List of people from Chennai

The following people were born or based their life in Tamil Nadu, formerly known as Madras State:

Arts and language

 * R.K. Narayan (1906–2001), writer
 * Achuthanand Tanjore Ravi (born 1991), photographer

Business

 * Anil Kumar (born 1958), management consultant who pled guilty to insider trading
 * Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
 * Indra Nooyi, Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo
 * Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman of HCL Technologies
 * Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, TVS Motors.
 * C Vijayakumar, CEO of HCL Technologies
 * Mallika Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited
 * N. Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, India Cements Ltd.
 * A. Vellayan, chairman, Murugappa Group of Companies
 * M. A. M. Ramaswamy, Chettinad Cements Group of Companies and ex-Pro Chancellor, Annamalai University, Chidambaram.
 * A. C. Muthiah, former chairman, Southern Petrochemicals of India Corporation (SPIC) group of companies
 * Prathap C. Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals
 * Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder of Foursquare
 * Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairperson and current chairman of TATA Group
 * Keshav R Murugesh, chief executive officer and director of WNS Global Services
 * Rahul Mammen Mappillai, managing director of MRF Limited
 * Kalanithi Maran, chairman and managing director, Sun Group
 * R. G. Chandramogan, chairman of Hatsun Agro Product
 * Dora Metcalf, entrepreneur, mathematician and engineer

Education

 * Munirathna Anandakrishnan, former chairman, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur & Former vice-chancellor, Anna University
 * Bala V. Balachandran, founder, dean and chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management
 * Madhu Bhaskaran, engineer and professor at RMIT University
 * V. L. Ethiraj, founder, Ethiraj College for Women
 * Jeppiaar, founder, Jeppiaar Educational Trust and founder chancellor, Sathyabama University
 * Ramayya Krishnan, dean of Heinz College and H. John Heinz III, W. W. Cooper and Ruth F. Cooper Professor of Management science and Information systems at Carnegie Mellon University
 * V. M. Muralidharan, chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
 * Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
 * Vallam Sundar, Indian professor
 * Subra Suresh, president of Carnegie Mellon University, former dean of the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former director of the National Science Foundation

Environment

 * Arun Krishnamurthy, founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India

Films and entertainment

 * Shivaji Ganesan, actor and the first International Award winner of India
 * Rajini Kanth, actor, producer, Screenwriter
 * Kamal Haasan, thespian, director, producer, Screenwriter
 * Vijay, thespian, actor, playbacksinger, IARA (International achievement recognition award winner)
 * Ajith Kumar, thespian and racer
 * Vikram, thespian
 * Suriya, thespian
 * Dhanush, thespian and playback singer and producer
 * A. R. Rahman (born 1966), music composer, winner of multiple awards including two Academy Awards, two Grammys and a Golden Globe
 * Anirudh Ravichander, music composer
 * Ilaiyaraja, Indian music composer and Symphonic Maestro
 * Yuvan Shankar Raja, First Cypress-International-Award Winning Creative music Composer
 * Santhanam, actor
 * Vijay Yesudas (born 1979), playback singer
 * Pete Best (born 1941), early Beatles drummer
 * Mary Hignett (born 1916), actress
 * Engelbert Humperdinck (born 1936), pop singer
 * Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
 * Padma Lakshmi, cookbook author, actress, model and television host
 * Vyjayanthimala, actress
 * Hema Malini, actress
 * Rekha, actress
 * Sridevi, actress
 * Sripriya, actress
 * Srividya, actress
 * Jayasudha, actress
 * Jayabharathi, actress
 * Lisa Haydon, actress
 * S. Janaki, playback singer
 * M. S. Viswanathan, music composer
 * K. V. Mahadevan, music composer
 * S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, music composer, playback singer
 * Sumalatha, actress
 * Lakshmi Narayan, actress
 * Mahesh Babu, actor
 * Allu Arjun, actor
 * Ram Charan Teja, actor
 * Lakshmi Manchu, actress
 * Sundeep Kishan, actor
 * Priya Anand, actress
 * Shruthi Hassan, actress
 * Samantha Ruth Prabhu, actress
 * Keerthy Suresh, actress
 * Olive Rae, soprano and actress
 * Siddharth Narayan, actor
 * Trisha, actress
 * Arvind Swamy, actor and businessman
 * Vijay Sethupathi, thespian
 * Sivakarthikeyan, thespian
 * Shiva Rajkumar, Kannada actor
 * Puneeth Rajkumar, Kannada actor
 * Vidya Vox, Indian YouTuber and musician
 * Rochelle Rao, Indian actress and Miss India international 2012

Directors

 * K.Balachander, Tamil film director
 * Mani Ratnam, Tamil film director
 * S. Shankar, Tamil film director
 * A. R. Murugadoss, Tamil film director
 * Selvaraghavan, Tamil film director
 * Nalan Kumarasamy, Tamil film director
 * Karthik Subburaj, Tamil film director
 * Vetrimaran, Tamil film director
 * Lokesh Kanagaraj, Tamil film director

Religion

 * Jesu Pudumai Doss (b. 1967), Catholic priest, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Canon Law, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome
 * Sri Sabhapati Swami (b. 1840), 19th-century yogi and author
 * Paruthiyur K. Santhanaraman, author of numerous books on religious topics

Scientists

 * Shyamala Gopalan, breast cancer researcher and mother of Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris
 * A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, physics, president of India
 * C.V. Raman, Nobel Prize, physics
 * Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan, physics (co-discoverer of Raman scattering)
 * Subra Suresh (see above)
 * Kannan Soundararajan, mathematician
 * John Henry Constantine Whitehead (1904–1960), British mathematician
 * Alan Garnett Davenport, engineer
 * Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society
 * Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Nobel Prize, physics
 * M. S. Swaminathan, Agriculture Scientist of India

Social entrepreneurs

 * Kirthi Jayakumar

Sports

 * Buchi Babu Naidu- Father of South Indian Cricket.
 * Cotah Ramaswami- Represented India in both International Cricket & Tennis.
 * Ravichandran Ashwin- Cricketer
 * M.Baliah Naidu- Cricketer
 * Aditya Patel (born 1988), Indian professional racing driver
 * Viswanathan Anand (born 1969), chess grandmaster and the undisputed world chess champion from 2007 until 2013
 * Nasser Hussain (born 1968), former English cricketer
 * Dinesh Karthik (born 1985), Indian cricketer
 * Sharath Kamal (born 1982), India table tennis player
 * Hemang Badani, former Indian cricketer
 * Subramaniam Badrinath, former Indian cricketer
 * Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 1959), former Indian cricketer
 * Lakshmipathy Balaji, Indian cricketer
 * Murali Vijay (born 1984), current Indian cricketer
 * Sadagoppan Ramesh, former Indian cricketer
 * Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, former Indian cricketer
 * Thirush Kamini, Indian woman cricketer
 * W. V. Raman, former Indian cricketer
 * Washington Sundar, Indian cricketer
 * Vijay Amritraj (born 1953), tennis player, Sports Commentator and actor
 * Anand Amritraj (born 1952), tennis player, businessman
 * Ramanathan Krishnan, tennis player
 * Ramkumar Ramanathan, tennis player
 * Ramesh Krishnan, tennis player and coach
 * Dipika Pallikal (born 1991), squash player, WISPA titles and first Indian woman to break into the top 10 in the WSA rankings
 * Joshna Chinappa (born 1986), squash player, British Squash Championship
 * Karun Chandhok (born 1984), racing driver, Formula One and sports commentator
 * Rajini Krishnan, Indian Motorcycle racer
 * Mahaveer Raghunathan (born 1998), racing driver
 * Edward Foord (1825–1899), cricketer
 * George Gowan (1818–1890), cricketer
 * Jack Pritchard (1895–1936), cricketer
 * Roopa Unnikrishnan, former Indian sports-rifle shooter; Commonwealth Games gold medalist
 * Dommaraju Gukesh (born 2006), chess grandmaster
 * Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 2005), chess grandmaster
 * Akbar Ebrahim (born 14 Dec 1963) Indian racing driver, cricketer

Miscellaneous

 * Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi Madrasi or Ahmadullah Shah (1787–1858), Indian freedom fighter
 * General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE 6th chief of Indian army (1913–2000)
 * Pramila Jayapal, U.S. Representative
 * Ravivarman Sharmila, carrom champion
 * Nugent Grant, lawyer
 * Praveena Solomon, crematorium manager
 * V. D. Trivadi, humorist
 * Abhinandan Varthaman, wing commander in the Indian Air Force