nothing is impossible."). To the point that he is explicitly mentioned by name in their national anthem — the only non-Pole so honored.
- Most Frenchmen have never heard of Frédéric Bastiat; his works are most popular with American libertarians and anarcho-capitalists.
- The same may apply to his friend and contemporary, the Belgian economist Gustave de Molinari. (They were in the same philosophy club).
- Similarly, French political philosopher Jean-François Revel was more popular with the American conservatives whose views he shared than in his native country.
- Fashion designer Coco Chanel lost a lot of business in her native France due to her collaboration with Those Wacky Nazis. However, she remained popular in Britain (which is ironic since Britain is in Europe) and the United States.
- The major founding figures (Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Lacan) in post-structuralism, a major component of Postmodernism, were all French, but the movement enjoyed its greatest success and influence in American universities.
German and Austrian
- Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph is incredibly popular in Israel due to his attempts to squash ethnic nationalism in his empire and Austria-Hungary being one of the friendliest nations in Europe for Jews, especially for poorer ones in Central Europe who needed to get out of the antisemitic Russian Empire but couldn't afford to go to America or live in Western Europe. There's a reason you can still find parents in Israel that name their son "Franz Joseph".
- In Poland, which used to be split three-ways between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, Franz Joseph is pretty much the only leader of the partitioning powers who is not vilified as a foreign oppressor, the rest of them either being primarily linked to the crushing of uprisings, having set up the system in the first place, or, at best, not having done anything in particular that would warm Poles up to them. It definitely helps that Austrian rule was the most liberal of the three. He also kind of looked like everyone's elderly uncle. He's particularly well-remembered in the former Austrian part, where he's considered a sort of an integral part of the region's quirkiness and depictions of him are plastered around as a visual shorthand for cozy old-timey-ness.
- Karl Marx was a German Jewish expatriate writing in the UK. Being that Germans during his lifetime weren't big fan of Jews or socialists, (nor were most of the Western World in the 19th Century), he was not very popular in Germany during his lifetime. He only became liked in the early twentieth century, thanks to German Social Democrats, German Communists and artists and philosophers who considered him one of the three founders of modernism (alongside Freud and Einstein).
- It's one of the great historical ironies that, the most antisemitic and reactionary European country in the 19th Century, Russia, ended up becoming the crucible for his ideas to take effect in the early 20th Century. Marx like many Western Europeans saw Russia as an autocratic and obsolete feudal society (which was referred to as Asiatic despotism in both England and Germany) and was bemused to learn that his ideas, obscure in England and Germany for most of his life, found a strong reception in Russia towards the end of his life.note Related to that is the fact that despite generally writing quite favorably about America, supporting the Union during The American Civil War, and even praising Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest politicians who ever lived (opinions that are pretty much consensus among Republicans and Democrats today), Marx is quite unpopular and polarizing in America on account of the rise of Communism and the spread of Leftist revolutions in the 20th Century, which the USA reflexively opposed.
- Karl Marx was born in Trier (incidentally the oldest German city), yet the only city ever named after him is Chemnitznote — a place he never set foot in and that is about as far away from Trier as you can get without leaving Germany. They even still have a giant head of him (locally known as the "Nüschel") in a central town square — twenty five years after the city's name was changed to Chemnitz again.
- Marx's ideas are still widely popular in parts of Asia, Africa, South America and Australia, places he had never been and barely knew or wrote anything about. In India, Marx is admired and respected for being the only Western authority to call out Hypocritical Victorian England's imperialism and support the 1857 Mutiny (which the English press demonized out of all proportion).
- Adolf Hitler, for all his (not-undeserved) infamy, is not always considered a villain in Africa, the Arab World, South and Southeast Asia. Here the Nazis are often seen as just another branch of Western imperialists, and their atrocities an extension or evolution of Western Imperialism rather than the ultimate evil they are in the West. That's if they are not seen sympathetically as the ones that brought down the other Western imperialists, namely the British, French, Belgians, and Dutch. Plus, those Hugo Boss-designed uniforms were really cool.note
- The Swastika itself is an ancient Indian symbol of luck, and a popular motif in Hinduism and Buddhism.
- John Oliver had a blast in seeing Thailand loves to employ Hitler's image in ways it's hard to take seriously.
- Trevor Noah points out in his autobiography that he used to have a friend whose first name was Hitler. He was a star of Noah's dance-troupe, which once performed at a Jewish school. Hilarity Ensues.
- On the other end of the political spectrum, Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong, while both viewed in America and Europe (especially Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics) as on par with Hitler, if not worse, for the title of "worst mass murdering dictator of all time", are viewed much more positively in many parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. This is because of atrocities associated with European colonialism having much more impact in these parts of the world than the atrocities carried out by Communist regimes, combined with the role that both the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, along with more local Communist parties, had in supporting decolonization in the Global South during the Cold War.
- West German Chancellor Willy Brandt is fondly remembered in China, despite having no impact on their policies. This is due to him paying respect to the victims of Nazi Germany, in particular the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which is seen in stark contrast to Japan's denial about the atrocities commited against China before and during WWII.
- During his period in office (1969-1974) he was a highly controversial figure (the 1972 snap election was caused by defections of SPD members over his policies vis-a-vis the Warsaw pact and the GDR) in West Germany. But if the "Willy Willy" cries are any indication he was the most popular West German in the East. Most likely for the same reason Conservatives in the West hated him — his change through rapprochement was bringing real benefits to ordinary East Germans (and Berlinersnote ) — chief among them easier visits from the West.
- His most famous act as chancellor, kneeling before a monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, was immensely controversial in West Germany at the time (a Spiegel poll had a slight majority for "kneeling was excessive"), but it brought him a lot of respect in Israel, Poland and many other places — so much so that he received the Nobel Peace price while still in office.
Russian
- Tsars Alexander I and Alexander II are fondly remembered in Finland. The first created the Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, and the second gave Finland her Constitution.
- Mikhail Bakunin had his greatest and longest-lasting following in Spain, probably the major European country he spent the least time in life.
Polish
- Believe it or not, the Polish race as a whole is this for the Carribean country of Haiti. Back in the 1800s, Napoleon of France was witnessing a slave uprising and dispatched Polish troops to quell it. The Poles, however, defected from the French side and joined the Haitians. Even though Haiti was run by a black nationalist at the time, he deemed the Polish "the white (n-word)s of Europe". The Polish Legionnaires were even excluded from the other groups he genocided.
Other Europeans
- Christopher Columbus was largely ignored before the early 1800s, when he was lionized as a founding father by the newly independent republics in North and South America. Washington Irving in particular is to blame for creating the myth that Columbus was a man ahead of his time who sailed West to prove the world was round (Irving had been given access to the original documents of the Columbian expeditions while in Spain, but he ignored most at his own convenience). Columbus was attractive because he was Italian and didn't end in good terms with the Spanish Crown, offering a beginning without glorifying British and Spanish colonial rule in the process, and questioning the reason for the new countries's independence as a result. In later times, Columbus became a symbol for Catholics in the United States and then Italian-Americans, who only had to name him when faced with discrimination: how could they not belong in the country, as nativists said, when Columbus, the man who made America possible, was himself a Catholic Italian? This culminated with Columbus Day being made a national day in 1934 and a federal holiday in 1971, despite Columbus himself never setting foot on the continental United States (he was in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, though). Since the 1990s, there have been increasing calls by Native Americans, African-Americansnote and other activists to change or abolish Columbus Day outright for being a glorification of colonialism and genocide, which are resisted by Italian-Americans and American conservatives.
- In contrast, the first country where Columbus landed, Bahamas, always acknowledged it in the most token way due to being colonized by the British, and prefers to frame tourism around Blackbeard and the Nassau Republic of Pirates.
- The American continent was named by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who sailed for Portugal and Spain, after reading a French translation of his letters in which he claimed to have realized that the New World was a new continent and not part of Asia. The name rapidly caught on in northern Europe but was stubbornly resisted in Spain, which didn't use it until the mid-18th century. Many including Bartolomé de las Casas plain called Vespucci a fraud who stole a honor that should have belonged to Columbus, and his first letter dated 1497-1498 is in fact considered a forgery by historians (it describes an expedition of which there is no evidence of ever happening, and its described route would have taken it across Central America). Nevertheless some Americans converted to the new Columbus-hate have called to honor Vespucci with a day instead.
- In the United States, Juan Ponce de León (conqueror of Puerto Rico and first European in Florida) is the go-to example of Spanish Conquistador along with Hernán Cortés. In Spain, he is less known than his ill-fated successor in Florida, Pánfilo de Nárvaez (and only because Pánfilo sounds funny to modern Spaniards), while Juan Ponce de León is known largely through Pop-Cultural Osmosis of American media. It doesn't help that Ponce de León (not just De León) is a noble family name going back to the Middle Ages, so it is common to find in Spanish history without it being Juan.
- This extends to the Fountain of Youth legend attached to Ponce de León, which is virtually unknown in Spain besides Pop Cultural Osmosis, but seems obligatory whenever Conquistadors are mentioned in American media.
- Josef Stalin was incredibly popular in Israel during its founding years, partly because he was one of the first world leaders to support the founding of the state (in the hopes of having a communist ally in the Middle East) and partly because of the socialist idealism that was a strong factor in early Jewish communities in the area. Notably, when he died, a major Israeli newspaper had the headline "The world mourns — the sun of nations had set". Granted, that was at a time in which a lot of Stalin's worse atrocities, as well as his antisemitism, were not yet widely known.
Asia
Asians
- Cyrus the Great is rather popular in Israel, for defeating their overlords in Babylon and allowing Jews to return to their ancestral homeland. Notably, he is the only non-Jew ever honored with the title moshiach (messiah).
- Saladin is one of the most celebrated military leaders of all time, as a chivalrous Muslim warrior, and a Magnificent Bastard by the Crusaders. Coincidentally, this lionization did not originate in the Middle East, but in Europe. This is largely because The Crusades were a far bigger deal for the Europeans than the Saracens during The Middle Ages (for them the "Frankish Wars" was a sideshow to the internecine wars between themselves, and against the Mongols). For a great deal of its history, Baibars, the Mamluk King who stopped the Mongol advance was their true Icon of Rebellion, and it's only during the era of European colonialism, specifically Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit to Saladin's Tomb in 1898 that started the modern adulation of Saladin, where Arab nationalism saw the Crusades as a proto-imperialist project (ironically basing their view on the Western opinions on Saladin and European intellectuals of the Enlightenment dismissing the Crusades as a disaster). Of course, his fellow Kurds also think highly of him, as he's a very well-known Kurd (who many probably didn't even know was Kurdish at all), and Arabs lionize him as well (since the lands he ruled are/were predominantly Arabic-speaking and his armies were composed in large part of Arab troops), which gets them into occasional tiffs with Kurds (particularly over Arab nationalists' use of the Eagle of Saladin as a symbol of their movement).
- Genghis Khan is revered in Mongolia and deemed worse than Hitler in much of the former Mongol Empire (at least in Central Asia and the Middle East). However, outside of the Empire, he's largely respected (even in Chinese history) as a major-league badass and an excellent statesman.
- In medieval western Europe, which was far enough from his conquests to see them as fanciful stories of the Orient rather than cause for concern, he was somehow pictured as some sort of enlightened philosopher king.
- The friendship between Filipino national hero Jose Rizal and Austro-Hungarian writer Ferdinand Blumentritt is the stuff of legend in the Philippines, and Rizal is popular in Austria and Hungary.
- Before and during the Cold War, Americans and their leaders were in love with the first lady of China, then Taiwan, American-educated Soong May-Ling, better known as Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (she and her husband were Time's "Man and Wife of the Year"). She was never quite as popular at home, being the wife of a brutal dictator seen by many Taiwanese as foreign (the Chiang regime favored people who came from the Mainland over native Taiwanese).
- Radhabinod Pal is hugely popular among Japanese nationalists due to the fact that he's the only judge to submit a statement that the Japanese war criminals were not guilty. This also led him to be enshrined in the highly controversial Yasukuni Shrine and historians often cited his defense for the Japanese as the main reason why India and Japan are close allies.
- It should be noted that both Japanese and Indian nationalists are strongly fond with each other for several reasons. The Indians admire the Japanese for remaining free from Western colonialism by modernizing their society while maintaining their cultural identity; the Japanese respect India due to being the birthplace of Buddhism, and similarities between Hinduism and Japanese Shintoism. Not to mention, unlike most of Japanese neighbors during World War II, India was never occupied by the Japanese. Their sharing a common rival against China also helps.
Contemporary — Political
The United States
- Although he failed to get re-elected for a second term as U.S. President, George H. W. Bush is so beloved in Kuwait (the country that the United States and its allies liberated from Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War) that many people have even named their children after him.note
- As much as American conservatives may still vilify Bill Clinton and his wife, like Woodrow Wilson decades earlier the 42nd U.S. president is revered in Kosovo for his role in NATO's 1999 campaign against Yugoslavia, which led to Kosovo's de-facto independence. A major street in the capital Pristina is named after him.
- Among other '80s politicians, the late Mario Cuomo, former governor of the U.S. state of New York and father to its later governor Andrew Cuomo, is a rare example of one who was this trope within his own party:
- Democrats nationwide loved him after his stirring keynote speech at the party's 1984 convention, reaffirming the values of the New Deal/Great Society liberalism that was still the party's dominant ideology, albeit under threat from "New Democrats" who wanted to respond to Reaganism by moving toward the center. Many talked eagerly of him being the 1988 presidential candidate, and there was a serious movement to draft him in that year's New Hampshire primarynote .
However, back in New York his own party was increasingly resentful of him for not living up to his hype, for always being too willing to cut deals with the still-moderate Republicans then running the State Senatenote and for cutting state aid to counties and municipalities at the same time he was criticizing Reagan's government for its similar "fend-for-yourself federalism".
Cuomo most annoyed his fellow Democrats with his refusal to go out and campaign for any candidate of his own party running for at least state-level office—an effort that might have gotten Robert Abrams elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, perhaps—in order to maintain his good relationship with Senate majority leader Ralph Marino, who had paid him back by making sure the Republicans ran an inconsequential candidate against him in 1990. When, in 1994, after it was clear he had no more presidential ambitions, many Democrats thought he would finally step down and call it a career, he announced he would run for a fourth term, this came back to haunt him ... it soon became obvious that it was going to be a big year for Republicans, and Cuomo, seeing that another state senator, George Pataki, could beat him, asked other major Democrats to go out and campaign for or with him. Remembering how Cuomo had refused their own similar requests, they all declined, and Cuomo lost.
- Democrats nationwide loved him after his stirring keynote speech at the party's 1984 convention, reaffirming the values of the New Deal/Great Society liberalism that was still the party's dominant ideology, albeit under threat from "New Democrats" who wanted to respond to Reaganism by moving toward the center. Many talked eagerly of him being the 1988 presidential candidate, and there was a serious movement to draft him in that year's New Hampshire primarynote .
- George W. Bush is considerably more popular in Georgia (the country) than in the U.S., due to his pro-Georgian foreign policy and having danced to Georgian music once; it helped that a crazed man once tried to assassinate both him and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili with a single grenade in Tbilisi (nothing quite says "we're in this together" like being targeted by the same guy). Reportedly, he's even sometimes considered a bit of a Mr. Fanservice in Georgia. Figure that one out.
- He's also popular in some Sub-Saharan African countries because he was, in fact, the most involved yet friendly American president in the region in recent memory (largely as an attempt to keep China out of the region, but the point stands). This included sending AIDS relief and convincing Sudan to grant South Sudan independence. In gratitude, South Sudan's president Salva Kiir Mayardit always wears a cowboy hat gifted to him by Bush in his public appearances.
- While his approval rating in America was around 30% during the last few years of his tenure, his approval rating in India stayed around 60%.
- Bush is very popular in the Kurdish territories of Iraq. Since the invasion, the Kurds have been able to form their own semi-self governing state in the north of Iraq. He's popular enough that they sell T-shirts with his picture on them.
- Also in Kosovo and neighboring Albania for supporting Kosovar independence, despite the fact that he couldn't even get their names right (he called them "Kosovoans"). The Albania example also extends to other American presidents in general (for example, "Bill" and "Hillary" are still very popular baby names there).
- Congressman Ron Paul has a rather divisive public image in the US. Around the world however, he is much more liked. This is probably due to his foreign policy views of isolationism and non-interventionism, as the US foreign policy has drawn criticism from many around the world.
- Barack Obama is generally more popular in Canada, Australia and Europe than in America. While considered a moderate centrist by their political standards, Obama is still admired by non-American Westerners for his charisma and diplomatic overtures that made him the perfect antithesis of the unpopular Bush. That said, Obama's American popularity recovered considerably once he left office.
- In the UK especially, they love Obama. Years after departing the Presidency, Obama remains the most popular foreign politician, with an approval rating of 68% according to a 2022 YouGov poll. Granted, some of this might be rose-tinted memories following the public backlash to Donald Trump (who has a UK disapproval rating of 70%) and public frustrations with Prime Minister Boris Johnson (who is sometimes compared to Trump). Yet nonetheless, Obama's dry wit, charisma, dignity and skilled oratory went over very well in a country that (usually) values all those traits in its politicians. Also, unlike every British politician for a very long time, he's considered downright cool.
- Obama is also very popular in Kenya (the birthplace of his father and home to much of his extended family) and Indonesia (where he spent part of his childhood there).
- Before Barack Obama sang his praises, Jimmy Carter was regarded by many Americans for almost three decades as a major source of Old Shame, particularly because of his economic policies, handling of the Iranian hostages crisis and the "malaise" speech; not even Carter's post-Presidency humanitarian work could take America's mind off from the fact he presided over a pitiful era in the nation's history. In Western Europe however, Carter is pretty much better-appreciated than most of his predecessors and successors, partly because of said humanitarian work and the "malaise" speech (the latter of which was actually seen across the Atlantic as a brave move by telling a hard truth about the negatives of individualism), but also because of his lifelong commitment to human rights and anti-war views.
- Donald Trump is understandably very unpopular in his native United States (having an approval rating that has never exceeded 45%) and in other first-world countries like the UK.note However, he is relatively popular among far-right nationalist parties and groups in Europe, mainly due to his anti-immigration stance and hardline approach towards Islamic terrorism.
- He's also popular among Russians, mainly because Trump complimented President Vladimir Putin as being a "strong leader". Not to mention, his "America First" self-interest foreign policy is also praised in Russia, seeing that Russia's self-interest foreign policy is almost similar to Trump's. It's also possible that the Russians want Trump to be president so that it will allow Russia to gain a political, economic, and militaristic upper hand and influence in Europe, as Trump also openly stated that he will only defend America's allies if they "fulfilled their obligations".
- For complementary reasons Putin has become increasingly popular with Trump's American base as well. Many of them liked his macho image and conservative personality even before Trump, in contrast to Obama.
- His popularity in Israel skyrocketed especially with the announcement that he would follow through on the 20 year-old Congress-approved plan to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Not surprisingly, he was met with hostile reactions from Palestinians and the majority of the Arab world.
- Ivanka Trump, meanwhile, is very popular in China, for as-of-yet unclear reasons, and more popular than anyone else in her family. As of 2017, China's trademark offices are busy securing business names and products with "Ivanka" in it left and right.
- He's also popular among Russians, mainly because Trump complimented President Vladimir Putin as being a "strong leader". Not to mention, his "America First" self-interest foreign policy is also praised in Russia, seeing that Russia's self-interest foreign policy is almost similar to Trump's. It's also possible that the Russians want Trump to be president so that it will allow Russia to gain a political, economic, and militaristic upper hand and influence in Europe, as Trump also openly stated that he will only defend America's allies if they "fulfilled their obligations".
- Rudy Giuliani was very unpopular in New York City during his run as Mayor, but outside of New York he became beloved for his composure in the days after 9/11, earning him the nickname "America's Mayor". However, said reputation has been damaged (as least among Democrats) due to his status as a legal advisor to President Donald Trump during the Mueller Investigation, the Ukraine impeachment scandal, and the post-2020 election legal challenges.
- Pete Buttigieg, a gay mayor from Indiana who ran for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has gotten support from the Chinese LGBT community.
- Bernie Sanders is unsurprisingly popular among left-leaning circles in Western Europe, as he is the closest among American politicians to their positions.
- American journalist Pierre Salinger's explications of U.S. politics and culture got far more play in France than they did in the U.S., where he is best remembered as President John F. Kennedy's press secretary (either that, or for a guest role in Batman (1966) as the lawyer for the Eartha Kitt incarnation of Catwoman), since he spoke French fluently and was the son of a French journalist himself.
- President Joe Biden has the highest trustworthy rating of any US president in Poland. In contrast to Obama and Trump, who were seen as too soft on Russia, Biden is overwhelmingly liked among Poles for his staunch opposition to Vladimir Putin and commitment to defending Eastern Europe during the Russo-Ukraine War of 2022.
- While rather divisive among American leftists for his divisive and sectarian attitude combined with allegations that his socioeconomic policies are too moderate for leftist standards, Youtube political commentator Ian "Vaush" Kochinski is much more popular among left-leaning circles in Eastern Europe due to his hard stance against the presence of Marxist-Leninists/"Tankies" in left spaces along with support for NATO as a necessary deterrent against Russian expansionism. This is due to the fact that the legacy of Communist atrocities gives even leftist Eastern Europeans legitimate reasons to be skeptical of anyone whitewashing Marxist-Leninist regimes, which in turn makes the more moderate politics advocated by Vaush be seen as a less bloodstained alternative to Communism, along with the fact that Russian revanchism is seen as the greater threat instead of US imperialism. Vaush's unabashed defence of Ukraine following the Russian invasion further increased his popularity in these circles.
Americas
- In a truly bizarre example, former Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. Often considered bland (or, to his opponents, "Premier Dad", due to his "nanny state" policies) in his home province of Ontario, he is considered "handsome and charismatic" in China. FTA:"Who else is as good at working a Chinese room?" a Canadian businessman was asked during a luncheon in Nanjing. "Exactly," he replied, mistaking it for a rhetorical question.
- In stark contrast, back home in Canada, several comedy shows have made fun of McGuinty's striking resemblance to Norman Bates◊.
- He was also the unfortunate target of the famous "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet" campaign, which he naturally milked for all it was worth.
- In stark contrast, back home in Canada, several comedy shows have made fun of McGuinty's striking resemblance to Norman Bates
- Fidel Castro was beloved in many Belgian political communities for making Cuba independent despite opposition from the United States. It should be noted that many Belgians in general tend to oppose the United States interference because the United States is one of the prime suspects when it is about the murder of Patrice Lumumba, who was the only decent prime minister that the Congolese had. Even Belgian major Bart De Wever noted that he is very beloved on Belgian soil despite the fact that many of his rulings should make him unpopular in the country. Castro is also admired in many post-colonial African nations for Cuba's intervention in the Angolan War, his dispatching of Cuban doctors across Africa and for his support of Nelson Mandela. Mandela always considered Castro's help to the ANC as invaluable and the two were friends.
- Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (de jure 1984-1990 & 2006-, de facto 1979-1990 & 2006-) was a lot more popular in some leftist circles in Europe than he was in his own country. While the Reagan administration illegally armed a rebel army against him (they were mostly Nicaraguans, though) against express orders of Congress, social democratic leaders in Scandinavia sent aid to Nicaragua and thousands of Western Europeans went to Nicaragua as volunteers to help his revolution. However, in his term in office since 2006 many former admirers have turned away in disgust as he has alienated many of his former comrades (Gioconda Belli, Sergio Ramirez, Ernesto Cardenal and others) and is now quite willing to cut deals with the church and the opposition, which he used to denounce in the 1980s. Some even talk of a Full-Circle Revolution.
- Hugo Chávez, the late president of Venezuela, was derided by the American right-wing for his socialist policies, anti-imperialism and strongman rule. He is much more liked, however, in the Middle East, due to his support of Palestine and opposition to Israel in the Arab–Israeli Conflict along with his criticism of US foreign policy in general. He was also pretty popular among left-leaning people in the U.S. for these reasons as well, though nowadays opinions on him are mixed, with many debates on how much the economic crisis of Venezuela is the fault of his own policies or American sanctions imposed on the country.
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in turn very popular with liberals in the U.S. for the same reason as Bernie Sanders is popular in Canada. Also, anti-Trump attitudes have translated to more admiration for Trudeau south of the border; even as his popularity began to slip back home, it hasn't translated into a loss of support in the States. When Trudeau narrowly won re-election in 2019note , reactions among Canadian left-wingers were generally mixednote , while reactions among American left-wingers were significantly more positive. Trudeau's international popularity is parodied in this skit from satirical news show The Beaverton: "Trudeau still polling well with his core demo: non-Canadians".
Europe
- Given the way the U.S. was formed, The British Royal Family is surprisingly popular in America. Royal weddings and births are covered extensively on cable news and official visits draw crowds similar to other celebrities in the U.S. Of course, the British Royal Weddings are also popular in France of all places, though there it's the royalist nostalgia more than anything.
- Tony Blair seems to be more popular in the US than he is in his native UK, where his decision to work closely with George W. Bush in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq was met with wide condemnation by the British people, ultimately all but forcing him from office. In 2010, he had to cancel public appearances in the UK to publicise his autobiography due to the "hassle" caused by protesters, and his successors in the Labour Party are now trying to distance themselves from the Blair era as quickly as possible.
- He's also very popular to this day in Sierra Leone due to his having (not enthusiastically initially) stopped a civil war there by sending the army in (the army were sent in on a limited mission but decided to intervene aggressively, Blair's role amounted to backing them once he found out about it). Seriously, they build statues to him, you won't find that in the UK.
- British Prime Minister Theresa May is highly divisive, if not outright unpopular, in her home country due to her association with Brexit, culminating in her eventual resignation in June 2019. In the US, while not to the same extent as Canada's Trudeau, France's Macron, or Germany's Merkel, she's pretty respected overall (particularly among Trump's base).
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is highly divisive in the UK for his clownish public persona, outrageous rhetoric, pro-Brexit views and public scandals.note In Ukraine however, Johnson is universally praised for consistently supporting Ukraine with humanitarian and military aid even as other European leaders have cold feet over antagonizing Russia. It also helps Johnson that he made an in-person visit to the capital Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a sign of solidarity. Johnson himself was so popular that many roads, locations and even a pastry were named after him. There were even calls to make him an honorary citizen of Ukraine. Needless to say, many Ukrainians, including President Zelensky, expressed sadness at Johnson's resignation.
- Former leader of the U.K. Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn is popular among segments of the American left for his unapologetically socialist stance leading the party to its best showing in years in the 2017 election, even though it resulted in a hung Parliament (and, as his critics point out, he was facing one of the weakest governments in decades). Likewise, Corbyn’s American counterpart Bernie Sanders is popular among the British left for similar reasons (it helps that Bernie's brother Larry, a UK resident, is a longtime Green Party politician and former Oxfordshire County Councilman).
- French President Emmanuel Macron is popular in the U.S. mainly for not being Donald Trump or Marine Le Pen. Le Pen is popular with Trump supporters, but beyond that is much less liked than Macron. As with Justin Trudeau, Macron's policies have caused a dip in popularity at home, though he still remains popular in the States.
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel is very popular amongst the American liberals due to being yet another "anti-Trump" national leader. In fact, Merkel is actually a center-right Christian conservative leader, and before the rise of Trump, she was more popular with Republicans than Democrats.
- Belgian major Bart De Wever is a very polarizing and controversial figure in Belgium for his long debates that prevented Belgium from being reformed and his nationalist stance, which the king of Belgium equated with fascism. In Germany he is beloved because his party is a successful alternative for the racist and far-right policies of Het Vlaams Belang that managed to make the latter irrelevant. It should be noted that Het Vlaams Belang has many policies that would be very unpopular with Germans (such as Flemish separation and the passing of anti-immigration laws) and that one of the former MP's of Het Vlaams Belang (Roeland Raas) was a famous holocaust denier.
- Geert Wilders' quotation "Willen jullie meer of minder Marrokanen?" (Translated: You want more or less Maroccans) caused a lot of stir in the Netherlands, but the extreme right party in Flanders loved his speech so much that they hope that he would say it again.
- Mikhail Gorbachev is thought of in Western nations as a well-respected statesman who ended the Soviet Union. In particular, he is practically a national hero in Germany for bringing down the Iron Curtain that went straight through the country. The Russian population has quite a different opinion of the man, seeing him as a weak leader who kept giving the West concessions and ended Russia as a superpower, and those who are nostalgic for Communism — or even, in many cases, just democratic socialists — positively HATE him. When he ran for president of The New Russia in 1996, Gorbachev won a grand total of 0.51% of votes. An Urban Legend has it that, during a meeting with voters, he was punched in the face.
- Lampshaded in a Pizza Hut advert in Russia, where he and his granddaughter walk into a namesake outlet. The patrons vividly debate his legacy, eventually concluding they're all eating at Pizza Hut because of him.
- Natalia Poklonskaya was appointed as a prosecutor in the newly established nation of Republic of Crimea. While easily well-known among the native Crimean Russians and other Russians, she became an internet sensation in Japan due to her "attractiveness".
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is rather popular among Americans for his leadership and courageous opposition to Putin during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In fact, a 2022 March survey showed that more Americans have confidence in Zelenskyy than in either US President Joe Biden or Russian President Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, despite having previously admired Putin for his strongman leadership, most Republicans trust Zelenskyy moreso than either Biden or Putin.
Asia and Africa
- Muammar Gaddafi. He was hated in the Western world (especially in Italynote ) and in Libya, where his own people eventually killed him. In sub-Saharan Africa, he is still seen as a hero by many people (including Nelson Mandela), mostly because they remember him as a prominent figure of the Non-Aligned Movement.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very popular among right-wing Americans and supporters of Donald Trump because of his open praise of Trump, nationalistic rhetoric, conservative beliefs and hardline opposition to Islamic terrorism.
- Despite being a left-wing populist, Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte is liked more in the U.S. by Republicans than Democrats, again due to Trump having singled him out for praise. Duterte's chauvinism, hardline stance on illegal drugs, love of firearms and distaste for political correctness gave him a strongman image that resonates among Trump supporters.
- Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi is taken far more seriously abroad than at home.
- Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. She is lionized abroad as a founder of Israel and quintessential "Iron Lady" of modern geopolitics. In contrast, many Israelis hold more critical views of Meir, with a great deal blaming her letting the nation get caught-off guard during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Oceania
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is far more popular on the international stage than in her home country. Many, especially liberal westerners, praised Ardern's warm and empathetic personality as a foil to muscular diplomacy of the likes of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two things from her administration that were especially praised internationally were her initial handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which was often cited as a role model, and her empathetic response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. In New Zealand, however, Ardern is more polarizing with many criticizing her for failing to address the rampant homelessness and child poverty. Ardern's unpopularity and public pressure in her own country lead to her resignation in January 2023 and retreat from public life, much to the shock of many people outside of New Zealand.
Contemporary - Other
Other People
- Trope namer David Hasselhoff, who's extremely popular in Germany. Hasselhoff did well with Knight Rider in Germany and Austria, enough so he did a musical tour of Germany. But what made him an Icon was his tour ended up being at the same time the wall fell, and he did an impromptu concert on the Berlin Wall of his song 'Looking for Freedom'. As a result his work is symbolic of German Reunification and made his other works like Baywatch surefire hits in Germany.
- He's also very popular in Finland, to the point where he had his own Finnish talk show.
- He's also very popular in Finland, to the point where he had his own Finnish talk show
- Before Hasselhoff and Germany, the go-to reference for "moderately popular local entertainer inexplicably beloved overseas" was typically a reference to actor Jerry Lewis and his massive popularity in France (quite a few sitcoms of the 80s and 90s such as Roseanne and Designing Women made jokes to this effect during their runs.)
- Craig Ferguson was known for a one-season sketch show on BBC Scotland (The Ferguson Theory) and a guest spot on Red Dwarf before he broke through in America with The Drew Carey Show and his late night chat show.
- The British John Oliver is very well known in the US - being a contributor on the The Daily Show and then going on to have his successful late night Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which is very Amerocentric. In the UK? You'd be hard pressed to find someone who knew who he was. And if a Brit did know him, it would be from finding clips of Last Week Tonight on Youtube. John himself mentions this occasionally.John: [in a segment about the UK] We turn to the United Kingdom, where I am fondly known as "Who?"
- Jeff Dunham was more popular in Europe than in the US during his earlier shows. One of his biggest base breaking characters in the United States is Achmed the Dead Terrorist, which is a skeleton puppet with a turban who is still trying to kill the infidels... some love him, some find him annoying, and some find him an offensive stereotype. However, the character is beloved in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world. In fact, the character is largely the reason why Jeff Dunham is the most popular stand-up comic in Saudi Arabia, and most of the nation's emergent stand-up scene was directly inspired by the act. Dunham even reflected on the unusual-ness of the popularity and told of one country where the censors vetoed the entire Achmed act, Jeff had to point out that the act is why he was doing sold out shows in the country in the first place. The censors let him get away by saying Achmed was a French man and swapping the Turban for the Beret... and that's it. Everything else was in. Even with that fix, the audience nearly revolted when he started to explain the legal situation to the audience, as he had explained why the government wouldn't let him do the act before revealing the fix. According to him, the audience even got extra humor out of the fact that Achmed was clearly not at all French.
- Anthony "Sulley" Sullivan is a British infomercial artist from Devon who moved to the US a few decades ago. His main sales pitch was that Americans assumed all Brits were intelligent so would buy anything (regardless of quality) from them. It seems to have been successful because he never expected to become known outside of the US, and his commercials were never aired outside there. However, he was first exposed to the British public through Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, and then many began checking out his commercials on YouTube. Many Brits were amused by his bizarre transatlantic accent which he cultivated so Americans could understand him better (he's famous for the way he says 'potatoes'). Many were surprised about how he's gone under the radar for so long. His show, PitchMen with Billy Mays, has also earned a worldwide following.
- Israeli mentalist Lior Suchard was pretty much forgotten in Israel after he won the original version of Uri Geller's reality show The Successor (people jokingly remarked back then that Geller’s next trick was to make Suchard disappear). His luck improved for him when he began performing in the United States, where he became a hugely popular guest on late-night and early-morning talk shows.
- Muhammad Ali was one of the most respected boxers of all time in the United States, but he was huge in Zaire (now known today as The Democratic Republic of the Congo) after his "Rumble in the Jungle" match against George Foreman held there in 1974. Google "Ali Bomaye".
- You can add Italy to the list of countries that still love Hilary Duff. In fact, there is one exclusive compilation album not available outside of Italy. One wonders if her popularity in Italy came before or after The Lizzie McGuire Movie was set in Rome.
- Bella Thorne has lots of Japanese fans. Some of her tweets are replied by Japanese fans. She even retweets her Japanese fans who did the tweets in English.
- Alain Robert, the "French Spiderman" known for solo climbing tall buildings and getting arrested in the process, is a borderline folk hero in Brazil.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme is apparently this among Arabs. It helps that he starred in Legionnaire, a Western action movie with a positive portrayal of Arabs for a change.
- Blurring the line between celebrity and political, the movie John Rambo led to Sylvester Stallone's growing popularity in Burma. Specifically, with the Karen rebel group, since the reigning military junta had their own ideas.
- Taylor Kitsch is considered an unmarketable actor in the United States and his native Canada after having led two high-profile flops (John Carter and Battleship). But in Europe and Asia, both films were very successful and he's averted career troubles by getting more offers in projects with broad foreign appeal.
- The late actress Deborah Raffin became a huge star in China when her TV-movie Nightmare in Badham County was a big hit there.
- Soap actress Thalía is a superstar in the Philippines thanks to its exposure to her shows like the so-called María Trilogy (María Mercedes, María la del barrio, and Marimar). Marimar and María la del Barrio were popular enough to get their own Foreign Remake. Inexplicably, the actress who played the villain of Marimar, Chantal Andere, had her own fans in the Philippines via Memetic Mutation, and the actress who played the villain of María la del Barrio, Itati Cantoral, developed a large fandom in South America also via Memetic Mutation, due to the immensely hammy outbursts of her character (she's the one in the "Damn Cripple!" and "[X] in Spanish" memes), to the point of having her own page at Know Your Meme.
- Also from soap operas, the Brazilian protagonist of Escrava Isaura, Lucélia Santos, is idolized in China.
- American illusionist Val Valentino, better known as "The Masked Magician", became very popular in Brazil (where he's known as "Mister M")fun fact after clips from Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, his series of television specials revolving around revealing the secrets to several magic acts, were shown on the hugely popular Rede Globo Sunday newsmagazine show Fantástico. He apparently was also very well liked in Chile, where he made promotional appearances in his Masked Magician persona before his unmasking, and in Japan.
- Jan-Ove Waldner: Swedish table tennis player. Well-known and loved in his homeland for being a steady source of international championship medals and showing that a small country like Sweden could beat giants like the U.S. and China. In China, he is even more famous and loved.
- Masi Oka, a Japanese-American, enjoys moderate popularity in America thanks to Heroes (and being One of Us). His popularity in Japan is somewhat lower, and is mostly based around the fact that America likes him and this makes the Japanese as a whole look good in foreign eyes.
- The Japanese adore Richard Gere, to the point where internationally renowned director Akira Kurosawa gave him a prominent role in his penultimate film Rhapsody in August; he shared an impromptu dance with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi; and he appeared in successful Foreign Remakes of the Japanese films Shall We Dance? and Hachiko. In fact, an oft-told political joke during Koizumi's premiership was that he managed to stay in power for so long (5 years is a pretty long term for a Prime Minister in Japan) because the Japanese housewives were constantly voting for him as a Gere lookalike.
- Brad Pitt is another celebrity that's big among young adult women in Japan for some reason unknown to the rest of the world. Reader's Digest has had records of Japanese women naming their Tamagotchi after him.
- Many American comics have found greater success and popularity in the United Kingdom, in particular Bill Hicks and Rich Hall.
- Edward Snowden is one of the most sought after and most hated people in the United States for leaking very valuable documents about US spy agencies on Wikileaks. In Europe he is considered to be a hero who proved to everyone that the US was spying on them.
- In the mid-1980s, actress Diane Lane did quite a bit of modeling for magazines in Japan, and even had a modeling photo book published, as well as appearing in various automotive, soda and jewelry commercials. This is namely due to the widespread popularity of her film Streets of Fire, which was incredibly disliked by critics and performed poorly at the American box office, but whose style and aesthetic were a major inspiration for popular Japanese arcade games like Street Fighter, Final Fight and Streets of Rage.
- Within American subcultures, white comedian/actor Gary Owen is practically a household name among African-American audiences (specifically black women), and his shows frequently sell out with all-black audiences. However he is virtually unknown outside of the black community and has in fact has struggled to gain mainstream popularity. While he is American, it is still extremely unusual for a white comedian to be popular in the black community without also being mainstream.
- Dancing with the Stars made Bindi Irwin (Steve's daughter) as big a superstar in North America as her wildlife work made her back in Australia.
- The Philippines holds a special place in its heart for Korean singer-actress Sandara Park of Kpop group 2NE1, because she got her start there.
- Soni Nicole Bringas from Fuller House has a fan following in Japan, and even gets to reply to them too on Twitter. Many of these fans also kept asking her when she'll visit Japan, which Soni Nicole wishes to go to for a long time and recently did in August 2017 (With the rest of her Fuller House castmates)! She even has a pinned tweet that's written in Japanese for her Japanese fans.
- Jojo Siwa is huge in the United Kingdom, to the point where several schools in the country banned Jojo bows for being a distraction in class, something which hasn't happened in her home country of the United States yet. She also appeared on a few British TV programs.
- Italian cult actors Carlo Pedersoli and Mario Girotti, aka Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, were major sensations across Central Southern and Eastern Europe beginning from the '70s, especially in Germany and Hungary. Germany released their movies with deliberately cheesy dubs containing plenty of ad-libbing, while Hungary regards the duo as absolute Serious Business and even made a series of films imitating their works. You can find merchandise, high-end collector's figures, video games based on the films, numerous books, fast food items and even regular household foodstuff carrying their name and/or likeliness, their movies are shown on numerous TV networks on endless repeat, their quotes are ingrained in everyday vocabulary, and Spencer's 2016 passing was a major news event in these countries. Hungary went as far as to dub Hill's eulogy with his movie voice actor and erect a Bud Spencer memorial bronze statue in their capital. Even a retrospective book about their filmography opens by stating that Spencer and Hill were the uncrowned kings of all cinema. Europeans are often bewildered to find out the pair is practically unknown in the Anglosphere.
- If it's anything to go by, Arnold Schwarzenegger was popular in Japan in the late 80s to early 90s. So much that he became the face mascot for Takeda Company's "Alinamin V Drink" (energy-shot drink), and Nissin's Cup Noodle instant ramen.
- Taron Egerton is extremely popular in Asia, particularly the East and to a slightly lesser extent, the Southeast.
- In East Asia, the main reason he's so popular is that he headlined the Kingsman franchise. Egerton himself even acknowledges the crucial role that South Korea played in his sharp rise to fame. Some of South Korea's biggest K-Pop acts, such as BTS, give shout-outs to the franchise and his role as Eggsy to this day.
- In the Philippines, Kingsman: The Golden Circle received a lot of special love because of its scathing take on governments who kill poor people en masse. Particularly with the drug war theme, it's resonated with Filipinos who despise Rodrigo Duterte.
- Generally, however, he's near-universally appealing to Asians due to the fact that his chiseled yet boyish European looks fit just about every set of male beauty standards in Asia. He is considered handsome everywhere, but his type of charm happens to correspond to Asian beauty standards very well.
- A few years before Sesame Street went on the air, Bob McGrath was something of a pop icon in Japan.
- Spanish actor Óscar Jaenada jokes that he is black-listed in Spain due to his unremarkable national career after winning a Goya award for the main role in Camarón. He has had many more gigs in the United States and especially Mexico, where he is a household name and has been praised for his portrayal of national icons like Cantinflas, Luisito Rey, and Hernán Cortés.
- Olivia Hussey is an icon in South Korea to this day. She is considered a huge influence on SK's beauty standards and it's not rare for the Korean media to compare the looks of a beautiful actress or singer to her.
- Japanese anchorwoman Saya Hiyama as of 2021 is becoming this. Her Adorkable personality and professionalism is something to behold as she instantly switched from her fun personality to dead serious professional anchorwoman when an earthquake hit Japan in February 13th, 2021. Because of this, she ends up gaining 117,500 followers on Twitter, most being people outside of Japan.
- Bill Engvall once performed a skit about showing up for jury duty and being asked if he was a famous comedian. He jokingly replied "in Canada" to the (Canadian) audience. This is not unheard of among comedians, since Montreal's "Just for Laughs" festival is broadcast on Canadian television and is the the leading festival for comedians seeking to make their big break.
- David Kirk Traylor AKA David Zed is an American actor, singer and mime who became hugely popular in Italy in the early 80s with his "Mr. Zed" character, an android or, as he put it, "a robot pretending to be a man pretending to be a robot". He sang at the Sanremo Music Festival (Italy's equivalent to Eurovision Song Contest) and his song became a hit, and he appeared many times on Italian TV. His most famous character was even parodied in a popular movie back then. After a long slump, since the late 2000s he appeared in several Italian TV series and made-for-TV movies (not as his robot character, though).
- While motorcycle racing legend Valentino Rossi has fans all over the world, it's even bigger in Southeast Asia in no small part due to motorcycles being a cheap form of transport there.
- British comedian Michael McIntyre is very popular in Norway.
- African-American comedian Reginald D. Hunter has had a legendary decades-long career in the United Kingdom, where he's a popular touring act and has appeared on such panel shows as 8 Out of 10 Cats and Have I Got News for You.
- Ross Antony is a complete unknown in his native United Kingdom. After relocating to Germany in 1997, he became hugely popular there, initially starring in musicals and then he became a member of Bro'Sis, the group who won the second season of Popstars. Since their disbandment in 2006, he has maintained this German popularity, having a career as a television presenter, and recording many solo albums.
- Leonardo DiCaprio apparently has a huge following in China, where they call him "Xiao Li" ("Little Lee").
- Mike Kasem, the son of legendary radio DJ and voice actor Casey Kasem, has had a nearly 30-year long career... in Singapore, where he's a frequent presenter in Mediacorp's radio and TV output.
