List of Tamil people

This is a list of notable Tamils.

Ancient Kings and Rulers

Tamil dynasties

• Chola dynasty
• Pandya dynasty
• Chera dynasty
• Pallava dynasty
• Ay dynasty
• Velir dynasty
• Aryacakravarti dynasty
• Vanni dynasty
• Rajahnate of Cebu
• Kongu Chera dynasty

Other royal families

• Rulers of Ramnad
• Ramanatha Sethupathi (?–1979), last Raja of Ramnad estate
• Rajeswari Nachiyar, only daughter of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi, present titular ruler of Ramnad estate
• Rajkumar Sethupathi, actor, brother of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi and Latha, married leading actress in the 1980s Sripriya
• Latha, actress, sister of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi and actor Rajkumar Sethupathi
• Rulers of Pudukkottai
• Rajagopala Thondaiman (1922–1997), last ruler of the princely state of Pudukkottai
• R. Rajagopala Thondaiman (1958–?), present head of the royal house of Pudukkottai, son of Radhakrishna Thondaiman, nephew of last ruler Rajagopala Thondaiman
• Charubala Thondaiman (1958–), wife of R. Rajagopala Thondaiman, member of the INC, former mayor of Tiruchirappalli (2001–2009)

Multinational positions

• Radhika Coomaraswamy (1953–), Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict
• Roy Padayachie (1950–2012), Minister of Public Service and Administration of the Republic of South Africa; also served in the economics desk of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and as deputy head of local government portfolio; consultant to UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank
• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
• Indra Nooyi, Indian-American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo
• Raghuram Rajan, former IMF Chief Economist

Independence movement

Indian independence movement

• Nagappan Padayatchi (1891 – 6 July 1909)
• Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone (1710–1757)
• Puli Thevar (1715–1767)
• Marudhanayagam pillai (1725–1764)
• Rani Velu Nachiar (1730–1796)
• Rettamalai Srinivasan (1860–1945)
• Dheeran Chinnamalai
• Subramanya Bharathi (1882–1921), poet and social reformer
• V. Kalyanasundaram (1883–1953), scholar
• Subramaniya Siva (1884–1925), writer
• Dawood Shah (1885–1969), scholar
• Muhammad Ismail Rowther (1896–1972)
• Jeevanandham (1907–1963)
• Champakaraman Pillai (1891–1934)
• Tiruppur Kumaran (1904–1932)
• K. Kamaraj (1903–1975)
• Veeran Sundaralingam (1770–1799)
• Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar
• V. O. Chidambaram pillai (1872-1936)

Independence movements in other countries

• Thillaiaadi Valliammai (1898–1914), South African militant
• Captain Miller (1966–1987), Tamil rebel and member of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka; known as the LTTE's first Black Tiger (suicide bomber).
• V. T. Sambanthan (1919–1979), one of the three founding fathers of Malaysia
• Pon Sivakumaran (1950–1974), Eelam Tamil rebel and the first Tamil militant to commit suicide by swallowing cyanide
• Ponnambalam Ramanathan, leader in the Sri Lankan independence movement
• Ponnambalam Arunachalam, leader in the Sri Lankan independence movement
• Cankili I also known as Cekaracacekaran VII, most remembered Jaffna kingdom king in the Eelam Tamil history. He was very active in resisting Portuguese colonial inroads into Eelam.
• Cankili II, known as the last King of the Jaffna Kingdom
• Arumaipperumal, Batticaloa chieftain in the 18th century who led a rebellion against the British colonial occupiers in 1803
• Pandara Vanniyan (1775–1810), Tamil Chieftain who ruled in Vanni Nadu in 18th century AD. He is referred to by some as the last Tamil king in Sri Lanka, who also rose to revolt against the British Ceylon empire and Dutch Ceylon empire, who died battling the British colonial rule on the island.
• Periyapillai, known to mount the major attack on the Portuguese fort in the Mannar Island to regain territory lost during Cankili's rule
• Migapulle Arachchi also known as Chinna Migapillai, feudal lord from the Jaffna Kingdom who became a rebel leader just after its annexation by the Portuguese Empire in 1619. His title Arachchi, is a title given to the commanders of Lascarins or native military forces.
• Varunakulattan, 17th-century feudal lord and military commander from the Jaffna Kingdom. He led a rebellion as the military commander of Thanjavur Nayak against the Portuguese in their conquest of the Jaffna kingdom in 1619. Although the nominal king was Cankili II, Varunakulattan was described as the king of Karaiyars, and wield the real power in the Jaffna Peninsula.
• Puviraja Pandaram
• Kasi Nayinar Pararacacekaran
• Ethirimana Cinkam
• S. A. Ganapathy (1912 or 1917 – 4 May 1949), was a veteran of the communist underground resistance during Japanese occupation and postwar trade unionist in then Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia).

Contributions to Tamil people

• Marshal Nesamony (1895–1968), responsible for Kanyakumari district merger with Tamil Nadu
• Varadarajan Mudaliar (1926–1988), known as Vardha Bhai; the Tamil movie Nayakan was based on his life story
• Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani, Singaporean Tamil pioneer

Governor-Generals

Presidents

Vice Presidents

Prime Ministers

Deputy Prime Ministers

Chief Justices

Governors of states

Lieutenant governors of union territories

Chief Ministers

Deputy chief ministers

Deputy Speakers of the Lok Sabha

Union Ministers

• R. K. Shanmukham Chetty (1892–1953), Minister of Finance (1947–1948)
• N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar (1882–1953), Minister of Defence (1952–1953)
• K. Santhanam (1895–1980), Minister of State for Transport and Railways (1948–1952)
• C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Minister of Home Affairs (1950–1951)
• P. Subbarayan (1889–1962), Minister of Transport and Communications (1959–1962)
• C. Subramaniam (1910–2000), Minister of Defence (1979–1980)
• Mohan Kumaramangalam (1916–1973), Minister of Steel and Mines (1971–1973)
• Sathiavani Muthu (1923–1999), Minister of Social Welfare (1979–1979)
• Aravinda Bala Pajanor (1935–2013), Minister of Petroleum, Chemicals and Fertilizers (1979–1979)
• P. Chidambaram (1945–), Minister of Finance (2012–2014)
• Murasoli Maran (1934–2003), Minister of Commerce and Industry (1999–2002)
• Subramanian Swamy (1939–), Minister of Commerce, Law and Justice (1990–1991)
• M. Arunachalam (1944–2004), Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (1997–1998)
• T. R. Baalu (1941–), Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (2004–2009)
• P. R. Kumaramangalam (1952–2000), Minister of Power (1998–2000)
• Sedapatti R. Muthiah (1945–2022), Minister of Surface Transport (1998–1998)
• M. Thambidurai (1947–), Minister of Law, Justice, Company Affairs and Surface Transport (1998–1999)
• R. K. Kumar (1942–1999), Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Finance (1998–1998)
• Kadambur M. R. Janarthanan (1929–2020), Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions and Finance (1998–1999)
• K. Ramamurthy (1940–2002), Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas (1998–1999)
• Gingee N. Ramachandran (1944–), Minister of State for Textiles (2003–2003)
• A. Raja (1963–), Minister of Communications and Information Technology (2009–2010)
• Pon. Radhakrishnan (1952–), Minister of State for Finance (2017–2019)
• K. Jana Krishnamurthy (1928–2007), Minister of Law and Justice (2002–2003)
• A. K. Moorthy (1964–), Minister of State for Railways (2002–2004)
• M. K. Alagiri (1951–), Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (2009–2013)
• G. K. Vasan (1964–), Minister of Shipping (2009–2014)
• Anbumani Ramadoss (1968–), Minister of Health and Family Welfare (2004–2009)
• Mani Shankar Aiyar (1941–), Minister of Panchayati Raj (2004–2009)
• S. S. Palanimanickam (1950–), Minister of State for Finance (2004–2013)
• K. Venkatapathy (1947–), Minister of State for Law and Justice (2004–2009)
• Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan (1947–), Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment (2004–2009)
• R. Velu (1940–), Minister of State for Railways (2004–2009)
• S. Regupathy (1950–), Minister of State for Environment and Forests (2007–2009)
• Dayanidhi Maran (1966–), Minister of Textiles (2009–2011)
• V. Radhika Selvi (1976–), Minister of State for Home Affairs (2007–2009)
• D. Nepoleon (1963–), Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment (2009–2013)
• S. Jagathrakshakan (1950–), Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (2012–2013)
• V. Narayanasamy (1947–), Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (2010–2014)
• Nirmala Sitharaman (1959–), Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs (2019–Incumbent)
• S. Jaishankar (1955–), Minister of External Affairs (2019–Incumbent)
• L. Murugan (1977–), Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (2021–2024); Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (2021–Incumbent); Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (2024–Incumbent)

Political leaders outside of India

• Moses Veerasammy Nagamootoo (1947–), Prime Minister, Guyana
• Jeanne Dupleix, (1706-1756), French political advisor
• S. Jayakumar (1939–), former deputy prime minister, Singapore
• Shiva Ayyadurai, American conservative influencer, entrepreneur, and engineer
• Tharman Shanmugaratnam (1957–), President of Singapore, former deputy prime minister and Minister for Finance, Singapore
• Vivian Balakrishnan (1961–), Minister for Foreign Affairs, Singapore
• Indranee Rajah (1963–), Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development, Singapore
• K. Shanmugam (1959–), Minister for Law and Minister for Home Affairs, Singapore
• S. Rajaratnam (1915–2006), former deputy prime minister, Singapore
• S. Dhanabalan (1937–), former Minister (various portfolios), Singapore
• S. Iswaran (1962–), Minister for Transport, Singapore
• S. R. Nathan (1924–2016), former president of Singapore
• J. B. Jeyaretnam (1926–2008), ex-opposition leader and MP, Singapore
• Ramasamy Palanisamy (1949–), Deputy Chief Minister of Penang state, Malaysia
• K. S. Rajah, Senior Counsel and former Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore
• Nagalingam Shanmugathasan (1920–1993), founding General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist Party, Sri Lanka
• Bala Tampoe (1922–2014), Tamil trade unionist, Sri Lanka
• Pillayan alias Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (1975–), former chief minister of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
• P. P. Devaraj (1929–), former Cabinet Minister of Sri Lanka
• Visvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam
• Samy Vellu (1937–2022), former Works Minister and Leader of Malaysian Indian Congress, Malaysia
• K. R. Somasundram (1930–), politician and member of Malaysian Indian Congress, Malaysia
• Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (1926–2008), founder of Reform Party of Singapore
• Kenneth Jeyaretnam (1959–), Secretary-General of Reform Party of Singapore
• Janil Puthucheary (1972–), Party Whip of the People's Action Party, Singapore
• Radhakrishna Padayachi (1950–2012), Deputy Minister for Communication, Republic of South Africa
• Rathika Sitsabaiesan (1981–), Member of Parliament, Canada
• Gunasagaran Gounder, prominent politician and a member of Fiji Labour Party, Fiji
• Perumal Mupnar, prominent politician and a member of Fiji Labour Party, Fiji
• S. J. V. Chelvanayakam (1898–1977), leader and father figure of Sri Lankan Tamils
• Savumiamoorthy Thondaman (1913–1999), leader of Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and had served the Sri Lankan Cabinet
• N. Shanmugathasan (1920–1993), prominent Communist politician, Sri Lanka
• Joseph Pararajasingham (1934–2005), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Lakshman Kadirgamar (1932–2005), former foreign minister, Sri Lanka
• Veerasingham Anandasangaree (1933–), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Murugesu Sivasithamparam (1923–2002), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Rajavarothiam Sampanthan (1933–), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam (1944–1999), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Appapillai Amirthalingam (1927–1989), leader of the opposition, Parliament of Sri Lanka
• Douglas Devananda (1957–), leader of EPDP and Minister of Rehabilitation, Sri Lanka
• Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani (1903–1974), Tamil journalist, writer, publisher, social activist
• Patrick Pillay, Minister of External Affairs of the Seychelles
• Jean-Paul Virapoullé (1944–), member of the Senate of France, representing the island of Réunion
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (1973–), American congressman
• E. E. C. Thuraisingham (1898–1979), first local Member in British-ruled Malaya
• Maya Harris, Vice President for Democracy, Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California.
• Vanushi Walters, New Zealand lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party representing the Upper Harbour electorate
• Vivek Ramaswamy, candidate in the USA 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries

Governors of the Reserve Bank of India

• S. Venkitaramanan, 18th governor of the Reserve Bank of India
• C. Rangarajan, 19th governor of the Reserve Bank of India
• Raghuram Rajan, 23rd governor of the Reserve Bank of India

Political families

Tamil Nadu

C. Rajagopalachari family

• C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), former governor-General of India
• C. R. Narasimhan (1909–1989), former member of parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Rajagopalachari

C.P. Ramaswami Iyer family

• C. P. Ramaswami Iyer (1879–1966), former Dewan of Travancore
• C. P. R. Pattabhiraman (1906–2001), former Union Minister of Law and Company Affairs; son of Ramaswami Iyer

D. Jayakumar family

• D. Jayakumar (1960–), former speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• J. Jayavardhan (1987–), Former member of parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Jayakumar

E. V. K. Sampath family

• E. V. K. Sampath (1926–1977), former member of parliament (Lok Sabha)
• E. V. K. S. Elangovan (1948–), Former Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles; son of E. V. K. Sampath

G. K. Moopanar family

• G. K. Moopanar (1931–2001), former member of parliament (Rajya Sabha)
• G. K. Vasan (1964–), Former Union Minister of Shipping; son of Moopanar

H. Kumari Ananthan family

• H. Kumari Ananthan (1933–), Former member of parliament (Lok Sabha)
• Tamilisai Soundararajan (1961–), Governor of Telangana; daughter of Kumari Ananthan
• H. Vasanthakumar (1950–2020), former member of parliament (Lok Sabha); brother of Kumari Ananthan
• Vijay Vasanth (1983–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); nephew of Kumari Ananthan

M. Bhakthavatsalam family

• M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987), former chief minister of Tamil Nadu
• Jayanthi Natarajan (1954–), Former Union Minister of Environment and Forests; granddaughter of Bhakthavatsalam

M. Karunanidhi family

• M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018), former chief minister of Tamil Nadu
• M. K. Alagiri (1951–), Former Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; son of Karunanidhi
• M. K. Stalin (1953–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; son of Karunanidhi
• Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (1968–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); daughter of Karunanidhi
• Dayanidhi Alagiri (unknown–), Indian cinema producer; grandson of Karunanidhi
• Udhayanidhi Stalin (1977–), Member of Legislative Assembly (Tamil Nadu); grandson of Karunanidhi
• Arulnithi Tamilarasu (1987–), Indian actor; grandson of Karunanidhi
• Murasoli Maran (1934–2003), Former Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; nephew of Karunanidhi
• Kalanithi Maran (1964–), Founder of the Sun Group; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi
• Dayanidhi Maran (1966–), Former Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi

An O. Panneerselvam family

• O. Panneerselvam (1951–), former chief minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• P. Ravindhranath (1980–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Panneerselvam

P. Subbarayan family

• P. Subbarayan (1889–1962), former chief minister of Madras Presidency; former Union Minister of Transport and Communications
• Mohan Kumaramangalam (1916–1973), Former Union Minister of Steel and Mines; son of Subbarayan
• Parvathi Krishnan (1919–2014), member of the Communist Party of India; daughter of Subbarayan
• Rangarajan Kumaramangalam (1952–2000), Former member of parliament (Lok Sabha); grandson of Subbarayan
• Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam (1978–), member of the Indian National Congress; great-grandson of Subbarayan
• Lalitha Kumaramangalam (1957–), member of the National Executive of the BJP; granddaughter of P. Subbarayan

P. T. Rajan family

• P. T. Rajan (1892–1974), former chief minister of Madras Presidency
• P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan (1932–2006), former speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly; son of P.T. Rajan
• P. T. R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu; grandson of P.T. Rajan

Sri Lanka

Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy family

• Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy (1783–1836), Gate Mudaliyar, Member of Legislative Council
• Muthu Coomaraswamy (1833–1879), Member of Legislative Council, son of Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy
• Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), grandson of Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy

Arunachalam Ponnambalam family

• Arunachalam Ponnambalam (1814–1887), son in law of Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy
• P. Coomaraswamy (1849–1906), first son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam
• P. Ramanathan (1851–1930), second son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam
• Arunachalam Mahadeva (1885–1969), son of P. Ramanathan
• Baku Mahadeva (1921–2013), grandson of P. Ramanathan
• P. Arunachalam (1853–1924), third son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam

S. Pararajasingam family

• S. Pararajasingam, senator, son in law of P. Arunachalam, married Pathmavathy (daughter of P. Arunachalam)

V. P. Ganeshan family

• V. P. Ganeshan, founder of the Democratic Workers' Congress, film producer and actor
• Mano Ganesan (1959–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan
• Praba Ganesan (1964–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan

Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman family

• Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman (1913–1999), founder and leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, government minister, Member of Parliament
• Arumugam Thondaiman (1964–), leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, Member of Parliament, grandson of Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman

G. G. Ponnambalam family

• G. G. Ponnambalam (1901–1977), founder and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, government minister, Member of Parliament, Member of State Council
• Kumar Ponnambalam (1940–2000), former leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, presidential candidate (1982), son of G.G. Ponnambalam
• Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (1974–), present leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, son of Kumar Ponnambalam, grandson of G.G. Ponnambalam

Arumugam Canagaratnam family

• Arumugam Canagaratnam (1873–1929), Member of Legislative Council
• Cathiravelu Sittampalam (1898–1964), government minister, Member of Parliament, son of A. Cathiravelu, nephew of A.Canagaratnam
• Cathiravelu Ponnambalam, first mayor of Jaffna, son of A. Cathiravelu, nephew of A. Canagaratnam

Military leaders

Army

• General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam (1913–2000), 7th Chief of Army Staff (1966–1969)
• General Krishnaswamy Sundararajan (1930–1999), 14th Chief of Army Staff (1986–1988)
• General Sundararajan Padmanabhan (1940–), 19th Chief of Army Staff (2000–2002)

Navy

• Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson (1923–2011), 12th Chief of Naval Staff, India, 1982–1984
• Admiral Sushil Kumar (1940–2019), 16th Chief of the Naval Staff (India) (1988–2001)
• Vice Admiral Nilkanta Krishnan (1919–1982), Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, India, 1947–1976
• Rear Admiral Rajan Kadiragamar, 2nd Ceylonese Captain of the Royal Ceylon Navy
• Admiral Travis Sinniah, 21st Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy

Air Force

• Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishna Swamy (1943–), 19th Chief of Air Staff (2001–2004)

Independence Movement

• Velupillai Prabhakaran, founder of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
• Vaithilingam Sornalingam, also known as Colonel Shanker, was founder of the air wing and marine division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
• Ambalavanar Neminathan commonly known by the nom de guerre Raju) was a leading member of the Tamil Tigers, Raju served as the head of the LTTE's Engineering Corps. He was special commander of the Leopard Commandos, an infantry unit, and chief technical officer in the Kittu Regiment, the LTTE's artillery unit which Raju helped create.
• Pottu Amman, was the second-in-command of Tamil Tigers. was a Head of Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service and the Black Tigers.
• Lt. Colonel Thileepan

Award winners

Nobel Prize winners

• C. V. Raman, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1930
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1983
• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009

Fields Medal

• Akshay Venkatesh, Fields Medal in mathematics, 2018

Bharat Ratna

The Bharat Ratna, Highest Civilian Award of the Republic of India

• C. Rajagopalachari, former governor-General of the Union of India; 1954
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former president of the Republic of India; 1954
• C. V. Raman, Indian physicist; 1954
• K. Kamaraj, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu; 1976
• M. G. Ramachandran, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu; 1988
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former president of the Republic of India; 1997
• M. S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer; 1998
• C. Subramaniam, former minister of defence of the Republic of India; 1998
• M. S. Swaminathan, Father of the Green Revolution in the Republic of India; 2024

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is India's second highest civilian honour.

• Arcot Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, for Medicine, 1963
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, for Science & Engineering, 1968
• K. V. Kalyana Sundaram, for Public Affairs, 1968
• Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, for Civil Service, 1970
• T. Swaminathan, for Civil Service, 1973
• T. Balasaraswati, for Arts, 1977
• V. Arunachalam, for Literature & Education, 1990
• Raja Jesudoss Chelliah, for Public Affairs, 2007
• Balu Sankaran, for Medicine, 2007
• V. Krishnamurthy, for Civil Service, 2007
• Ilaiyaraaja, for Music, 2018

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is India's third highest civilian honour.

• Sivaji Ganesan, 1984
• Kamal Haasan, Arts
• Ilaiyaraaja, veteran musician and Tamil music director
• A. R. Rahman, Oscar-winning musician from Chennai; referred to as the Mozart of Madras
• Arogyaswami Paulraj, wireless technology pioneer
• Shiv Nadar, Indian industrialist and philanthropist
• Jayakanthan, author
• Krishnammal Jaganathan, Social Service

Padma Shri

The Padma Shri is India's fourth highest civilian honour.

• Sivaji Ganesan (1966), Arts
• K. Balachander (1987), Arts
• Vairamuthu (2003), Literature and Education
• B. Palaniappan (2006), Medicine
• Sivanthi Adithan (2008), Literature and Education
• Vivek (2009), Arts
• E. A. Siddiq (2011) Science
• Mecca Rafeeque Ahmed (2011), businessman and entrepreneur

Ramon Magsaysay Award

The Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in 1957 in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the late president of the Philippines. It is often considered to be Asia's Nobel Prize.

• M. S. Swaminathan, for Community Leadership, 1971
• M. S. Subbulakshmi, for classical carnatic genre, 1974
• Jockin Arputham, for Peace and International Understanding, 2000
• Kulandei Francis, 2012
• T. M. Krishna, 2016

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered as the father of Indian cinema.

• Sivaji Ganesan, 1996
• K. Balachander, 2011
• Rajinikanth, 2019

Param Vir Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest military honor.

• Major Ramaswamy Parmeshwaran (1946–1987), awarded in 1987 (posthumous) for IPKF operations in Sri Lanka

Sahitya Akademi Award

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is India's highest sporting honor.

• Viswanathan Anand, for Chess, 1991–92
• Dhanraj Pillai, for Men's field hockey, 1999–2000
• Mariyappan Thangavelu, for Paralympic high jump, 2020–2021

Jnanpith Award

The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honor

• Akilan, 1975
• Jayakanthan, 2002

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

• Vyjayanthimala, Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1982

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship

• Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer
• Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar
• Papanasam R. Sivan
• V. Raghavan

Guinness World Records

• L. Athira Krishna, Guinness World Record holder
• Suresh Joachim, Canadian actor, producer, and multiple-Guinness World Record holder
• V. S. Kumar Anandan, his many records include swimming the Palk Strait, from Sri Lanka to India and back in 51 hours, in 1971
• Kutraleeswaran, swam across English Channel in 1994 when he was just 13 years old; the same year, he swam across six channels to break Mihir Sen's record of swimming across five channels in a calendar year
• Rajasekharan Parameswaran, Guinness World Records holder.
• Aari Arujunan, actor and Guinness World Record holder

Arjuna Award

The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 by the Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in national sports.

• Kutraleeswaran, youngest Arjuna Award winner

Oscar awards

• A. R. Rahman, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2009
• Cottalango Leon, won the Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement "the design, engineering and continuous development"[a] of Sony Pictures Imageworks itView technology in 2016

Social workers

• Pandit Iyothee Thass, Anti-caste activist, founding father of dravidian movement and first buddhist revivalist of India
• M. B. Nirmal, founder and chairman of Exnora International
• Suresh Joachim, founder and chairman of World Peace Marathon
• Krishnammal Jagannathan
• Naraina Pillai
• Anjali Gopalan, first Indian Tamil woman awarded with the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, "Knight in the order of the legions of Honor", the highest award from France, 2013
• Harish Iyer, Mumbai based blogger and LGBT rights activist
• Chinna Pillai, started Kalanjiam, a microcredit movement in villages
• Traffic Ramasamy, self-appointed traffic policeman, public interest litigator and social activist from Chennai
• Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty international
• Rettamalai Srinivasan, Dalit activist
• Pattukkottai Alagiri, Social activist

Criminals

• Bentong Kali (1961–1993), was a Malaysian-Tamil criminal and mobster who gained a national attention in the 1990s. He was implicated in over 17 different murders, and terrorized the capital Kuala Lumpur through violence, extortion and heroin smuggling. He also made headlines when he challenged the police to arrest him. He was finally gunned down by Royal Malaysia Police's Special Actions Unit from Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.
• Douglas Devananda (1957-) is a paramilitary leader, politician and a proclaimed offender in India and is wanted on charges of murder, attempt to murder, child prostitution, rioting, unlawful assembly and kidnapping. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers), tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him over 10 times.
• Varadarajan Mudaliar (1926–1988), also known as Vardhabhai and Vardha, was an Indian-Tamil crime boss. He was one of the infamous trio of mafia gang leaders of Mumbai the other being Karim Lala and Haji Mastan. His origin is North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, from where his father migrated to Tuticorin to work in shipping business. He was born in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. From early 1960s to the 1980s; he was one of the most powerful mob bosses in Bombay, along with Haji Mastan and Karim Lala.

• Haji Mastan (1926-1994), was an organised crime gang leader, originally from Tamil Nadu and based in Bombay. He was one of an infamous trio of mafia gang leaders in Bombay for over two decades from the 1960s to the early 1980s, along with Karim Lala leader of the Pathan gang, and Varadarajan Mudaliar, another famous gang leader from Tamil Nadu in South India.

• Auto Shankar (1954–1995), was a serial killer and a gangster from the state of Tamil Nadu active in Chennai throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Business and administration

Tamil billionaires

• Ananda Krishnan, Chairman of Usaha Tegas Snd Bhd
• Kalanithi Maran, founder and chairman of Sun Group
• Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman emeritus of HCL Technologies
• Ram Shriram, founding board member of Google
• A. Vellayan, vice-chairman of the Murugappa Group
• Maha Sinnathamby, businessman and property developer
• G. Gnanalingam, chairman of Westports Malaysia
• R. G. Chandramogan, entrepreneur
• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc
• B. S. Abdur Rahman, entrepreneur and philanthropist
• T. S. Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers
• Subaskaran Allirajah, chairman of LycaMobile
• Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corporation

Tamil executives and business people

• Palani G. Periasamy, Chairman of PGP Group of companies
• Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, Inc.
• Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube
• Vasant Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis
• Revathi Advaithi, CEO of Flex
• Ronald Arculli, Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and Non-official Members Convenor of the Executive Council of Hong Kong (Exco)
• Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior vice President of Google Inc.
• Kalanidhi Maran, founder and head of Sun TV Network; ex-owner of SpiceJet Airline and owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team
• Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata & Sons
• Subramaniam Ramadorai, adviser, Prime Minister of India
• N. Ravichandran, founder and chairman of TVH Group
• Suresh Joachim, CEO WBBAS, No Poverty No Disease No War, World Peace Marathon and Suresh Joachim International Group Of Companies.
• Ramamurthy Thyagarajan

Educators

• L. S. Kandasamy, teacher at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
• Jeppiaar, founder, Sathyabama University
• V. L. Ethiraj, founder, Ethiraj College for Women
• Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
• B. S. Abdur Rahman, founder, B. S. Abdur Rahman University
• Munirathna Anandakrishnan, former chairman, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and former vice-chancellor, Anna University
• Bala V. Balachandran, founder, dean and chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management
• V. M. Muralidharan, chairman, Ethiraj College for Women
• 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
• 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

Philanthropists

• Annamalai Chettiar
• Pachaiyappa Mudaliar
• Chengalvaraya Naicker
• Kandasamy Kandar
• Kajamian Rowther
• Alagappa Chettiar
• T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar
• Jamal Mohamed Rowther

Diplomats

• Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Sri Lankan foreign minister and diplomat
• Gopalapuram Parthasarathy, diplomat and author in India
• Yogendra Duraiswamy, Sri Lankan diplomat
• Tamara Kunanayakam
• Arunachalam Mahadeva
• Anton Muttukumaru
• Manicasothy Saravanamuttu
• H. W. Thambiah
• Krishnan Srinivasan
• K. Raghunath
• Beno Zephine N L

Journalists and broadcasters

• J. S. Tissainayagam, journalist, first winner of the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism
• George Alagiah, BBC reporter and journalist
• James Coomarasamy, BBC reporter and journalist
• Ranga Yogeshwar, Luxembourgish physicist and science journalist
• Marc Fennell, Irish-Australian journalist, media personality, and author
• Darshini David, BBC reporter and journalist
• Tim Kash, MTV and BBC reporter and journalist
• Taraki Sivaram, political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com
• E. Saravanapavan, managing director of the Uthayan and Sudar Oli Tamil newspapers
• N. Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu newspaper owned by Kasturi and Sons
• Cho Ramaswamy, editor of the Tamil political journal Tughlaq
• Thenkachi Ko. Swaminathan, deputy director of All India Radio, 'Indru oru thagaval Fame'
• Hari Sreenivasan, Public Broadcasting Service
• Thangavelu Rajasegar, Chief Executive Officer of Tamil Murasu, Straits Times Group, Singapore

Scientists

• Mylswamy Annadurai, scientist with the Indian Space Research Organization; Director of ISRO Satellite Centre
• Shiva Ayyadurai, as a high school student in 1979, he developed an electronic version of an interoffice mail system, which he called "EMAIL" and copyrighted in 1982
• Kailasavadivoo Sivan, who served as chairperson of Indian Space Research Organization.

Social anthropologists

• Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah

Academicians

• Arumugam Vijiaratnam, became the first Pro-Chancellor of Nanyang Technological University in 1992 and served until 2005
• Bala V. Balachandran, founder and dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India; professor at Northwestern University
• V. L. Ethiraj, founder of Ethiraj College for Women
• Malcolm Adiseshiah (1910–1994), economist; former Deputy Director General of UNESCO; founder of MIDS (Madras Institute of Development Studies)
• V. C. Kulandaiswamy, educator and technologist; formerly Vice Chancellor of Anna University, IGNOU and Tamil Virtual University
• M. Varadarasan, winner of sahitya Academy Award; Ex-Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University
• Prof Philip Jeyaretnam, professor of law; member of Public Service Commission
• Prof Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam, former Head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the National University of Singapore
• Arjun Appadurai, contemporary social theorist; educator; founder of the School of International Relations, JNU, New Delhi
• Dr. H.S.S. Lawrence, educator; formerly Director of School Education, Tamil Nadu; UNESCO Expert to the Government of Afghanistan
• C. K. Prahalad, Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan
• Prof B.P. Sanjay, vice-chancellor of First Central University in Tamil Nadu at Tiruvaroor
• M. S. Ananth, director of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
• Xavier Thaninayagam, known for setting up the International Association for Tamil Research (IATR) and organising the first World Tamil Conference
• Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, appointed a member of the Order of Australia
• Sanjay Subrahmanyam, awarded the Infosys Prize in the field of humanities (history) in 2012
• Indira Samarasekera, 12th and current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta
• Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist known primarily for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics

Agriculture

• G. Nammalvar, Indian organic farming scientist
• E. A. Siddiq, agricultural scientist
• M. S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

Botanists

• Ganapathi Thanikaimoni (1938–1986)
• M. O. P. Iyengar
• Dr. C. Livingstone

Computer science

• Ramanathan V. Guha, known for his work on Cyc, Schema.org, Meta Content Framework, Resource Description Framework; developed the first version of RSS
• Madhu Sudan (1966–), professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; member of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Hari Balakrishnan, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; member of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Arogyaswami Paulraj (1944–), Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University; a pioneer of wireless smart antenna technology
• Shiva Ayyadurai
• Ravindran Kannan, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research India
• T. V. Raman
• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

Finance and economics

• Marti Subrahmanyam, professor at New York University (NYU); on board of directors of Infosys and ICICI
• Bala V. Balachandran, professor at the Kellogg School of Management
• Ravi Jagannathan, economist and professor at the Kellogg School of Management
• H. V. R. Iyengar, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1957–1962)
• S. Jagannathan, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1970–1975); executive at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• M. Narasimham, banker; ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1977); executive at the World Bank and IMF
• S. Venkitaramanan, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1990–1992)
• K. Ramachandran, Director and CFO of Barclays Wealth, India (2008–)
• T. N. Srinivasan (1933–), economist; Samuel C. Park Jr. Professor of Economics at Yale University
• Raghuram Rajan, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business, ex- Governor of Reserve Bank of India (2013–2016), Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund (IMF), (2003–2007)
• Sendhil Mullainathan, co-founder of Ideas-42
• Jomo Kwame Sundaram
• Ramon Navaratnam
• Raj Chetty, listed in 2008 by The Economist as one of the top eight young economists in the world
• Swaminathan Gurumurthy, Indian economist
• Arvind Subramanian, Indian Economist, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (2014–2018)
• Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Indian Economist, Associate Professor in Indian School of Business and current Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (2018-)

Law

• K. Sripavan, Chief Justice of Sri Lanka; former Deputy Solicitor General; judge and president of the Court of Appeal; Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
• Rajesh Sreenivasan
• Karthy Govender, Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission; law professor at the University of Natal
• K. S. Rajah, former Supreme Court Judge – Singapore
• Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; South African of Indian origin and Tamil descent; first non-white woman on the High Court of South Africa; has served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
• M. Patanjali Sastri, Second Chief Justice of India
• V. Bhashyam Aiyangar, lawyer and jurist
• A. Vaidyanatha Iyer(1890–1955), Tamil Indian activist; participated in the Indian independence movement and organized the temple entry movement in the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai; President of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Seva Sangh
• Mythili Raman, Tamil American lawyer; current acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
• Sri Srinivasan, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, C. J. Koh Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore
• Malliha Wilson, Former Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Government of Ontario

Mathematics

• Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920), known for his contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions
• Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, known for his book Vedic Mathematics
• Ramachandran Balasubramanian, Indian number theorist; Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, India
• Subbayya Sivasankaranarayana Pillai (1901–1950), known for his work in number theory
• Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan (1920–1992), known work in number theory
• Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer (1918–2001), mathematician and Tamil rights activist from Sri Lanka; recipient of the Order of Australia
• C. S. Seshadri, Director of the Chennai Mathematical Institute; Trieste awardee
• S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan, mathematician and fellow of the Royal Society, Abel Prize winner. Pioneer of LargeDeviations Theory.
• C. P. Ramanujam (1938–1974), worked on number theory and algebraic geometry
• T. S. Vijayaraghavan (1902–1955), worked on Pisot–Vijayaraghavan number
• Ravindran Kannan, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Yale University; joint winner of the 1991 Fulkerson Prize in discrete mathematics for work on the volumes of convex bodies
• Kannan Soundararajan
• Ramaiyengar Sridharan
• Srinivasacharya Raghavan
• Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan
• A. A. Krishnaswami Ayyangar, exponent of Vedic mathematics
• Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan, mathematician and fellow of the Royal Society (1996)
• K. R. Parthasarathy, professor emeritus at the Indian Statistical Institute of New Delhi
• Ramaiyengar Sridharan, mathematician at Chennai Mathematical Institute; awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Mathematical Science
• Raman Parimala, known for her contributions to algebra
• S. Ramanan, works in algebraic geometry
• Kavita Ramanan, daughter of S. Ramanan. Mathematician at Brown University

Medicine

• Balamurali Ambati, world's youngest doctor at age 17
• Rangaswamy Srinivasan, ultraviolet excimer laser / LASIK inventor at IBM Research
• V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist; Director Professor at UC San Diego
• S. S. Ratnam, pioneer in Singapore in-vitro fertilisation; Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry
• Ganapathi Thanikaimoni, palynologist at French Institute of Pondicherry; awarded the Fyson Prize in Natural Science
• Govindappa Venkataswamy, founder of Aravind Eye Hospital
• Ravi Iyengar, professor and founder of the Iyengar Laboratory, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• Gunamudian David Boaz, Indian Tamil psychologist
• Paul Kalanithi, Neurosurgeon
• Manoj Durairaj, Cardiac surgeon, philanthropist and winner of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
• Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of WHO
• Celine Gounder, is an American Tamil infectious disease physician, internist, epidemiologist, filmmaker, and medical journalist who specializes in infectious disease and global health
• Raghavan Varadarajan, Molecular Biologist At Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore
• V. Shanta, Cancer Specialist Head Of Adyar Cancer Institute

Engineering (scientists)

• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, 1930 Nobel Prize winner in physics
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 1983 Nobel Prize Winner in physics
• Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former chairman of ISRO; director of the National Institute of Advanced studies (NIAS)
• Raja Ramanna, former chairman of Department of Atomic Energy; presided over India's first nuclear test in 1974
• Dr. P. K. Iyengar, former chairman of Department of Atomic Energy
• M. R. Srinivasan, former chairman of the Department of Atomic Energy
• R. Chidambaram, scientific adviser to the prime minister of India and ex-chairman of Atomic Energy Commission
• S. R. Ranganathan, devised the five laws of library science
• A. Sivathanu Pillai, defence scientist; CEO of the Indo-Russian Brahmos company
• G. N. Ramachandran (1922–2001), made major contributions to biology and physics
• R. V. Perumal, former director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
• Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan (1931–), physicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
• Udaya Kumar, designer of the Indian rupee sign
• Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Arunachalam
• Poondi Kumaraswamy, only person to have received both the Homi Bhabha Fellowship 1967–69 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship 1975–77, two of the country's top research awards; hydrologist
• P. S. Krishnaprasad, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Maryland
• S. Somasegar, recipient of the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award
• S. Vanajah, the only woman among four finalists who outlasted 11,000 other Malaysians who applied for the astronaut selection process in 2003
• Ramamurti Shankar, John Randolph Huffman Professor of Physics at Yale University
• B. C. Shekhar, modernised Malaysia's natural rubber industry
• Raman Sundrum, developed a class of models called the Randall–Sundrum models
• Siva Sivananthan, awarded the "Champion of Change" (Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovators category) by the White House

Zoologists

• Mahadeva Subramania Mani, entomologist

Music

Tamil music

• Muthu Thandavar, one of the Tamil Trinity
• Marimutthu Pillai, one of the Tamil Trinity
• Arunachala Kavi, one of the Tamil Trinity
• Kunangudi Mastan sahib
• Kollangudi Karuppayee
• Nagore E. M. Hanifa

Carnatic music

• Papanasam Sivan
• Sikkil Gurucharan
• Lalgudi Jayaraman
• Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan
• Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar
• T. M. Krishna
• Madurai Mani Iyer
• Veena Dhanammal
• E. Gayathri
• D. K. Pattammal
• Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
• Muthuswami Dikshitar
• N. Ramani
• L. Athira Krishna
• Aruna Sairam
• T. Brinda
• T. Muktha
• T. Viswanathan
• R. Vedavalli
• Sirkazhi Govindarajan
• Maharajapuram Santhanam
• Sanjay Subrahmanyan
• T. M. Krishna
• T. M. Soundararajan
• Nithyashree Mahadevan
• Nirmala Rajasekar
• Nisha Rajagopalan
• Chinmayi
• Mahathi
• Aruna Sayeeram
• Alathur Brothers, Alathur Brothers Srinivasa Iyer (1912–1964) and Sivasubramania Iyer (1916–1980)
• Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar
• Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar
• Patnam Subramania Iyer
• G. N. Balasubramaniam
• S. Sowmya
• M. L. Vasanthakumari
• Charumathi Ramachandran
• Vasundhara Devi
• Vyjayanthimala
• Abraham Pandithar, musicologist and siddha medicine practitioner from Madras Presidency, British India
• Ranjani & Gayatri

Hindustani music

• Chinmayi
• Hariharan

Film music

• K. V. Mahadevan (1918–2001), composer; winner of the National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1968 & 1980)
• T. K. Ramamoorthy (1922–2013), composer
• V. Kumar (1934–1996)
• Ilayaraja
• Gangai Amaran (1947–), composer, singer, director
• Chandrabose (?–2010), composer
• Shankar–Ganesh, composer
• Deva (1950–), composer, singer
• S. A. Rajkumar (1964–), composer
• Sirpy (1962–), composer
• A. R. Rahman (1967–), composer, singer, winner of Academy Award for Best Original Song, National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1993, 1997, 2002 & 2003)
• Yuvan Shankar Raja (1979–), composer, singer, winner of Cyprus International Film Festival Award in 2006 for Raam
• Harris Jayaraj (1975–), composer
• Kavita Krishnamurti (1958–), singer
• D. Imman (1983–), composer, singer
• Srikanth Deva, composer, singer
• Bobo Shashi, composer, singer
• Karthik Raja (1973–), composer
• Bharadwaj (1960–), composer, singer
• G. V. Prakash Kumar (1987–), composer, singer, actor
• Vijay Antony (1975–), composer, singer, actor
• Anirudh Ravichander (1990–), composer, singer
• James Vasanthan, composer
• Santhosh Narayanan (1983–), composer
• Mohamaad Ghibran (1980–), composer
• Joshua Sridhar (2004–), composer
• Nivas K. Prasanna (2014–), composer

Western music

• Master Dhanraj, Mentor of Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman
• Guy Sebastian, Malaysian-Australian singer and songwriter
• M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam), British musician
• Solé, American rapper
• Sketchy Bongo (Yuvir Pillay), South African musician and DJ
• Clarence Jey (Clarence Jeyaretnam), Sri Lankan American record producer
• Yogi B (Yogeswaran Veerasingam), Malaysian hiphop artist, founder of Poetic Ammo
• Kamahl (Kandiah Kamalesvaran), Australian cabaret/easy listening singer
• Tharini Mudaliar, Australian singer and violinist
• Tommy Genesis, Canadian rapper
• Shan Vincent de Paul, Canadian singer-songwriter, Rapper
• Jacintha Abisheganaden, Singaporean singer
• Rudra, Singaporean death metal band
• Shruti Haasan, western singer, daughter of Tamil actor Kamal Haasan
• Blaaze, rap artist and playback singer
• Lord Kossity
• Siva Kaneswaran, band member of The Wanted
• Arjun Coomaraswamy, UK R&B singer
• Dinesh Kanagaratnam, Sri Lankan hiphop artist
• Hiphop Tamizha, Tamil rap duo
• Vidya Vox, American singer
• Yanchan, Canadian music artist
• Priya Ragu, Swiss singer
• Shruthi Rajasekar, American composer and singer
• Rhea Raj, American singer-songwriter
• Lara Raj, American singer- Member of Katseye

Other

• Jaclyn Victor, Malaysian singer, winner of inaugural Malaysian Idol
• Chen Gexin, Chinese songwriter
• Chen Gang, Chinese composer
• Lydian Nadhaswaram, child prodigy, Indian pianist, winner of The World's Best, 2019
• Ashan Pillai, Sri Lankan born British violist and professor

Dance

• T. Balasaraswati
• Chitra Visweswaran
• Padma Subramanyam
• Rukmini Devi Arundale
• Anita Ratnam
• Vyjayanthimala
• Rajee Narayan

Cinema

Directors

• Thangar Bachan
• C. V. Sridhar
• A. P. Nagarajan
• A. C. Tirulokchandar
• K. Balachander
• Balu Mahendra
• Mahendran
• Bharathiraja
• A. L. Vijay
• A. Bhimsingh
• S. P. Muthuraman
• S. A. Chandrasekhar
• Liaquat Ali Khan
• Bhagyaraj
• T. Rajendar
• P. Vasu
• Lenin M. Sivam
• Suresh Krissna
• K. S. Ravikumar
• Mani Ratnam
• S. Shankar
• Nelson Dilipkumar
• Vetrimaaran
• Atlee
• Lokesh Kanagaraj
• AR Murugadoss
• V. Z. Durai
• Seenu Ramasamy
• Bharathan
• Selvaraghavan
• Thiagarajan Kumararaja
• Bala
• Karthik Subbaraj
• Nalan Kumarasamy
• Gautham Vasudev Menon (half malayali)
• Mohan Raja
• Vasanthabalan
• Ram
• S. J. Surya
• R. Ajay Gnanamuthu
• Karthick Naren
• Kamal Haasan
• Balaji Sakthivel
• K. V. Anand
• P. C. Sreeram
• Jeeva
• Vijay Milton
• Dharani
• Hari
• Ameer Sultan
• Agathian
• S. P. Jananathan
• Tamiliam Subas
• Mysskin
• Prabu Solomon
• Pandiraj
• Siruthai Siva
• Pa. Ranjith
• Samuthirakani
• Sasikumar
• Sasi
• R. K. Selvamani
• Ezhil
• Saran
• Prabhu Deva
• Chimbu Deven
• Silambarasan
• Suseenthiran
• Venkat Prabhu
• Vikraman

Actors

• Gemini Ganesan
• Kamal Haasan
• Suriya
• Silambarasan
• Thalapathy Vijay
• R. Madhavan
• Saravanan
• Sivaji Ganesan
• Jayam Ravi (half tamil)
• Arun Vijay
• Harish Kalyan
• Siddharth
• Karthi
• Vijay Sethupathi
• Sivakarthikeyan
• Vadivelu
• Goundamani
• Senthil
• Ramarajan
• Chitti Babu
• Vivek
• Santhanam
• Sathyaraj
• Shaam
• Sathish
• Sibi Sathyaraj
• Vikram
• M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
• N. S. Krishnan
• P. U. Chinnappa
• M. K. Mustafa
• T. R. Mahalingam
• Yogi Babu
• Manivannan
• Thengai Srinivasan
• Manobala
• Mansoor Ali Khan
• Vennira Aadai Moorthy
• Karunas
• Delhi Ganesh
• Singamuthu
• Kumarimuthu
• Vinu Chakravarthy
• Vijay Antony
• G. V. Prakash Kumar
• T. Rajendar
• Sam Anderson
• Prashanth Thyagarajan, half Tamil

Actresses

• Trisha (actress)
• Nivetha Pethuraj(half Tamil)
• Shruti Haasan, half Tamil
• Menaka (actress)
• Keerthy Suresh, half Tamil
• Priya Anand, half Tamil
• Regina Cassandra
• Priyamani
• Rekha, half Tamil
• Meena, half Telugu and half malayali
• Sridevi, half Tamil
• Priya Bhavani Shankar
• Losliya Mariyanesan
• Vyjanthimala
• Madhoo
• Meenakshi Seshadri
• Vidya Balan, half Tamil
• Riythvika
• Suhasini Maniratnam
• Hema Malini
• Esha Deol, half Tamil
• Priyanka Arul Mohan, half Tamil
• Indhuja Ravichandran
• Janani (actress)
• Amritha Aiyer
• Ramya Krishnan
• Sai Dhanshika

Music composers

See: Film music

• A. R. Rahman
• Anirudh Ravichander
• Yuvan Shankar Raja
• Ilaiyaraaja
• G. V. Prakash Kumar
• Harris Jayaraj
• D. Imman
• Ghibran
• Vivek-Mervin
• Santhosh Narayanan
• Justin Prabhakaran
• Gangai Amaran
• Deva (composer)
• Sam C. S.
• Vijay Antony
• Darbuka Siva
• Sean Roldan
• Sai Abhyankkar

In Hollywood

• Sendhil Ramamurthy, actor in NBC drama Heroes and Netflix series Never Have I Ever; half Tamil
• Ashok Amritraj, filmmaker, producer
• Geraldine Viswanathan, actress from Blockers (film); half Tamil
• Sunkrish Bala, actor in ABC show Notes from the Underbelly
• Mindy Kaling, actor in NBC sitcom The Office; half Tamil
• Aziz Ansari, actor and comedian
• Poorna Jagannathan, actress in Netflix series Never Have I Ever
• Chandran Rutnam, award-winning director for the movie A Common Man at the Madrid International Film Festival; half Tamil.
• M. Night Shyamalan, director; half Tamil
• Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, a Canadian actress in Netflix series Never Have I Ever
• Selva Rasalingam, actor; half Tamil
• Nimmi Harasgama, actress in Funny Boy (2020 film); half Tamil
• Amara Karan, actress in The Darjeeling Limited
• Simone Ashley, actress in Bridgerton
• Charithra Chandran, actress in Bridgerton

Other entertainers

• Padma Lakshmi, American model and television host
• Angela Jonsson, Icelandic model and actress
• Amelia Henderson, British-Malaysian media personality
• Anjana Vasan, British-Singaporean actress
• Law Lan, Hong Kong actress
• Cassandra Ponti, Filipino actress
• Tatiana Kumar, French-Malaysian model
• Huzir Sulaiman, Malaysian director and actor
• Waheeda Rehman, Indian actress and dancer
• Michelle Saram, Chinese-Singaporean actress and singer
• Romesh Ranganathan, British comedian
• Sindhu Vee, British stand-up comedian; half Tamil
• Aurore Kichenin, French model
• Deborah Priya Henry, Malaysian-Irish model and television personality

Sports and games

Athletics

• Mariyappan Thangavelu, winner of the gold medal in Paralympics, high jump
• Santhi Soundarajan, first World Peace Sports Festival Ambassador from India; first Tamil woman to win a medal at Asian Games
• Mani Jegathesan
• Sathish Sivalingam
• Gomathi Marimuthu, winner of the gold medal in Asian athletics championship

Basketball

• Anitha Pauldurai, basketball player

Boxing

• Venkatesan Devarajan was the second Indian to win a medal at the Boxing World Cup after Pu Zoramthanga (boxer), from Mizoram. He is from Chennai, India. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1995. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. V. Devarajan has been a fighter on and off the boxing ring. He broke new ground by becoming the first Indian to win a World Cup medal on foreign soil in 1994.
• Kalaivani Srinivasan is a female boxer from Tamil Nadu who won a silver medal at the Indian Seniors National Boxing Championship in Vijayanagar in 2019. She was named the ‘Most Promising Boxer’ at the Indian National Boxing Championship in 2019. She later won a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2019.

Carrom

• A. Maria Irudayam, world carrom champion and Arjuna Award winner for carrom (1996)
• R. Arokiaraj, carrom champion

Volleyball

• A. Palanisamy, first Arjuna Award winner for volleyball (1961)
• G. E. Sridharan, Arjuna Award winner
• Sivabalan, played for India and currently playing for IOB, Chennai

Chess

• Viswanathan Anand, world chess champion; first Indian to earn the title of Grandmaster
• Manuel Aaron, first Indian to earn the title of International Master
• Murugan Thiruchelvam, chess player from United Kingdom
• Krishnan Sasikiran, Grandmaster and Arjuna Award winner for chess (2002)
• S. Vijayalakshmi, six-time women's national champion of India; first woman Grandmaster from India; Arjuna Award winner for chess (2000)
• Aarthie Ramaswamy, woman Grandmaster and under-18 girls' world chess champion
• Baskaran Adhiban, chess Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu
• S. P. Sethuraman, chess Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu
• Srinath Narayanan, Chess Grandmaster From Tamil Nadu
• Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Chess Grandmaster From Tamil Nadu

Cricket

India

• M.J. Gopalan (1909–2003), represented India in both international field hockey and cricket
• C. R. Rangachari (1916–1993), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team
• M. Suryanarayan (1930–2010), batsman, Indian Test cricketer
• C. D. Gopinath (1930–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team
• Ravichandran Ashwin, all rounder, Indian Cricket Team
• S. Venkataraghavan (1945–), ex-Captain of Indian Cricket Team and Test and ODI umpire
• K. Srikkanth (1959–), ex-Captain and current Chief Selector of Indian Cricket Team
• T. A. Sekhar (1956–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team
• Thiru Kumaran (1975–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team
• T.E. Srinivasan, batsman, Indian Cricket Team
• L. Sivaramakrishnan (1965–), spin bowler, Indian Cricket Team
• Margasahayam Venkataramana (1966–), test cricketer, off-spinner
• V. B. Chandrasekhar, batsman, Indian Cricket Team
• Bharat Arun (1962–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team
• Murali Kartik (1976–), spin bowler, Indian Cricket Team, Kolkata Knight Riders, Pune Warriors
• Sadagoppan Ramesh (1975–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team
• Subramaniam Badrinath (1980–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings
• Murali Vijay (1984–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings
• Lakshmipathy Balaji (1981–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders
• Dinesh Karthik (1985–), wicketkeeper, Indian Cricket Team, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians
• Washington Sundar (1999–), all-rounder, Indian Cricket Team, Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Thangarasu Natarajan, pacer From Salem Tamil Nadu
• Varun Chakravarthy, spinner
• Murugan Ashwin, leg spinner
• Venkatesh Iyer, Batsman

Other countries

• Muttiah Muralitharan (1972–), highest wicket taker in test and ODI cricket from Sri Lanka
• Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan all rounder and captain
• Russel Arnold, Sri Lankan cricketer and journalist
• Roy Dias, former Sri Lankan test cricketer/vice captain; a Tamil of Negombo Chetty
• Sridharan Jeganathan (?–1996), former NCC and Sri Lankan test cricketer/off spin bowler; first Sri Lankan test cricketer to die
• Vinodhan John, pace bowler, first Sri Lankan Tamil Test cricketer 1982
• Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran, Sri Lankan One Day International (ODI) cricket player
• S. Illangaratnam, Sri Lankan cricketer, stalwart of Moratuwa and Bloomfield cricket clubs prior to the Test era
• Mahadevan Sathasivam, one of the best cricket batsmen produced by Ceylon
• Kandiah Thirugnansampandapillai Francis, international Test and ODI umpire from Sri Lanka
• Nasser Hussain (1968–), former Essex and England cricketer, test captain
• Sanjayan Thuraisingam (1969–), pace bowler, Canadian Cricket Team
• Alvin Kallicharan, former West Indies Guyana cricket captain
• Mahendra Nagamootoo, former West Indies and Guyana cricketer, nephew of Alvin Kallicharan
• Veerasammy Permaul, West Indies and Guyana cricketer

Football

• Peter Velappan (1935–2018), General Secretary of Asian Football Confederation; member of FIFA Strategic Studies Committee & Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup
• Samuel Moutoussamy Professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Nantes and represents the DR Congo internationally.
• Gurusamy Kandasamy
• Syed Sabir Pasha, represented Indian football team in the early 1990s; also played for and coached Indian Bank-Chennai
• Vimal Yoganathan, First Tamil Professional Footballer in England. He's of Sri Lankan Tamil Heritage, plays for Wales U19s internationally. Plays for Oldham Athletic (on loan from Barnsley FC)

Hockey

• Vasudevan Baskaran, captain of the Indian hockey team that won Olympic Gold in 1980 Moscow Olympics; Arjuna Award winner (1979–1980)
• Dhanraj Pillay (1968–), ex-Indian hockey team Captain, Arjuna Award winner (1995); winner of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (1999–2000)
• Adam Sinclair, member of the Indian hockey team at the 2004 Athens Olympics

Mountain climbing

• M. Magendran, conquered the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest

Racing

• Karun Chandhok, Formula 1 driver
• Naren Kumar, four time National Rally Champion
• Ajith Kumar, mechanic, F2 racer, Moto gp racer

Squash

• Nicol David, former world number 1
• Joshna Chinappa, Indian women Squash Champion

Tennis

• Vijay Amritraj, international champion and actor
• Anand Amritraj, international player
• Ashok Amritraj, international player
• Prakash Amritraj, international player
• Ramanathan Krishnan, international player
• Ramesh Krishnan, international player
• Nirupama Vaidyanathan, international player

Entertainers

• Vyjayanthimala, Bharatanatyam dancer; introduced semi-classical dance in Bollywood
• Rukmini Devi Arundale, Bharatanatyam dancer; founder of Kalakshetra
• Balasaraswati, Bharatanatyam dancer
• Alarmel Valli, Bharatanatyam dancer
• Chitra Visweswaran, Bharatanatyam dancer
• Padma Subramanyam, Bharatanatyam dancer
• Pithukuli Murugadas, musician
• Tameem Ahmed, influencer
• Avinaas Indrakumar, influencer
• K. B. Sundarambal, actress and singer
• Sirkazhi Govindarajan, vocalist and Carnatic music exponent
• Dr.Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram, vocalist and Carnatic music exponent

Religion and spirituality

• Bodhidharma (5th/6th century), Buddhist monk and 28th patriarch of Buddhism; traditionally credited as the leading patriarch and transmitter of Zen to China; spread Shaolin Kung Fu in China
• Ayya Vaikundar (1809–1851), founder and preceptor of the Ayyavazhi sect
• Ramalinga Swamigal (1823–1873), popularly known as Vallalar
• Ramanuja (1017–1137), philosopher and saint of Vaishnavism
• Iyothee Thass, Buddhist philosopher and activist
• Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Sufi mystic

Tamil literature

Classical literature

• Tholkappiar, author of the Tholkappiyam
• Thiruvalluvar, poet and author of the Tirukkuṛaḷ
• Tirumular, poet and author of Tirumantiram
• Kambar, author of Ramavataram
• Avvaiyar, author of ĀtticcÅ«á¹­i
• Eelattu Poothanthevanar, classical Sri Lankan poet of the Sangam period

Religious literature

Shaivism

• Sekkilhar, author of the Periya Puranam
• Manikkavasagar, author of Thiruvasagam and one of the Nayanmars
• Siva Prakasar, author of Nanneri
• Thirumular, author of Tirumantiram
• Nakkeerar author of Tirumurukāṟṟuppaá¹­ai
• Arunagirinathar, author of Tiruppugal

Vaishnavism

• Nammalvar, author of Tiruvaymoli and one of the Alvars
• Tirumalisai Alvar, author of Tiruchanda Viruttam and one of the Alvars
• Andal, author of Tiruppavai and one of the Alvars
• Manavala Mamunigal, proponent of Sri Vaishnavism
• Periyalvar, author of Periyalvar Tirumoli and one of the Alvars
• V. Akilesapillai, scholar, poet, and author of Thirukonasala Vaipavam from Sri Lanka

Islam

• Umaru Pulavar (1605–1703), author of Seerappuranam, Islamic tamil poet.

Jainism

• Illango Adigal, poet and author of Silappathikaram
• Tirutakakatevar, author of Jivaka Chintamani
• Mandalapuruder, author of Vira Mandalaver is Sudamani Nigandhu
• Svarupananda Desikar

Christianity

• Henry Alfred Krishnapillai, author of Ratchanya Yaatrigam, the Masterpiece based on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, although not a translation.

Modern literature

India

• Subramania Bharati, social and literary writer
• Bharathidasan (1891–1964), poet and rationalist
• Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram, wrote revolutionary Tamil poems in common language
• Pudhumaipithan (1906–1948), fiction writer
• Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, first Tamil novelist
• Akilan, novelist
• Ramalingam Pillai
• Thi. Janakiraman, novelist
• Mahavidwan Vasudeva Mudaliar, scholar
• Kalki Krishnamurthy (1899–1954), novelist and journalist
• Jayakanthan (1934–2015), writer and novelist
• G. P. Rajarathnam (1909–1979), Tamil-born Kannada poet and writer
• T. P. Kailasam (1884–1946), playwright and writer in Kannada literature from Karnataka
• Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (1891–1986), Kannada writer and recipient of Jnanpith Award
• Kannadasan (1927–1981), popularly called as Kavi Arasu; poet and film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (1969)
• Vairamuthu (1953–), poet and film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (1986, 1993, 1995, 2000, and 2003)
• Leena Manimekalai
• Indira Soundarajan, novelist and short story writer
• Ashoka Mitran (1931–2017), novelist and short story writer
• R. K. Narayan (1906–2001), English novelist and essayist
• Makaral Karthikeya Mudaliar, scholar
• Pa. Subramania Mudaliar, scholar
• Varadarasanar, novelist
• Sandilyan, novelist
• Pa. Vijay, film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (2005)
• Vaali, film lyricist
• Sujatha (1935–2008), novelist, haiku poet, film screenplay writer
• R. Raghava Iyengar
• K. S. Maniam
• Kavikko Abdul Rahman
• Makkal Pavalar Inqulab, left-leaning poet
• Mu. Metha
• Ka. Mu. Sheriff, film lyricist
• Manushyaputhiran
• Rajathi Salma, novelist
• Balakumaran (5 July 1946 – 15 May 2018)[1], Indian Tamil writer, author of over 200 novels, 100 short stories, etc.
• Pattukkottai Prabakar, Indian Tamil writer. He is a king of crime and thrill novels and also a versatile writer.
• Rajesh Kumar (writer), pseudonym of KR Rajagopal, Tamil author of crime fiction. Kalaimaamani Awardee.
• Henry Alfred Krishnapillai, Tamil Poet.

Other countries

• Ronnie Govender, South African playwright, actor, activist, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
• Pico Iyer, British-Japanese essayist and novelist
• Kessie Govender, South African playwright, actor and theatre director; founded the Stable Theatre
• Kandappu Murugesu, Sri Lankan poet
• Shyam Selvadurai, Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist; half Tamil
• Sharon Bala, Canadian writer
• Akwaeke Emezi, Nigerian writer and video artist; half Tamil
• Rani Manicka, Malaysian novelist, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2003 for South East Asia and South Pacific region
• Edwin Thumboo, Singaporean writer; half Tamil
• T. K. Doraiswamy (Nakulan) (1921–2007), poet, novelist, translator, professor of English Singapore writer; President of Singapore Law Society
• Gopal Baratham (1935–2002), Singaporean writer and neurosurgeon

Others

• Arumuka Navalar (1822–1879), pioneer of Tamil prose; champion of Hinduism from Jaffna, Sri Lanka
• Siva prakasar, Saiva Siddantha, scholar, wrote 32 books in Tamil (Nanneri, Thiruchendur ula)
• Maraimalai Adigal, scholar and activist
• U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855–1942)
• Paventhar Bharathidasan, poet, also known as "Puratchi Kavignar"
• Kalyanasundara Mudaliar, writer
• Varadarasanar, novelist
• Erode Tamilanban, poet
• Solomon Pappaiah, scholar and debate judge
• Pudhumaipithan, revolutionary writer from the Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai community
• Jayakanthan, writer
• Kavimani Desigavinayagam Pillai, poet
• Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai, writer
• Perumal Rasu, writer, poet, painter
• Ramanuja Kavirayar, poet

Modern art

• S. Chandrasekaran, nominated for the APBF Signature Art Prize 2008 as one of the top ten
• Vivian Sundaram, Indian Jewish contemporary artist
• Manohar Devadoss, 2020 Padma Shri recipient

See also

• Tamil people
• Tamil diaspora
• List of Sri Lankan Tamils
• Tamil Canadian
• Tamil American
• Tamil Malaysians
• British Tamil
• Tamil Australian
• Tamil Indonesians
• Tamil South Africans
• Tamil Germans
• Tamils in France
• Tamil Mauritian

References