List of people from Chennai

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

Arts and language

• R.K. Narayan (1906–2001), writers

Business

• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google^[1]
• Indra Nooyi, Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo
• Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Motors Ltd.
• 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

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, 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^[2]
• 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

Environment

• Arun Krishnamurthy, Founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India

Films and entertainment

• Shivaji Ganesan, actor and the first International Award winner of India
• Kamal Haasan, Thespian, Actor, Director, Producer, Screen Writer - India's best actor
• Rajinikanth (born 1950), Actor, Superstar^[3]
• Dhanush, Thespian and playback singer and producer
• Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
• Padma Lakshmi, Cookbook author, actress, model and television host
• Ajith Kumar, Thespian and Racer
• 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^[4]
• Vijay, Thespian
• Vikram, Actor
• 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
• Hema Malini, actress
• Rekha, actress
• Sridevi, actress
• Jayasudha, actress
• Jayabharathi, actress
• Lisa Haydon, actress
• S. Janaki, Playback singer
• P. Susheela, 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
• Dulquer Salman, actor
• Lakshmi Manchu, actress
• Sundeep Kishan, actor
• Priya Anand, actress
• Shruthi Hassan, actress
• Samantha Ruth Prabhu, actress
• Siddharth Narayan, actor
• Trisha, actress
• Arvind Swamy, actor and businessman
• Diwakar, playback singer
• Vijay Sethupathi, Thespian
• Sivakarthikeyan, Thespian
• Keerthy Suresh, actress

Directors

• S.Shankar, A tamil film director
• K.Balachander, A tamil film director
• kamalhassan, 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

Scientists

• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, physics, President of India
• C.V. Raman, Nobel Prize, physics
• Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan, Nobel Prize, physics
• 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

Social Entrepreneurs

• Kirthi Jayakumar

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
• Ravichandran Ashwin, cricketer
• 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 crickter
• 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

Miscellaneous

• Praveena Solomon, crematorium manager
• Kumaran Mahalingam, Geologist, Standup Paddler and a Conservation Educator

References