List of people from Chennai
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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), writers
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
- Bhargav Sri Prakash, founder & CEO of FriendsLearn, entrepreneur and hedge fund manager
- Naveen Selvadurai, Co-founder of Foursquare
- Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairperson & Current Chairman of TATA Group
- Keshav R Murugesh, chief executive officer & Director of WNS Global Services
- Rahul Mammen Mappillai, managing director of MRF Limited
- Kalanithi Maran, Chairman & MD, Sun Group
- R. G. Chandramogan, Chairman of Hatsun Agro Product
Education
- V. L. Ethiraj, Founder, Ethiraj College for Women
- Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, Founder, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
- Munirathna Anandakrishnan, Former chairman, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur & Former Vice-Chancellor, Anna University
- Bala V. Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management
- V. M. Muralidharan, Former chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
- Jeppiaar, Founder, Jeppiaar Educational Trust and Founder Chancellor, Sathyabama University
- 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[1]
- 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
- Madhu Bhaskaran, engineer and Professor at RMIT University
Environment
Films and entertainment
- Shivaji Ganesan, actor and the first International Award winner of India
- Vijay, Thespian- Thalapathy
- Mahesh Babu, actor
- Kamal Haasan, Thespian, actor, director, producer, Screen Writer – India's best actor
- Rajini Kanth, actor, producer, Screen Writer – India's Super Star
- Ajith Kumar, actor,Thespian and Racer
- Dhanush, Thespian and playback singer and producer
- Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
- Padma Lakshmi, Cookbook author, actress, model and television host
- M. G. Ramachandran, actor, politician, producer, director
- A. R. Rahman (born 1966), music composer, winner of multiple awards including two Academy Awards, two Grammys and a Golden Globe[2]
- Vikram, Thespian
- Ilaiyaraja, Indian music composer and Symphonic Maestro
- Suriya Sivakumar, Thespian
- 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
- Mani Ratnam (born 1956), film director
- 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
- 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,Sandalwood actor
- Puneeth Rajkumar,Sandalwood actor
- Vidya Vox, Indian YouTuber and musician
Directors
- S.Shankar, A Tamil film director
- K.Balachander, A Tamil film director
- Kamal Haasan, A Tamil film director and actor
- Selvaraghavan, A Tamil film director
- Nalan Kumarasamy, A Tamil film director
- Karthik Subburaj, A Tamil film director
Religion
- Sri Sabhapati Swami (b. 1840), 19th century yogi and author
- Paruthiyur K. Santhanaraman, author of numerous books on religious topics
Scientists
- 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.
- 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), English cricketer
- Dinesh Karthik (born 1985), Indian cricketer
- Sharath Kamal (born 1982), India table tennis player
- Hemang Badani, former Indian cricketer
- Badrinath, 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
- W. V. Raman, former Indian cricketer
- Vijay Amritraj (born 1953), tennis player, Sports Commentator and actor
- Anand Amritraj (born 1952), tennis player, businessman
- Ramanathan Krishnan, 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
Miscellaneous
- Ravivarman Sharmila, carrom champion
- Nugent Grant, lawyer
- Praveena Solomon, crematorium manager
- V. D. Trivadi, humorist
- Abhinandan Varthaman, Wing commander in the Indian Air Force
References
- ^ "Leadership at Carnegie Mellon University". cmu.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ "A. R. Rahman – The Official Site". arrahman.com. Retrieved 4 December 2015.