List of people from Chennai

The following people were born or based their life in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras), Tamil Nadu (formerly known as Madras State).

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Business

• Aravind Srinivas, ceo and co-founder of Perplexity AI
• Geeta Aiyer, entrepreneur and business leader; founder and president of Boston Common Asset Management
• R. G. Chandramogan, chairman of Hatsun Agro Product
• Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the TATA Group
• Anil Kumar (born 1958), management consultant who pled guilty to insider trading
• Rahul Mammen Mappillai, managing director of MRF Limited
• Kalanithi Maran, chairman and managing director of the Sun Group
• Dora Metcalf, entrepreneur, mathematician and engineer
• Keshav R. Murugesh, chief executive officer and director of WNS Global Services
• A. C. Muthiah, former chairman of Southern Petrochemicals of India Corporation (SPIC)
• Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman of HCL Technologies
• Indra Nooyi, chairperson and chief executive officer of PepsiCo
• Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google
• M. A. M. Ramaswamy, chairman of the Chettinad Group of Companies; ex-pro chancellor of Annamalai University, Chidambaram
• Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals
• Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder of Foursquare
• Mallika Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited
• N. Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of India Cements
• Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of TVS Motors
• A. Vellayan, chairman of the Murugappa Group
• C Vijayakumar, chief executive officer of HCL Technologies

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, RMIT University
• V. L. Ethiraj, founder, Ethiraj College for Women
• Jeppiaar, founder, Jeppiaar Educational Trust; founder chancellor, Sathyabama University
• Ramayya Krishnan, dean, Heinz College; H. John Heinz III, W. W. Cooper and Ruth F. Cooper Professor of Management Science and Information Systems, Carnegie Mellon University
• V. M. Muralidharan, chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
• Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
• Vallam Sundar, professor
• Subra Suresh, president, Carnegie Mellon University; former dean, School of Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology; former director, National Science Foundation ^[1]

Environment

• Arun Krishnamurthy, founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India

Film and other entertainment

• Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
• Priya Anand, actress
• Allu Arjun, actor
• Mahesh Babu, actor
• S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, music composer, playback singer
• Pete Best (born 1941), early Beatles drummer
• Dhanush, thespian, playback singer, producer
• Shivaji Ganesan, actor; first International Award winner of India
• Kamal Haasan, thespian, director, producer, screenwriter
• Shruthi Hassan, actress
• Lisa Haydon, actress
• Mary Hignett (born 1916), actress
• Engelbert Humperdinck (born 1936), pop singer
• Ilaiyaraja, music composer, symphonic maestro
• S. Janaki, playback singer
• Jayabharathi, actress
• Jayasudha, actress
• Kajol, actress
• Rajini Kanth, actor, producer, screenwriter
• Sundeep Kishan, actor
• Vishal Krishna (born 1977), actor, film producer
• Ajith Kumar, thespian, racer
• Padma Lakshmi, cookbook writer, actress, model, television host
• K. V. Mahadevan, music composer
• Hema Malini, actress
• Lakshmi Manchu, actress
• Lakshmi Narayan, actress
• Siddharth Narayan, actor
• Samantha Ruth Prabhu, actress
• Olive Rae, soprano, actress
• A. R. Rahman (born 1966), music composer; winner of multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award
• Yuvan Shankar Raja, first Cypress International Award-winning creative music composer
• Puneeth Rajkumar, Kannada actor
• Shiva Rajkumar, Kannada actor
• Rochelle Rao, Indian actress, Miss India International 2012
• Rekha, actress
• Santhanam, actor
• Vijay Sethupathi, thespian
• Sivakarthikeyan, thespian
• Sridevi, actress
• Sripriya, actress
• Srividya, actress
• Sumalatha, actress
• Keerthy Suresh, actress
• Suriya, thespian
• Arvind Swamy, actor, businessman
• Ram Charan Teja, actor
• Trisha, actress
• Vijay, thespian, actor, playback singer, IARA (International Achievement Recognition Award winner)
• Vikram, thespian
• M. S. Viswanathan, music composer
• Vidya Vox, YouTuber, musician
• Vyjayanthimala, actress
• Vijay Yesudas (born 1979), playback singer

Directors

• K. Balachander, Tamil film director
• Lokesh Kanagaraj, Tamil film director
• Atlee Kumar, Tamil and Hindi film director
• Nalan Kumarasamy, Tamil film director
• A. R. Murugadoss, Tamil film director
• Mani Ratnam, Tamil film director
• S. Shankar, Tamil film director
• Selvaraghavan, Tamil film director
• Karthik Subburaj, Tamil film director
• Vetrimaran, Tamil film director

Literature and visual arts

• R.K. Narayan (1906–2001), writer
• Achuthanand Tanjore Ravi (born 1991), photographer
• V. D. Trivadi, humorist

Politics

• Subramaniam Iswaran (born 1962), known as S. Iswaran, Singaporean politician
• Pramila Jayapal, U.S. representative for Washington ^[2]

Religion

• Jesu Pudumai Doss (born 1967), Catholic priest; professor and dean, Faculty of Canon Law, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome
• Sri Sabhapati Swami (born 1840), yogi, writer

Scientists

• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, recipient, Nobel Prize in Physics
• Alan Garnett Davenport, engineer
• Shyamala Gopalan, breast-cancer researcher; mother of former vice president of the United States Kamala Harris
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, physicist; former president of India
• Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan, physicist (co-discoverer of Raman scattering)
• C. V. Raman, recipient, Nobel Prize in Physics
• Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician; Fellow of the Royal Society
• Kannan Soundararajan, mathematician
• Subra Suresh, engineer, materials scientist, academic
• M. S. Swaminathan, geneticist, plant breeder, administrator and humanitarian
• John Henry Constantine Whitehead (1904–1960), British mathematician

Social entrepreneurs

• Kirthi Jayakumar

Sports

• Anand Amritraj (born 1952), tennis player, businessman
• Vijay Amritraj (born 1953), tennis player, sports commentator, actor
• Viswanathan Anand (born 1969), chess grandmaster; undisputed world chess champion from 2007 until 2013
• PK Arumugam, speedcuber
• Ravichandran Ashwin, cricketer
• Naresh Babu, professorial motorcycle road racer
• Hemang Badani, former cricketer
• Subramaniam Badrinath, former cricketer
• Lakshmipathy Balaji, cricketer
• Karun Chandhok (born 1984), racing driver, Formula One, sports commentator
• Joshna Chinappa (born 1986), squash player, British Squash Championship
• Gukesh Dommaraju (born 2006), chess grandmaster; undisputed world chess champion since 2024
• Akbar Ebrahim (born 1963), racing driver, cricketer
• Edward Foord (1825–1899), cricketer
• George Gowan (1818–1890), cricketer
• Nasser Hussain (born 1968), former cricketer
• Sharath Kamal (born 1982), table-tennis player
• Thirush Kamini, cricketer
• Dinesh Karthik (born 1985), cricketer
• Rajini Krishnan, motorcycle racer
• Ramanathan Krishnan, tennis player
• Ramesh Krishnan, tennis player and coach
• Buchi Babu Naidu, father of South Indian cricket
• M. Baliah Naidu, cricketer
• Dipika Pallikal (born 1991), squash player, WISPA titles; first Indian woman to break into the top ten in the WSA rankings
• Aditya Patel (born 1988), professional racing driver
• Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 2005), chess grandmaster
• Jack Pritchard (1895–1936), cricketer
• Mahaveer Raghunathan (born 1998), racing driver
• W. V. Raman, former cricketer
• Ramkumar Ramanathan, tennis player
• Cotah Ramaswami, cricketer, tennis player
• Sadagoppan Ramesh, former cricketer
• Ravivarman Sharmila, carrom champion
• Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 1959), former cricketer
• Washington Sundar, cricketer
• Roopa Unnikrishnan, former sports-rifle shooter; Commonwealth Games gold medalist
• Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, former cricketer
• Murali Vijay (born 1984), cricketer

Miscellaneous

• Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi Madrasi or Ahmadullah Shah (1787–1858), Indian freedom fighter
• General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE (1913–2000), 6th chief of Indian army
• Georgiana Fanny Shipley Daniell, philanthropist
• Nugent Grant, lawyer
• Praveena Solomon, crematorium manager
• Abhinandan Varthaman, wing commander in the Indian Air Force

References

1. "Leadership at Carnegie Mellon University". cmu.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
2. "JAYAPAL, Pramila". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 5 October 2025.