Famous Swiss Women

Swiss tennis sensation Martina Hingis made waves when she won the Australian Open at age 16, becoming the youngest Grand Slam singles winner of the 20th century. The youngest world number 1, too, she was named after Martina Navratilova and was the daughter of a Czech tennis player and a tennis coach.

Born to a music producer father, Cameron McVey, and a singer mother, Neneh Cherry, Mabel McVey was destined to make a career in music. The English singer-songwriter debuted on SoundCloud with her track Know Me Better. It is believed she had initially used music as a therapy for her anxiety.

Mirka Federer is a Swiss former tennis player best known as the wife of legendary tennis player Roger Federer whom she met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Having supported Federer throughout his career, Mirka is often praised for being a pillar of strength and is largely credited for Roger Federer's achievements on the tennis court. 

Best known for her pathbreaking bestseller On Death and Dying, Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross also made pioneering research in areas such as near-death studies. Her five stages of grief, or the Kübler-Ross model, has been adopted by corporates to help employees deal with loss and change.

Sofia Milos is an Italian Greek actress and model best known for her portrayal of Yelina Salas in the popular American police procedural TV series, CSI: Miami. Before establishing herself as an actress, Milos entered several beauty pageants, winning provincial, regional, and national contests.

Carla Juri is a Swiss actress best known for her role in the biographical film Paula. She studied theater in London and Los Angeles and traveled across Berlin, London, and Rome to find jobs early in her career. She started acting professionally in the mid-2000s and has since appeared in many critically acclaimed films and TV shows. 

Born in Russia, Swiss billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus initially studied law and economics. She became an heir to the agricultural and food-processing commodities giant Louis-Dreyfus group after her husband Robert Louis-Dreyfus’s death. At 53, she became a mother of twins, with her partner Philipp Hildebrand. She was featured on Forbes Billionaires 2021.

Michelle Hunziker is a Swiss-Italian model, actress, and television hostess. After starting her career as a model by posing for brands, such as Armani, La Perla, and Rocco Barocco, Hunziker established herself as a TV personality, hosting popular shows like Paperissima Sprint and Colpo di Fulmine. Over the years, she has also acted in films and TV series.

Swiss-French artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp initially studied textile design and later began creating multimedia art called Duo-Collages, along with her husband, German-French abstract artist Jean Arp. Apart from teaching at an art and craft school, the Dadaist had also used dance, painting, and sculpture to showcase her artistic talent.

South African-born Daniela Di Lillo, or Nora En Pure, grew up in Switzerland, where she was introduced to music as a child. Now a world-renowned sensation in electronic music, she is known as the Queen of Deep House. The International Dance Music Award winner was previously also part of the Helvetic Nerds.

While Simonetta Sommaruga has been the president of Switzerland, she is also a talented pianist, trained at the Lucerne School of Music. She later dropped out of a university English course. She has also been the director of the Consumer Protection Foundation and part of committees on energy and the environment.

While her younger fans loved her earlier content that focused on looking doll-like, Swiss YouTuber Venus Palermo, better known as Venus Angelic, later began limiting her content to the adult platform OnlyFans. Apparently, her old content had been controlled by her mother, and Venus drifted away from her later.

Better known as Carl Jung’s wife, Emma Jung was the daughter of one of the most affluent businessmen in Switzerland. Though she initially wished to study natural sciences, being a woman in her time, she couldn’t. Later a co-owner of a luxury watch company, she helped her husband financially in his career.

One of the two women founder members of London’s Royal Academy, Angelica Kauffman was born to a painter father in Switzerland and was quite a prodigy, who mastered several languages and the arts of music and painting quite quickly. The history painter is best remembered for her landscapes and portraits.

Johanna Spyri made a significant contribution to children’s literature with her novel Heidi. After the death of her husband and her child, the Swiss author focused on charitable causes. A professor later claimed Heidi had been plagiarized by Spyri, though later studies proved the claim was baseless.

While she gained recognition with the folk metal band Eluveitie, which she joined at age 16, Swiss musician Anna Murphy later also led the 3-member folk rock band Cellar Darling. Born to opera singer parents, she was never a stranger to music. Proficient in hurdy-gurdy, she also plays the flute at times.

Known for her tactics and positions on field, Swiss tennis star Belinda Bencic first made waves when she made it to the US Open quarterfinal at age 17. Her aggressive style of play has already helped her win 5 singles titles, including an Olympic gold medal.

Denied formal education for being a woman, Toni Wolff later became one of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s closest collaborators. She entered Jung’s life as a patient of depression after her father’s death. She later headed the Psychologischer Club Zürich as its president and is often described as an intellectual rival of Jung’s wife.

With a career-high ranking of 36 in singles, Swiss tennis player Viktorija Golubic is definitely showing a lot of promise. While she began training in the game at age 5, she now has an Olympic doubles silver medal in her kitty, and that too, in her debut Olympic game, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Swiss-born Simone Tata met her husband, Naval H. Tata., the adopted son of Sir Ratanji Tata and part of the Tata Group, on a trip to India. She later joined the board of Lakmé and transformed the Indian make-up industry, which, till then, relied on nothing more than cream and talcum powder.

Known for her stint with the WSA club Aston Villa, Swiss footballer Alisha Lehmann was always openly lesbian and even gearing up for a wedding with her Swiss teammate Ramona Bachmann. She later stunned her fans with an Instagram post, confirming her relationship with Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz.

Lys Assia created history by becoming the first winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Swiss-born singer was initially a dancer but had her first brush with music when she filled in for an absentee singer. She later released hits such as Moulin Rouge and O Mein Papa.

Pipilotti Rist is a Swiss visual artist renowned for producing experimental installation art and video art. Categorized as feminist art, Rist's artwork is also described as abstract art, intimate, and surreal. Over the years, Pipilotti Rist's work has earned her prestigious awards like the Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Joan Miró Prize, and Best Architects '11 Award.

Spanish-born Swiss-origin tennis player Jil Teichmann not only experimented with various sports in her early days, before choosing tennis, but also learned 5 languages. With a career-best singles ranking of 31, she has 2 WTA singles and 6 ITF singles titles in her kitty. She has also defeated stars such as Naomi Osaka.

Once world number 7 in singles, former Swiss tennis star Patty Schnyder has defeated the who’s who of tennis, including Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, and Serena Williams. Shortly before retiring from tennis, she became the oldest female to qualify for a Grand Slam, by making it to the US Open.