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), writer
• Achuthanand Tanjore Ravi (born 1991), photographer

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
• Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder of Foursquare
• Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairperson and current chairman of TATA Group
• Keshav R Murugesh, chief executive officer and director of WNS Global Services
• Rahul Mammen Mappillai, managing director of MRF Limited
• Kalanithi Maran, chairman and managing director, Sun Group
• R. G. Chandramogan, chairman of Hatsun Agro Product
• Dora Metcalf, entrepreneur, mathematician and engineer
• Vidya Gajapathi Raju Singh, entrepreneur and journalist

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 at RMIT University
• V. L. Ethiraj, founder, Ethiraj College for Women
• Jeppiaar, founder, Jeppiaar Educational Trust and founder chancellor, Sathyabama University
• 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
• V. M. Muralidharan, chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
• Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
• Vallam Sundar, Indian professor
• 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]

Environment

• Arun Krishnamurthy, founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India

Films and entertainment

• Shivaji Ganesan, actor and the first International Award winner of India
• Rajini Kanth, actor, producer, Screenwriter
• Kamal Haasan, thespian, director, producer, Screenwriter
• Vijay, thespian, actor, playbacksinger, IARA (International achievement recognition award winner)
• Ajith Kumar, thespian and racer
• Vikram, thespian
• Suriya, thespian
• Dhanush, thespian and playback singer and producer
• A. R. Rahman (born 1966), music composer, winner of multiple awards including two Academy Awards, two Grammys and a Golden Globe
• Anirudh Ravichander, music composer
• Ilaiyaraja, Indian music composer and Symphonic Maestro
• 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
• Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
• Padma Lakshmi, cookbook author, actress, model and television host
• 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
• Mahesh Babu, actor
• 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, Kannada actor
• Puneeth Rajkumar, Kannada actor
• Vidya Vox, Indian YouTuber and musician
• Rochelle Rao, Indian actress and Miss India international 2012

Directors

• K.Balachander, Tamil film director
• Mani Ratnam, Tamil film director
• S. Shankar, Tamil film director
• A. R. Murugadoss, Tamil film director
• Selvaraghavan, Tamil film director
• Nalan Kumarasamy, Tamil film director
• Karthik Subburaj, Tamil film director
• Vetrimaran, Tamil film director
• Lokesh Kanagaraj, Tamil film director

Religion

• Jesu Pudumai Doss (b. 1967), Catholic priest, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Canon Law, Salesian Pontifical University, Rome
• Sri Sabhapati Swami (b. 1840), 19th-century yogi and author
• Paruthiyur K. Santhanaraman, author of numerous books on religious topics

Scientists

• Shyamala Gopalan, breast cancer researcher and mother of Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris
• 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

• Kirthi Jayakumar

Sports

• Buchi Babu Naidu- Father of South Indian Cricket.
• Cotah Ramaswami- Represented India in both International Cricket & Tennis.
• Ravichandran Ashwin- Cricketer
• 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), former English cricketer
• Dinesh Karthik (born 1985), Indian cricketer
• Sharath Kamal (born 1982), India table tennis player
• Hemang Badani, former Indian cricketer
• Subramaniam Badrinath, former 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
• Thirush Kamini, Indian woman cricketer
• W. V. Raman, former Indian cricketer
• Washington Sundar, Indian cricketer
• Vijay Amritraj (born 1953), tennis player, Sports Commentator and actor
• Anand Amritraj (born 1952), tennis player, businessman
• Ramanathan Krishnan, tennis player
• Ramkumar Ramanathan, 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
• Jack Pritchard (1895–1936), cricketer
• Roopa Unnikrishnan, former Indian sports-rifle shooter; Commonwealth Games gold medalist
• Dommaraju Gukesh (born 2006), chess grandmaster
• Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 2005), chess grandmaster
• Akbar Ebrahim (born 14 Dec 1963) Indian racing driver, cricketer

Miscellaneous

• Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi Madrasi or Ahmadullah Shah (1787–1858), Indian freedom fighter
• General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO, MBE 6th chief of Indian army (1913–2000)
• Pramila Jayapal, U.S. Representative
• Ravivarman Sharmila, carrom champion
• Nugent Grant, lawyer
• Praveena Solomon, crematorium manager
• V. D. Trivadi, humorist
• Abhinandan Varthaman, wing commander in the Indian Air Force