List of Bengalis

This article provides lists of famous and notable Bengali people, from West Bengal, India or Bangladesh, or people with Bengali ancestry or people who speak Bengali as their primary language/mother tongue.

Academics

• Mir Masoom Ali, statistician
• Khandkar Manwar Hossain, statistician
• Salman Khan (educator), American educator, founder of Khan Academy
• Kaushik Basu, economist
• Andre Béteille, sociologist
• Sugata Bose, historian
• Satyendranath Bose, physicist
• Dipesh Chakrabarty, historian
• Swapan Kumar Chakravorty, literary scholar and writer
• Partha Chatterjee, political scientist
• Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, linguist, educationist, litterateur
• Sukanta Chaudhuri, literary scholar, writer, translator
• Supriya Chaudhuri, literary scholar, writer, translator
• Abdus Suttar Khan, chemist
• Vina Mazumdar, Women's studies
• Nurul Momen, professor of Law, Dhaka University Proctor, Dean
• Ashis Nandy, political psychologist
• Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, theoretical physicist
• Sumit Sarkar, historian
• Ashoke Sen, physicist
• Sukumar Sen, Linguist
• Muhammad Shahidullah, educationist, writer, philologist and linguist
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, literary critic and theorist
• Amit Chakma, professor of chemical engineering and current president, University of Western Ontario, Canada

Actors

• Aparna Sen, Bengali film actress
• Ashok Kumar, Bollywood actor
• Bipasha Basu
• Biswajit Chatterjee, Bengali and Bollywood actor
• Subrata Routh, Bengali-American actor
• Bobita, Bangladeshi film actress
• Chhabi Biswas, Bengali actor
• Colin Pal
• Debashree Roy, Bollywood actress
• Devika Rani, Bollywood and Bengali actress
• Dhritiman Chatterjee, Bollywood and Bengali actor
• Humayun Faridi, Bangladeshi film actor
• Imran Khan, Bollywood actor - Father Hindu Bengali
• Jaya Bachchan, Bollywood actress
• Jaya Bhattacharya,actress
• Joy Mukherjee, Bollywood actor
• K.C. Dey, Bengali actor
• Kajol Mukherjee
• Kamalini Mukherjee, Bollywood & Tollywood actress
• Kanchan Mullick
• Khan Ataur Rahman A Bengali actor, director, producer, screenplay writer, music composer and singer.
• Kishore Kumar, Bollywood singer, actor, music composer
• Koena Mitra, Former channel V VJ and Bollywood actress
• Konkona Sen Sharma, Bollywood Actress
• Konnie Huq, British television presenter
• Koel Mallick, Bengali actress. Daughter of Ranjit Mallick, renowned Bengali veteran actor.
• Lisa Ray, actress and model
• Madhabi Mukherjee, actress notable works include charulata, mahanagar
• Mahaakshay Chakraborty
• Mamata Shankar, Bollywood and Bengali actress
• Mouli Ganguly, actress
• Mithun Chakraborty, Bollywood and Bengali film actor
• Monikangana Dutta, model and actress
• Moushumi Chatterjee, Bollywood actress
• Nandana Sen, Bollywood actress, daughter of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
• Paoli Dam, actress
• Pradeep Kumar, Bollywood actor
• Preeti Ganguly, actress
• Priyanshu Chatterjee, Bollywood actor
• Raakhee, Bollywood actress
• Rabi Ghosh, Bengali actor
• Rahul Bose, Bengali and Bollywood actor and rugby player
• Raima Sen, Bengali Film and Bollywood actress
• Rani Mukerji, Bollywood and Kollywood actress
• Razzak,Greatest Bangladeshi Actor,knowm as NAYAK RAZ
• Reema Sen, Bollywood and Kollywood actress
• Reena Roy, Bollywood actress
• Reshmi Ghosh, Actress, Miss India Earth 2002
• Rhona Mitra, Half-Bengali actress in Britain
• Richa Gangopadhyay, actress and Miss India USA 2007
• Rimi Sen, Bollywood actress
• Rituparna Sengupta, Bollywood and Bengali actress
• Riya Sen, Bollywood actress
• Rohit Roy, TV and Bollywood actor
• Ronit Roy, Bollywood and TV actor
• Ruma Guha Thakurta, actress notable works include Ganashatru, Abhijan, Palatak; wife of Kishore Kumar
• Rupa Ganguly, Bengali and Bollywood actress
• Rupali Ganguly, Actress
• Sabitri Chatterjee, Bengali actor
• Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Bollywood and Bengali actor
• Sameer Bhattacharya, Bollywood actor
• Samit Bhanja, Bollywood and Bengali actor
• Sangeeta Ghosh, actress, model
• Seema Biswas, Bollywood actress
• Shabnam, actress in Bangladeshi and Pakistani films
• Shahana Goswami, Bollywood actress
• Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi actor
• Sharmila Tagore, Bollywood and Bengali film actress
• Shonal Rawat, Model, Miss India Asia Pacific in 2003
• Shraddha Das, Bollywood and tollywood actress
• Soumitra Chatterjee, Bengali actor
• Suchitra Sen, Bollywood and Bengali film actress
• Sumita Devi, Bangladeshi film and television actress
• Sushmita Sen
• Tanisha Mukherjee, Bollywood actress
• Tannishtha Chatterjee, Bollywood and Bengali actress
• Tanushree Dutta, Former Miss India and actress
• Udita Goswami, Bollywood actress
• Utpal Dutt, Bengali actor
• Ushoshi Sengupta, Model Former I Am She – Miss Universe India in 2010
• Uttam Kumar, Bollywood and Bengali film actor
• Victor Banerjee, Bengali and Bollywood actor

Artists

• Rabindranath Tagore
• Anil Kumar Dutta
• Devajyoti Ray
• Ganesh Pyne
• Ram Kinker Baij
• Jamini Roy
• Jogen Chowdhury
• Kazi Nazrul Islam
• Nandalal Bose
• Paresh Maity
• Paritosh Sen
• Prosenjit Kundu
• Rabin Mondal
• Rashid Choudhury
• Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh
• Shahidul Alam
• Shuvaprasanna
• SM Sultan, Bangladesh
• Somnath Hore

Bloggers

• Anupam Mukerji, writer of Fake IPL Player blog

Bodybuilders and Wrestlers

• Ambika Charan Guha(1843–1900), Indian wrestler who pioneered the growth of akhada culture in Bengal
• Gobar Guha(13 March 1892 – 2 January 1972), World famous Indian wrestler and practitioner of Pehlwani
• Manohar Aich(17 March 1913- ), Bodybuilder
• Monotosh Roy(1917 – 29 June 2005), Indian bodybuilder. First Asian to be awarded the Mr. Universe title
• Sudhir Saha(1918-1998), Wrestler, coach and wrestling administrator in India. He introduced Greco-Roman wrestling in India
• Laxman Das, Wrestler and weight lifter. He was killed by the Pakistan Army in the genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Asit Kumar Saha(1950- ), Wrestler and wrestling coach

Business leaders

• Iqbal Ahmed CMD Seamark Group
• Subroto Bagchi Co-founder MindTree
• Siddhartha Basu CMD BIG Synergy
• Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya Director Warwick Manufacturing Group
• Amar Bose, founder, Bose Corporation
• Anjan Chatterjee, Founder, Speciality Group of Restaurants
• Purnendu Chatterjee, founder, TCG Group
• Pratip Chaudhuri CMD SBI
• Bikram Choudhury
• Alamohan Das, founder, India Machinery Company
• Sadhan Dutt, Founder of Development Consultants of Kuljian Group
• Rono Dutta, Former President, United Airlines
• Ashok Sekhar Ganguly former chairman Hindustan Unilever
• Shuman Ghosemajumder, co-founder, TeachAIDS, former click fraud czar, Google
• Asim Ghosh former CMD Hutch
• Jawed Karim, co-founder, YouTube, lead architect of PayPal
• Pradeep Kar, founder Microland
• Sake Dean Mahomed
• Sir Rajendra Nath Mukherjee, co-founder, Martin Burn Ltd.,IISCO
• Sir Birendra Nath Mukherjee, IISCO
• Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India
• Diptendu Pramanick, founder, Secretary of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA)
• Subir Raha, former head, ONGC
• Neeraj Roy founder Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
• Prannoy Roy, founder, NDTV
• Raman Roy, father of BPO industry in India, founder, Quatrro
• Subroto Roy Sahara, founder and chairman, Sahara India Pariwar
• Mutty Lal Seal
• Bibi Russell, founder, Bibi Productions
• Aveek Sarkar editor Ananda Bazaar Patrika
• Roy Sagnik director TXYCO LTD
• Pritish Nandy founder Pritish Nandy Communications
• Barun Sengupta founded Bartaman
• Keya Seth founder of Keya Seth Aromatheraphy
• Dwarkanath Tagore, known for partnership with the British East India Company
• Pritish Nandy founder Pritish Nandy Communications

Cinematographers

• Soumendu Roy
• Ayananka Bose

Doctors/Physicians

• S. K. Burman, Ayurvedic doctor/physician and founder of Dabur
• Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Physician: became the first physician in India and second in the world to perform the In vitro fertilization
• Mahendralal Sarkar , homeopath and founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.

Economists

• Amartya Sen, Economist & Philosopher, Lamont Professor at Harvard University, awarded Bharat Ratna, Nobel Laureate
• Bibek Debroy, Economist and linguist, author of Sanskrit titbits blog
• Muhammad Yunus, Economist, Nobel Laureate (Nobel Peace Prize for 2006), micro-credit pioneer, founder Grameen Bank
• Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Pranab Bardhan, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
• Kaushik Basu, World Bank, Chief Economist; C. Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics, Cornell University
• Debapriya Bhattchariya, Bangladesh's permanent representative in Geneva for UN
• Amitava Bose, Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
• Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, founder, Indian Statistical Institute
• Debraj Ray, Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
• Rehman Sobhan, Economist, Chairman of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
• Nurul Islam, Economist, former Chairman, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Fictional characters

• Byomkesh Bakshi
• Ajit Bandyopadhyay
• Satyabati
• Feluda
• Jatayu (Lalmohan Ganguly)
• Devdas
• Chandramukhi
• Kakababu
• Tenida
• Ghanada
• Handa Bhonda
• Harshabardhan
• Batul The Great
• Nonte Phonte
• Professor Shonku
• Tarini Khuro

Filmmakers

• Aditya Bhattacharya
• Amiya Chakravarty (1912-1957), Indian film director, screenwriter and producer
• Anjan Dutt
• Anurag Basu
• Aparna Sen
• Arin Paul
• Ayan Mukerji
• Ashique Mostafa director of Phulkumar and producer of Meherjaan, screenwriter, BFA from School of Visual Arts, New York
• Basu Bhattacharya
• Basu Chatterjee
• Bimal Roy
• Buddhadeb Dasgupta
• Dibakar Banerjee
• Dulal Guha
• Gautam Ghose
• Himanshu Rai
• Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• Humayun Ahmed
• Ken Ghosh
• Manick Sorcar
• Mrinal Sen
• Niranjan Pal
• Nitin Bose
• Partho Sen-Gupta
• Pradeep Sarkar
• Raja Sen
• Rakesh Roshan
• Rituporno Ghosh
• Ritwik Ghatak
• Rubaiyat Hossain, director of Meherjaan
• Sachin Bhowmick
• Samir Ganguly
• Satyajit Ray
• Satyen Bose
• Shakti Samanta
• Shashanka Ghosh
• Shashwati Talukdar
• Shomu Mukherjee
• Sombhu Mitra
• Subodh Mukherjee
• Sujoy Ghosh
• Tanvir Mokammel
• Tapan Sinha
• Zahir Raihan
• Chidananda Dasgupta

Journalists

• Fareena Alam, named Media Professional of the Year by Islamic Relief and was named Media Professional of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards
• Mihir Bose, the BBC's head sports editor.
• Reeta Chakrabarti, political correspondent for the BBC Television's Breakfast programme shown on BBC One and the BBC News Channel.
• Amitava Choudhury, Journalist, Ramon Magsesay Award Winner in 1961
• Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, journalist
• Swapan Dasgupta, journalist
• Mo Dutta, TV presenter for BBC Radio 2, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio Kent.
• Bobby Ghosh, (Aparisim Ghosh) Journalist, TIME Magazine World Editor
• Pallab Ghosh, BBC News science reporter
• Shiulie Ghosh, Television journalist
• Sagarika Ghose, editor in CNN-IBN
• Mainul Hosein, chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Ittefaq
• Nina Hossain, British television news broadcaster
• Faisal Islam, won Wincott Award and Broadcast News Journalism Award; was named Young Journalist of the Year, Channel4 News(UK).
• Chandan Mitra, editor and managing director of The Pioneer newspaper
• Harish Chandra Mukherjee, pioneer of nationalistic Hindu journalism
• Udayan Mukherjee, editor and anchor in cnbc India
• Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd
• Ayan Panja, expert on Knowitalls, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
• Mahmudur Rahman, editor of the Daily Amar Desh newspaper
• Reihan Salam
• Samar Sen, journalist
• Barun Sengupta, political critic, the founder-editor of Bartaman newspaper
• Vishnu Som, news anchor and journalist
• Prannoy Roy, Founder and President of NDTV, One of India's largest Television and Media Production house
• Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan, Scholar, editor and publisher of the weekly Bengali newspaper Somprakash

Magicians

• P. C. Sorcar
• P. C. Sorcar, Jr.
• Maneka Sorcar
• Jewel Aich

Musicians

• Aarti Mukherji, Bollywood playback singer
• Abbas Uddin, folk singer
• Abdul Alim
• Abdul Jabbar
• Abhijeet, Bollywood playback singer
• Ali Akbar Khan, sarod performer, composer, musicologist, founder of the Ali Akbar College of Music in California, USA.
• Allauddin Khan, multi-instrumentalist musician
• Amit Kumar, playback singer, performer and son of Kishore Kumar
• Amit Paul, Bollywood playback singer
• Amit Sana, Bollywood playback singer and Indian idol runner-up
• Anil Chatterjee, eminent Bengali actor
• Anil Biswas, Bollywood Music Composer
• Anjan Chattopadhyay, Sitar player
• Anjan Dutt, singer, filmmaker, actor
• Annapurna Devi, surbahar performer
• Anoushka Shankar, sitar player and composer
• Antara Mitra, Bollywood playback singer
• Anup Ghoshal, Bollywoodplayback singer
• Anwesha Datta Gupta, Bollywood playback singer, Tamil movie singer, winner of Amul Star Voice of India, Chhote Ustaad
• Arnab Chakrabarty, Indian Classical musician, sarod player
• Babul Supriyo, Bollywood playback singer
• Bappi Lahiri, Bollywood Music Composer
• Bickram Ghosh table master, composer, actor, fusion musician
• Chandrani Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
• Chitra Singh, Hindi/Urdu Ghazal Singer and wife of Jagjit singh
• Debabrata Biswas Rabindrasangeet performer
• Dhananjay Bhattacharya Shyama Sangeet singer
• Firoza Begum, eminent exponent of Nazrul Geeti
• Gautam Chattopadhyay, composer, filmmaker, founder of the group Mohiner Ghoraguli
• Geeta Dutt, Bollywood playback singer
• Hason Raja
• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, singer of multiple genres—film, Rabindrasangeet, folk—Hindi and Bengali, and composer
• Indrani Sen Rabindrasangeet and Nazrulgeeti performer, also modern and folk songs
• James, Bangladeshi Rock Star, Bollywood playback singer
• Jeet Ganguly, Tollywood music Composer
• Jolly Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
• Kanika Banerjee Rabindrasangeet performer
• Khaled 'Bassbaba' Sumon, lead vocalist and bassist of rock band Aurthohin
• Kishore Kumar, Bollywood playback singer, songwriter, composer, actor, comedian
• Kumar Bose tabla performer and composer
• Kumar Sanu, Bollywood playback singer
• Lalon, mystic devotional composer and singer
• Madhushree, Bollywood playback singer
• Manas Mukherjee, Bollywood music composer, Father of Shaan
• Manna Dey, Bollywood playback singer
• Mohammed Aziz, Bollywood playback singer
• Momtaz Begum, Bangladeshi folk singer, world record holder
• Monali Thakur, Bollywood playback singer
• Mumzy Stranger, British-Bangladeshi MC, singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer
• Naina Devi (1917-1993), Indian classical singer
• Nikhil Banerjee, sitar performer
• Palash Sen, singer and lead vocalist of Indian band euphoria
• Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Tabla master, composer and Musician
• Pankaj Mullick, singer, composer, music director
• Pannalal Bhattacharya, singer
• Pannalal Ghosh, pioneering master of the Indian classical flute, composer, musicologist
• Parul Ghosh, Bollywood playback singer
• Pritam, Bollywood music composer
• R.D.Burman, composer, singer, son of S.D.Burman
• Raichand Boral, Bollywood music composer
• Rajesh Roshan, music composer
• Debojyoti Mishra, music composer
• Ravi Shankar, sitar virtuoso, composer, musicologist three-time Grammy award-winner
• Robin Ghosh, music composer
• Ruma Guha Thakurta, founder and lead singer of Calcutta Youth Choir and playback singer
• Runa Laila, folk, ghazal, and pop fusion singer
• Rupam Islam, Frontman of Bengali hard rock band Fossils, Bollywood Singer, National Award Winner
• S.D.Burman,singer,composer
• Sabina Yasmin, popular Bangladeshi playback singer
• Salil Chowdhury, Bollywood Music Composer
• Sameer Bhattacharya, Lead Guitarist of the American alternative rock band Flyleaf
• Sandhya Mukhopadhyay singer of multiple genres, one of the greatest female voclaists of Bengal and India
• Sanjaya Malakar, American born Bengali and Italian singer
• Sapna Mukherjee, Bollywood playback singer
• Shaan, Hindi and Bengali playback and pop singer singer
• Shah Abdul Karim
• Shahadat Hossain Khan, Sarod virtuoso, composer, musicologist, international master, renowned Sarod player of Bangladesh, Ekushey Padak award-winner
• Shankar Ghosh Tabla master and singer
• Shantanu Moitra, Bollywood Music composer
• Shreya Ghoshal, Bollywood playback singer
• Sohail Sen, composer and singer
• Srabani Sen Rabindrasangeet performer, also modern and folk songs
• Suchitra Mitra, Rabindrasangeet performer, also playback singer and composer
• Suman Kalyanpur, Bollywood playback singer
• Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta classical and rabindrasangeet exponent performer, also folk modern and devotional music
• Tanim Sufyani, singer, songwriter, composer, author, columnist
• Tanmoy Bose, table master, composer, actor, fusion musician
• Vilayat Khan, sitar performer

Military

• Subhas Chandra Bose, Founder, Indian National Army
• General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian Army Chief during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
• Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, Former Head of Indian Air Force
• General Shankar Roychowdhury, Former Indian Army Chief
• Indra Lal Roy, First Indian (pre Independence) flying ace.
• Chitta Ranjan Dutta, Bangladeshi war hero and retired Major-General of the Bangladesh Army. He was a key sector commander of the Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh Liberation War
• M. A. G. Osmani, the Supreme Commander of Bangladesh Forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Chief of the Air Staff Designate Arup Raha, Currently Vice Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force

Philosophers

• Haridas Chaudhuri
• Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

Police officers

• Ranjit Kumar Gupta, police chief, West Bengal
• Prasun Mukherjee, Commissioner of police

Politicians

• Subhas Chandra Bose, Former President of Indian National Congress, Head of State of India's first free Provisional Government of Azad Hind and Co-Founder Indian National Army
• Bidhan Chandra Roy, physician, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bharat Ratna.
• Chittaranjan Das, prominent person in the Indian independence movement also known as Deshabandhu.
• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh
• Rash Behari Bose, Revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army.
• Jogendra Nath Mandal who serves the first law & labour minister of pakishthan.
• Pranab Mukherjee, President Of India 2012, Minister for External Affairs, Government of India, Senior leader of Indian National Congress
• Jyoti Basu, former communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, former Politburo Member of the Communist Party of India(Marxist).
• Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Former communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, Politburo Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after 19th Party Congress.
• Mamata Banerjee,- Chief Minister of West Bengal (from 2011,) Ex-minister for Railways, Government of India, Chairman All India Trinamool Congress
• Muhammad Ali Bogra, – Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955
• Somnath Chatterjee, Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), Expelled member of CPI(M), senior parliamentarian, prominent barrister.
• A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, Senior leader of Indian National Congress
• Hussain Mohammed Ershad, Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) & later President, 1982–1990
• A. K. Fazlul Huq, presented the Lahore Resolution
• Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura, Politburo member.
• Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan
• Santosh Mohan Dev, Former Union Cabinet Minister. Elected to the Lok Sabha in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2004., Senior leader of Indian National Congress
• Khawaja Nazimuddin, second Governor-General of Pakistan, and the second Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Bipin Chandra Pal, freedom fighter for Indian independence movement
• Siddhartha Shankar Ray, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal, former ambassador of India to United States
• Khwaja Salimullah, founder of Muslim League
• Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, President, 1975–1975
• Ashoke Kumar Sen, Former Law Minister, barrister, and parliamentarian
• Rabi Ray, speaker of lok sabha
• Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 until 1957; founder of Awami League
• Ronen Sen, former Indian ambassador in USA
• Ashok Bhattacharya, Minister
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh,he headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh
• Ziaur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, President of Bangladesh from 1977 until 1981; first to propose the creation of SAARC, sector commander and liberation war hero in Bangladesh.
• Tajuddin Ahmed,he served as the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in 1971–1972
• Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; 1991–1996, 2001–2006
• Sheikh Hasina Wazed;Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996–2001, 2009–present
• Mrinal Banerjee, former Minister
• Sarojini Naidu, freedom fighter and poet
• Sucheta Kriplani, freedom fighter and politician
• Aruna Asaf Ali, Indian independence activist
• Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, first president of Indian national congress
• Batukeshwar Dutt, freedom fighter
• Kabindra Purkayastha

Religion and spirituality

Swami Vivekananda– the photo was taken in Bushnell Studio in San Francisco, 1900.

• Anandamoyi Ma—mystic, spiritual teacher and Tantrik Guru
• Thakur Anukulchandra, Saint, mystic and preacher
• Atisha, or Srjnana Atisa Dipanakara—Buddhist scholar, missionary and teacher, inventor of bodhichitta
• Sri Aurobindo, yogi, nationalist, philosopher, author, poet, visionary
• Baba Lokenath Brahmachari, Yogi and philosopher
• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, vaishnava mystic, missionary, monk and social reformer
• Nityananda, great sahajiya mystic, social reformer, chief associate of Chaitanya and a primary figure within the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Bengal
• Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Gadadhar Chattopadhaya) -- mystic, preacher
• A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Abhay Charan Dey) -- Vaishnava missionary and theologian, founder of ISKCON
• Debendranath Tagore, social thinker and reformer, founder of the Brahmo Religion or Brahmoism, the youngest religion of India
• Tibbetibaba, Saint and mystic
• Tilopa, tantrik master and mahasiddha,Buddhist scholar and teacher, founder of the Kagyu lineage and progressor of Mahamudra method
• Paramahansa Yogananda, monk, philosopher, preacher, author and exponent of Kriya Yoga
• Bamakhepa tantrik guru and mystic
• Ramprasad Sen tantrik master, mystic and famous as the composer of mystic, devotional songs to Goddess Kali.
• Lahiri Mahasaya or Shyama Charan Lahiri—Yogi, philosopher, the propagator of Kriya Yoga.
• Mahavatar Babaji yogi and tantrik master
• Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar or Sri Anandamurti, polymathic personality, author, philosopher, socio-political thinker, educationist, revolutionary, poet, composer, linguist, self-development and human welfare theorist, the founder of Ananda Marga, a socio-spiritual movement.
• Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta) monk, missionary and social reformer, founder of the Ramakrishna math and Mission
• Swami Abhedananda(Kaliprasad Chandra) monk, author, philosopher, occultist, reformer the founder of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math
• Yukteswar Giri (Priyanath Karar) yogi, educationaist, astronomer & astrologer
• Swami Satyananda Giri (Manamohan Mazumder) monk, preacher and yogi
• Gopinath Kaviraj—yogi, philosopher, spiritual master, tantrik scholar and author
• Nolini Kanta Gupta—revolutionary, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, philosopher and mystic, was the most senior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples; author of many books.
• Nigamananda Saraswati—tantrik guru, vedantic scholar, author, yogi, mystic, philosopher, disciple of Bamakhepa, founder of several institutions.
• Kamalakanta Bhattacharya—Tantrik/ Shakta saint and master, composer of Shakta devotional songs.
• Lalon fakir—sahajiya saint philosopher, humanist, poet and composer of baul/ sahajiya mystic songs.
• Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj founder Bharat Sevashram Sangha
• Sri Chinmoy

Science & technology

• Jagadish Chandra Bose Physicist, radio and wireless transmission pioneer, invented the radio before Marconi. Also did substantial work on botany.
• Satyendra Nath Bose, Physicist, founded Bose–Einstein statistics, which helped to produce Bose-Einstein condensate (2001 Nobel Prize in Physics was given for this discovery); the boson, an elementary particle named after him.
• Fazlur Rahman Khan, Structural engineer and architect, Father of tubular designs for high-rises, Willis Tower(AKA Sears Tower), John Hancock Center
• Megh Nad Saha, Physicist, produced the "Thermo-Ionization Equation" or Saha Equation
• Mazharul Islam, Pioneer modernist architect of Bangladesh.
• Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya -was a Bengali entomologist and naturalist known for his pioneering work on social insects and the role of bacteria in metamorphosis.
• Prafulla Chandra Roy, Pioneer in the field of pharmaceutical and chemical works (discovered mercurous nitrite)
• Sharmila Bhattacharya, head of the Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center
• Upendranath Brahmachari, Biologist: synthesized Urea Stibamine (carbostibamide) and used it in the treatment of Kala-azar (leishmaniasis), was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• Mani Lal Bhaumik, Physicist: helped develop the first excimer laser at the University of California
• Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya, As an academic he has played a prominent role in raising the status of engineering and manufacturing in UK. He was appointed CBE in 1997 and knighted in 2003, Padma Bhushan awardee.
• Asima Chatterjee, noted for her work in the fields of organic chemistry and phytomedicine. Her most notable work includes those on vinca alkaloids, and the development of anti-epileptic and anti-malarial drugs.
• Sandip Chakrabarti, leading Indian astrophysicist
• Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda, scientist and educator.
• Subir Chowdhury, Quality Expert. Author of several international bestselling business books.
• Anirvan Ghosh, Neuroscientist.
• Qazi Motahar Hossain, mathematician and statistician.
• Abul Hussam, Chemist, inventor of Sono arsenic filter and the gold winner of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability
• Jamal Nazrul Islam, famous physicist and mathematician
• Muzharul Islam, Pioneer Bangladeshi architect
• Abdus Suttar Khan, Chemist, inventor of alloys for use in commercial jets, U.S. fighter planes, gas turbines, train engines, and space shuttles
• Dilip Mahalanabis, Biologist: under his leadership International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh medical centre, discovered Oral rehydration therapy, which saved more than 40 millions lives from Diarrhoea
• Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Statistician: Inventor of Mahalanobis Distance and founder of Indian Statistical Institute
• Sisir Kumar Mitra, Physicist, pioneer in the investigations of ionosphere. The Mitra crater on the Moon is named after him
• Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, Physicist: known for his contributions to relativistic cosmology including Raychaudhuri's equation
• Somnath Bharadwaj, Physicist: know for his contributions in Cosmology
• Bikash Sinha, former director of SINP and Padmabhusan
• Srikumar Banerjee, director of BARC and AEC
• Ashoke Sen, Physicist: known for his contributions to string theory and co-discovered S-duality
• Siddhartha Mukherjee, Physicist, scientist and writer; author of the book: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction 2011, also won PEN Literary E.O. Wilson Prize 2011, Gabrielle Angel's Leukemia Foundation Award/Grant 2010.
• Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty most notable for his work in directed evolution and his role in developing a genetically engineered organism using plasmid transfer while working at GE.
• Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India

Social reformers & leaders

• Bagha Jatin, Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher against British rule
• Manabendra Nath Roy, pioneer Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher. Founder of Mexican Communist Party and Indian Communist Party.
• Mithun Roy Chowdhury,Environmental Activist, Lawyer & Politician of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
• Shri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru
• Ram Mohan Roy, founder of the Brahmo Samaj
• Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, prolific writer, important Women's right activist and social worker, early feminist science fiction writer
• Debendranath Tagore, active Brahmo, and was against sati, idol worship
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, responsible for introducing major reforms in the educational system and was Women's right activist
• Keshub Chunder Sen, intellectual and a noted religious reformer
• Surya Sen, also known as Masterda Surya Sen, was an Indian freedom fighter and was the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal
• Sivanath Sastri, important intellectual
• Sudhamoy Pramanick, advocate, Indian independence activist
• Nasreen Pervin Huq, prominent Women's Rights Activist
• Muhammad Shahidullah, famous educationist, writer, polyglot, philologist and linguist
• Pritilata Waddedar, Anti-British, pro-India revolutionary
• Rani Rashmoni, Nineteenth century philanthropist and anti-British activist
• Sarojini Naidu, (Sarojini Chattopadhyaya) Freedom fighter
• Syed Ameer Ali, Law reformer
• Irene Khan, Former Secretary General, Amnesty International; first woman, first Asian, and first Muslim to hold the position
• Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder & Chairperson of the worlds largest international development NGO, BRAC.

Sports

Brojen Das was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel

• Brojen Das, swimmer, first Asian to swim across the English Channel and the first person to cross it four times
• Niaz Morshed chess player from Bangladesh, the first Chess Grandmaster to emerge from South Asia.
• Mohammad Rafique, cricketer
• Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
• Abdullah Al Rakib, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
• Sourav Ganguly, Former Indian cricket team captain, Padma Shri awardee.
• Aminul Islam, Bangladeshi cricketer
• Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
• Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi cricketer
• Subroto Banerjee, Former Test and ODI player for India, Fast bowler.
• Krishna Das, former Indian archer
• Pradip Kumar Banerjee, footballer: named Indian Footballer of the 20th Century by FIFA
• Saif Ahmad
• Dibyendu Barua, Indian chess grandmaster
• Ritwik Bhattacharya, squash player
• Gopal Bose, Former ODI Player for India
• Utpal Chatterjee, Former India Cricketer.
• Nirode Chowdhury, Former Test Cricketer for India/ Pace bowler.
• Bula Choudhury, swimmer
• Mouma Das, Table Tennis player
• Deepak Kumar Mondal, football player.
• Deep Dasgupta, Former Indian National Cricket Team Wicket-Keeper, played 8 Tests with a Century against England
• Rumeli Dhar, The cricketer of Indian woman Cricket Team
• Ashok Dinda, Indian cricket team player
• Chuni Goswami, Former Great India Footballer, Padma Shri awardee.
• Poulomi Ghatak, Table Tennis player
• Jhulan Goswami, ICC Women's Cricketer of the year 2007
• Aftab Ahmed Chowdhuryআফতা আহমেদ চৌধুরী
• Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladeshi cricketer, youngest centurion in test cricket.
• Isa Guha, English Women Cricketer
• Subrata Guha, Former Indian Test Cricketer.
• Rani Hamid, chess player: was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1985 and won British Women's
• Saradindu Mukherjee, Former India Cricketer
• Enamul Hossain, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
• Shailen Manna, Footballer
• Gostho Pal, footballer. Member of the 1st Indian Team(MohunBagan)those who won the IFA shield against a British team in the pre independence period.
• Pankaj Roy, Former Indian Cricket Captain, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together with Vinoo Mankad, against New Zealand at Chennai, Padma Shri awardee.
• Pranab Roy, Former Test Cricketer for India Championship (1983, 1985, 1989)
• Priyanka Roy, The cricketer of Indian woman cricket team.
• Reefat Bin-Sattar, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
• Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Former ODI player for India.
• Wriddhiman Saha, Player for KKR and Bengal
• Mihir Sen, Swimmer
• Arati Saha, Swimmer
• Probir Sen, Former Indian Test Cricketer/Wicket-Keeper.
• Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics: Double gold-medallist in track at Asian games, was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and Padma Shri award
• Jayanta Talukdar, archer
• Dipu Ghosh, former badminton player
• Raman Ghosh, former badminton player
• Manoj Tiwary, Player for KKR and Bengal
• Poulomi Ghatak, table tennis player
• Jaideep Mukherjea, former Indian tennis player
• Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Indian grandmaster
• Subrata Paul, Footballer playing for the Indian team
• Saurav Ghosal, Indian squash player
• Dola Banerjee, Indian female archer
• Hari Shankar Roy, Indian track field athlete
• Rahul Banerjee, Indian archer
• Mohammed Ali Qamar, Indian boxer
• Subhajit Saha, Indian table tennis player
• Sachin Nag, former swimming champion
• Subhash Bhowmick, former football player
• Saraswati Saha, Indian sprint athlete
• Soma Biswas, Indian heptathlete
• Alok Kapali, Bangladeshi cricketer
• Tapash Baisya, Bangladeshi cricketer
• Somdev Devvarman, Indian tennis player
• Anirban Lahiri, Indian Golfer
• Manohar Aich, bodybuilder

Writers

Further information: List of Bengali language authors and Bengali Writers : An Alphabetical List

Rabindranath Tagore is the first Asian Nobel laureate

• Jīmūtavāhana - writer of Dāyabhāga
• Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, author, Gorokho Bijoy
• Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) – poet, novelist, essayist, nobel laureate
• Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) – poet
• Abul Bashar (born 1951) – novelist, essayist
• Al Mahmud– poet, novelist
• Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876–1938) – novelist
• Pramatha Chaudhuri, editor of Sabuj Patra, wrote in the era of Rabindranath Tagore.
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, philosopher, educator, writer, translator, publisher, and reformer of the Bengal Renaissance period.
• Nurul Momen, (1908–1990), playwright of Nemesis (Nurul Momen play), recognized as the pioneer of modern Bengali drama, referred to as the "Father of Bangladeshi theatre"
• Sukanta Bhattacharya
• Banaphool, writer of short stories
• Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1894–1950) – novelist
• Manik Bandopadhyay (1908–1956) – novelist, short story writer
• Tarashankar Bandopadhyay (1898–1971) – novelist
• Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) – Oscar winning Film Director and writer
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838–1894) – novelist, essayist, penned the Indian National Song of integrity Vande Mataram
• Krittibas Ojha, medieval Bengali poet
• Chandidas
• Buddhadeb Bose (1908–1974) – poet, essayist
• Kumud Ranjan Mullick, poes of the Tagore era
• Swarnakumari Devi, first among the women writers in Bengali to gain prominence.
• Nirendranath Chakravarty (born 1924) – poet
• Haraprasad Shastri, known as the inventor of Charyapada
• Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897–1999) – scholar, essayist
• Sandipan Chattopadhyay (1933–2005) – novelist
• Shakti Chattopadhyay, poet
• Shahabuddin Nagari, Bangladeshi poet and juvenile writer
• Jibanananda Das (1899–1954) – poet
• Amit Chaudhuri, Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award winner
• Jhumpa Lahiri, novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer prize winner
• Ashapurna Devi (1909–1995) – novelist, short story writer
• Mahasweta Devi (born 1926) – novelist, short story writer
• Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873) – poet, dramatist
• Romesh Chunder Dutt
• Sudhindranath Dutta (1901–1960) – poet
• Sunil Gangopadhyay (born 1934) – poet, novelist
• Amitav Ghosh, novelist, essayist
• Samit Basu, novelist
• Shankha Ghosh (born 1932) – poet, essayist
• Vidyapati, medieval poet and Sanskrit writer.
• Joy Goswami (born 1954) – poet
• Ramprasad Sen, Shakta poet of eighteenth century Bengal
• Toru Dutt, wrote in English and French
• Ekram Ali (born 1950) – poet
• Buddhadeb Guha (born 1936) – novelist
• Mir Mosharraf Hossain (1847–1912) – novelist
• Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, science fiction writer
• Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib, (born on 15 January 1948) - Islamic scholar, writer, academic, essayist.
• Bharatchandra Ray, poet and song composer known for his Mangalkavya.
• Arun Mitra (1909–2000) – poet
• Premendra Mitra (1904–1988)- poet, short story writer
• Dhan Gopal Mukerji – author
• Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (born 1935) – novelist
• Subimal Basak, fiction writer
• Subhas Mukhopadhyay (1919–2003) – poet
• Ghulam Murshid, writer, essayist and cultual historian
• Narayan Gangopadhyay, author, creator of character Tenida
• Samaresh Majumdar, writer, creator of the Animesh Trilogy
• Taslima Nasrin (born 1962) – novelist
• Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006) – poet
• Dwijendralal Ray (1863–1913) – playwright, poet
• Annadashankar Roy (1905–2002) – novelist, essayist, poet
• Arundhati Roy — novelist, essayist
• Samir Roychoudhury (1933-) — poet, novelist, short story writer and philosopher
• Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta (1882–1964) – novelist, legal scholar.
• Jasim Uddin (1903–1976) – poet, novelist, essayist
• Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (born Chitralekha Banerjee) – author, poet
• Subhash Mukhopadhyay (poet), Bengali poet
• Bharati Mukherjee, author, educator
• Mallika Sengupta, Bengali poet, feminist, and reader of Sociology from Kolkata
• Humayun Ahmed (born 1948) – novelist
• Alaol (1607–1680) – poet of medieval era
• Monica Ali, (born 1954) – novelist
• Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904–1974) – novelist, essayist
• Upamanyu Chatterjee, Author and administrator
• Subodh Sarkar, poet
• Narayan Sanyal, writer of modern Bengali literature
• Sasthi Brata, Fiction writer, based in UK
• Sanjeev Chattopadhyay, Bengali fiction writer
• Aroup Chatterjee, physician and author
• Rimi B. Chatterjee, novelist, short story writer, winner of the 2007 SHARP deLong Prize
• Binoy Majumdar, poet, Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005,
• Srijato, won Ananda Puroskar in 2004
• Tanika Gupta, playwright, appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2008
• Sake Dean Mahomed, first Indian to write a book in the English language
• Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, novelist
• Syed Mustafa Siraj, poet, novelist, short story writer, Sahitya Akademi awardee
• Sayed Hasmat Jalal, Poet, writer, won the Paschim Banga Bangla Academy Award in 2002
• Malay Roy Choudhury, Bengali poet and novelist who founded the "Hungryalist Movement" in the 1960s
• Arun Mitra, poet
• Prabir Ghosh, head of the Science and Rationalists’ Association of India,author.
• Moti Nandi, novelist
• Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist, educator
• Shoaib Gibran, poet, writer, academician
• Kamal Kumar Majumdar, novelist, short story writer
• Jibanananda Das

See also

• List of Bangladeshi people
• List of people from West Bengal