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
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
- 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
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
- Ravichandran Ashwin , 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