List of people from Chennai
The following people were born or based their life in the Indian city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
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, 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
- 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
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, 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, actress
- Engelbert Humperdinck, 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, 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, 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
- Vikram, thespian
- M. S. Viswanathan, music composer
- Vidya Vox, YouTuber, musician
- Vyjayanthimala, actress
- Vijay Yesudas, 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, writer
- Achuthanand Tanjore Ravi, photographer
- V. D. Trivadi, humorist
Politics
- Subramaniam Iswaran, known as S. Iswaran, Singaporean politician
- Pramila Jayapal, U.S. representative for Washington
Religion
- Jesu Pudumai Doss, Catholic priest; professor and dean, Faculty of Canon Law, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome
- Sri Sabhapati Swami, 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
- 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, British mathematician
Social entrepreneurs
Sports
- Anand Amritraj, tennis player, businessman
- Vijay Amritraj, tennis player, sports commentator, actor
- Viswanathan Anand, 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, racing driver, Formula One, sports commentator
- Joshna Chinappa, squash player, British Squash Championship
- Gukesh Dommaraju, chess grandmaster; undisputed world chess champion since 2024
- Akbar Ebrahim, racing driver, cricketer
- Edward Foord, cricketer
- George Gowan, cricketer
- Nasser Hussain, former cricketer
- Sharath Kamal, table-tennis player
- Thirush Kamini, cricketer
- Dinesh Karthik, 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, squash player, WISPA titles; first Indian woman to break into the top ten in the WSA rankings
- Aditya Patel, professional racing driver
- Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, chess grandmaster
- Jack Pritchard, cricketer
- Mahaveer Raghunathan, 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, former cricketer
- Washington Sundar, cricketer
- Roopa Unnikrishnan, former sports-rifle shooter; Commonwealth Games gold medalist
- Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, former cricketer
- Murali Vijay, cricketer
Miscellaneous
- Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi Madrasi or Ahmadullah Shah, Indian freedom fighter
- General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE, 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