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).

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
  • Jay Vijayan, founder of Tekion Corp
  • 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

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
  • Pa.Ranjith, Tamil film director

Literature and visual arts

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

Marketing and sales

  • Vishnu Hari, Co- founder, Social Eagle

Politics

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

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