13.0826° N, 80.2747° E
CHENNAI
Most Famous People Born in Chennai, India
- Notable people
- 1,072
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1965
- Most distinctive
- Cinema 11.9×
Tamil cinema's entire machine lives in these numbers — cinema, film, choreographer, and actor all over-index between 5.1× and 11.9×, a fingerprint no other Indian city comes close to. Add Viswanathan Anand's chess dominance and the mathematician footprint behind Ramanujan's home district, and the city balances movie glitter with something much quieter.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Chennai during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 186 notable births.
What Chennai Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is Chennai's biggest profession — 27% of all notables (292).
Chennai over-indexes on cinema — 11.9× the global rate.
Chennai under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Chennai's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Film & TV
- Sports
- Music
- Politics & Law
- Science
- Writing
- Other
V. Geetha
-
V. J. Chitra
Born 1984
Balaji Sampath
Born 1973
Sundar C. Babu
-
Jayaraman Gowrishankar
Born 1956
Ashvin Raja
Born 1989
Vasanth Ravi
-
Thiruvengadam Lakshman Sankar
1928 - 2014
Vanitha Vijayakumar
Born 1982
Beno Zephine
Born 1990
Raghuvannan
Born 1984
Walter Couchman
1905 - 1981
Kundrai Vaendan Karikalan
Born 1956
Pavani Gangireddy
Born 1987
Avishek Karthik
-
Badri Venkatesh
Born 1974
Mohan Kumar Raja
Born 1996
Kanniks Kannikeswaran
-
Sangeetha Mohan
-
V. M. Muralidharan
Born 1959
C. Karunakara Menon
1863 - 1922
Ved Shankar
-
Krishnarao Jaisim
Born 1944
Priya David
Born 1974
G. Narasimhan
1916 - 1977
Ashwanth Thilak
Born 1979
G. Ramesh
-
Rithvik Raja
Born 1989
Ramakrishna Ramaswamy
Born 1953
Krishna Iyer
Born 1985
Bharath Shankar
Born 1994
Arthi Venkatesh
-
Laxman Kumar
-
Kulpreet Yadav
Born 1968
Ajit Johnson
Born 1988
P. Anandan
-
Vibha Natarajan
-
George Maryan
Born 1963
Ashwathy Warrier
-
Neena (Tamil actress)
Born 1981
Eric Crake
1886 - 1948
Keshav R. Murugesh
Born 1963
Balamurali Balu
-
Soundaryan
-
T. S. Tirumurti
Born 1962
Gokulnath
Born 1984
M. S. Buksh
-
Thaman Kumar
-
Sankara Bhagavadpada
Born 1948
Sivapatham Vittal
Born 1941
Balchander Anirudh
Born 1994
Rajini Krishnan
Born 1981
Tatineni Satya
-
Bjorn Surrao
Born 1992
Christabelle Howie
Born 1969
Anoop Kumar (Tamil actor)
-
Siddharth Chandrasekhar
Born 1977
Navin (music director)
-
V. Radhika Selvi
Born 1976
Sindhuri
-
Krishnamachari Srinivasan
Born 1966
Akshaya Rao
-
Krishna Kumar (chemist)
Born 1970
Deekshitha Manikkam
Born 1992
Franklyn Lushington
1868 - 1941
Rajaji (actor)
-
Sudhakar Ram
Born 1960
Rakshan
Born 1991
Kailasam Raghavendra Rao
Born 1958
Kasturi Raj
Born 1962
John Frederick McCrea
1854 - 1894
Vijay Ebenezer
-
K. Mohan
1925 - 2014
R. N. Arogyasamy Mudaliar
1870 - 1933
Sai Shravanam
Born 1981
Ron Ethan Yohann
Born 1990
Lakshminarayanan Vignesh
Born 1989
Rajan Sankaranarayanan
-
Vireshwarananda
1892 - 1985
F. S. Faizal
-
K. K. Srinivasan
1925 - 2009
Paul Sabapathy
-
Sathyaraj Natarajan
-
Gopalan Kasturi
1924 - 2012
Jagadeesh Kumar
Born 1985
Urmila Satyanarayana
Born 1960
Bud Houghton
1936 - 1994
Subramaniam Raman
-
Anwesha Reddy
Born 1991
Prithvi Sekhar
Born 1993
Subhashni Giridhar
Born 1965
Mani Subramanian
-
Prasanna Kumar
Born 1987
Nivedhithaa Sathish
Born 1998
Rajee Narayan
Born 1931
Shobana Jeyasingh
Born 1957
Subrahmaniam Nagarajan
1945 - 2016
Andrew Bickford
1844 - 1927
T. R. Satishchandran
1929 - 2009
Judy Balan
Born 1981
Mukta Venkatesh
1902 - 2003
John Campbell, 2. Baronet (of Carrick Buoy) – Wi
1799 - 1870
John Peter (music director)
-
S. Rangaswami Iyengar
1887 - 1926
Ivaturi Shivram
Born 1954
G. N. Chetty
1881 - 1950
Ganesh Raghavendra
Born 1979
Sudharshan M. Kumar
Born 1991
Mohammad Ghouse
1931 - 2014
Hemachandran (actor)
-
Hanson Jarrett
1839 - 1891
Keshav (musician)
Born 2003
R. Sudharsan
Born 1982
Alfred Burrows
1952 - 2015
Preetha Krishna
Born 1974
Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan
Born 1996
Coimbatore Narayana Rao Raghavendran
-
Usha Srinivasan
Born 1966
Krishnarao Shivarao Shelvankar
1906 - 1996
Frederick Hart (politician)
1836 - 1915
Harold Percy Waller Barrow
1876 - 1957
Samuel Boileau Goad
1806 - 1876
Jaya Madhavan
Born 1972
Shiva Kumar (general)
Born 1948
M. Jairam
Born 1937
Naresh Babu
Born 1991
Lance East
1901 - 1993
Vijay Velukutty
Born 1987
Edmund Marsden
1881 - 1915
M. S. Nagappa
1890 - 1942
Pundi Runganadha Mudaliar
1847 - 1893
R. Srinivasan (businessman)
-
M. V. Bobjee
1917 - 1981
Velidi Lakshman
Born 1991
Inderjit Vasudevan Moorthy
Born 1982
Radhika (choreographer)
Born 1976
Arne Frykholm
1917 - 2000
Subha Srinivasan
-
R. V. Srinivasa Aiyar
1852 - 1909
James Sanderson (rugby union)
1852 - 1930
P. K. Dharmalingam
Died 2019
Vallam Sundar
Born 1953
Fowzia Fathima
Born 1972
Dileep G. Bal
-
Appoorva Muralinath
Born 1989
Nayini Reddy
Born 1938
Prince G. Singh
-
Madanur Ahmed Ali
-
Leela Soma
-
Shantichitra
Born 1978
R. Ramani
1901 - 1970
John Dhanraj
-
Durriya Shabbir
Born 1967
Janarthanan Kesavan
Born 1991
Jasti Eswara Prasad
Born 1934
Hugh Shaw (British Army officer)
1839 - 1904
Kritteka Gregory
Born 1990
Abhay Singh
Born 1998
L. A. Cammiade
1872 - 1951
Basil Clarke (cricketer)
1885 - 1940
Richard Mansfield (cricketer)
Born 1975
Venkatraman Ganesan
-
Ratakonda Dayakar
Born 1938
S. V. Divvaakar
Born 1960
R. K. Rubugunday
1918 - 2000
Sandeep Kumar (racer)
Born 1992
Donna D'Cruz
-
Maniketh Gopala Menon
1900 - 1967
Ananthanarayanan Madhavan
Born 1933
Sivaramakrishnan Balachandar
-
C. H. Sibghatullah
1913 - 1985
Mamidipudi Anandam
Born 1919