# List of people from Bengaluru

This is a list of notable people from Bengaluru.

## Founder and Architect of Bengaluru

* Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda

## Scientists

* C V Raman – Nobel Prize in Physics (1930), Bharat Ratna (1954)
* M. Visvesvarayya – Bharat Ratna, in 1955, Indian civil engineer, statesman, Diwan of Mysore
* C. N. R. Rao – Bharat Ratna (2014) Indian Institute of Science (Material Sciences) Bharat Ratna (2014)
* H Narasimhaiah – Indian physicist, educator, writer, freedom fighter and rationalist Padma Bhushan (1984)
* Bangalore Puttaiya Radhakrishna – geologist
* Kumble R. Subbaswamy – physicist
* Sachidananda Kangovi - Aerospace engineer, IT executive, and author

## Politicians

* H. D. Deve Gowda - former prime minister
* H. D. Kumaraswamy - former chief minister of Karnataka
* Gundu Rao - former Chief Minister
* Siddaramaiah - former Chief Minister
* B S Yediyurappa - former Chief Minister
* Ramalinga Reddy - former State Home Minister and various ministry, seven time MLA from Bangalore
* D. K. Shivakumar - former minister of medical education
* B.Vaikunta Vaikunta Baliga - former Law Minister; former Speaker, Mysore State
* S.Bangarappa - former Chief Minister
* S. R. Bommai - former Chief Minister
* George Fernandes - former Defence Minister
* Kengal Hanumanthaiah - former Chief Minister
* Ramakrishna Hegde - former Chief Minister
* Qamar ul Islam - former Housing and Labour Minister
* Basappa Danappa Jatti - former Vice-President
* M.N. Jois - former M.L.C, Deputy Speaker of Legislative Council - Mysore State
* Mallikarjun Kharge - former State Minister (various portfolios); former Union Labour Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government; current leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
* S. M. Krishna - former External Affairs Minister of India; former Governor of Maharashtra; former Chief Minister of Karnataka
* H.N.Ananth Kumar - former Union Minister and MP
* Kadidal Manjappa - former Chief Minister
* Veerappa Moily - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; former Chief Minister
* K. H. Muniyappa - union minister of state for railways
* S. Nijalingappa - former Chief Minister
* Nandan Nilekani - Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
* J. H. Patel - former Chief Minister
* Veerendra Patil - former Chief Minister
* M. A. M. Ramaswamy - Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist
* K. C. Reddy - former Chief Minister
* Dharam Singh - former Chief Minister
* Devaraj Urs - former Chief Minister
* H. Vishwanath - former Minister

## Kannada writers

* Kuvempu – poet, Jnanpith awardee
* U. R. Ananthamurthy – Kannada writer, thinker and Jnanpith awardee
* Da Ra Bendre – poet, Jnanpith awardee
* S. L. Bhyrappa – writer, novelist
* V. K. Gokak – writer, Jnanapith awardee
* Masti Venkatesh Iyengar – Jnanpith awardee
* T. P. Kailasam – Kannada writer, playwright
* Chandrashekhar Kambar – Jnanapith awardee for his contributions to Kannada literature
* K. Shivaram Karanth – Kannada writer, Jnanapith awardee
* Girish Karnad – Kannada writer, playwright, actor, Jnanpith awardee
* K. S. Nissar Ahmed – Kannada poet
* Sudha Murthy

## Other writers

* Mahesh Dattani – English playwright and Sahitya Akademi award winner
* Ramachandra Guha – historian and Sahitya Akademi award winner
* Anita Nair – English author of the books Ladies Coupe and Mistress
* Malathi Rao – English-language writer, Sahitya Akademi award winner
* Madhuri Vijay – English-language writer, Pushcart Prize winner

## Entrepreneurs

* G. R. Gopinath – founder of Deccan Aviation and Deccan 360
* Kiran Mazumdar – founder of Biocon, a biotechnology company
* N. R. Narayana Murthy – founder of Infosys
* Nandan Nilekani – Co-founder of Infosys
* V. G. Siddhartha – founder of Café Coffee Day

## Sportspersons
### Athletics

* Ashwini Nachappa – former athlete

### Badminton

* Prakash Padukone – badminton player
* Ashwini Ponnappa

### Billiards

* Pankaj Advani – billiards and snooker World Champion

### Cricket

* Mayank Agarwal – Indian cricketer
* John Bean – English first-class cricketer and British Army officer
* Vijay Bhardwaj – former Indian allrounder
* Raghuram Bhat – former Indian left-arm spinner
* Roger Binny – former Indian all rounder
* Stuart Binny – all rounder
* B. S. Chandrasekhar – Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972
* Rahul Dravid – batsman, former India Captain and has taken highest number of catches in international cricket
* Dodda Ganesh – former medium pacer
* Sunil Joshi – retired all rounder
* Syed Kirmani – retired wicket-keeper
* Prasidh Krishna – fast bowler
* Veda Krishnamurthy – Indian woman cricketer
* Vinay Kumar – medium pacer
* Anil Kumble – leg spinner, Test Captain, India's highest wicket taker, former Indian National Cricket Team coach
* Abhimanyu Mithun – Indian cricketer
* Devdutt Padikkal – Ranji player
* Manish Pandey – Indian cricketer
* Venkatesh Prasad – retired fast bowler; India's former bowling coach
* Erapalli Prasanna – retired off spinner
* KL Rahul – Indian cricketer
* Javagal Srinath – retired fast bowler, match referee
* Robin Uthappa – Indian cricketer
* Vellaswamy Vanitha – former Indian woman cricketer
* Sadanand Viswanath – former Indian wicket-keeper
* Gundappa Ranganath Vishwanath – former Indian cricket captain (1979–1980)

### Hockey

* Ashish Ballal – hockey goalkeeper
* Arjun Halappa – Indian hockey team

### Motorsports

* Arjun Maini – Asian Le Mans Series and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver
* Akhil Rabindra – GT4 European Series driver
* Nikhil Pai – Indian rallying co-driver
* Shreyas Hareesh – Indian motorcycle racer

### Swimming

* Nisha Millet – Olympian at Sydney Olympics 2000

### Tennis

* Rohan Bopanna

## Entertainers
### Kannada and Indian cinema

* Ramesh Aravind - actor
* Sandeep Chowta - music director, producer
* Guru Dutt - actor, director, producer
* Dwarkeesh - actor, comedian
* Nicole Faria (born 1990) – actress, model
* Hamsalekha - music director, lyricist, dramatist
* Jaggesh - actor
* Amoghavarsha JS - filmmaker
* Kalpana - actress, Minugutare
* Puttanna Kanagal - director
* Girish Kasaravalli - director
* Kashinath - actor
* Feroz Khan - actor, editor, producer, director
* Sanjay Khan - producer, director and actor
* Bangalore Latha - playback singer
* Malashree - actress
* Manjula - actress
* Nithya Menen - actress
* Anant Nag - actor, brother of Shankar Nag
* Shankar Nag - actor, producer, director
* Nayanthara - actress, producer (born in Bengaluru from Malayali ancestry)
* Deepika Padukone - model, actress
* Prema - actress
* Prakash Raj - actor, director, producer
* Rajinikanth - actor
* Dr. Rajkumar - actor, singer, producer
* Puneeth Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
* Raghavendra Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
* Shiva Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
* Ramya - actress, politician
* Kiran Rao - producer, screenwriter, and director
* V. Ravichandran - actor, director, producer, music director, editor
* Anushka Sharma - actress
* Soundarya - actress
* Srinath - actor, Pranaya Raja, Shubha Mangala
* Sudeepa - actor, director, producer, singer, host
* Darshan Thoogudeep - actor
* Chi. Udayashankar - dialogue writer and lyricist
* Upendra - director, actor, producer
* Rockline Venkatesh - actor, film producer
* Dr. Vishnuvardhan - actor, singer
* Yash - actor

## Architects

* K. Jaisim
* Kamal Sagar

## Spiritual leaders

* Shivakumara Swami
* Balagangadharanatha Swamiji

## Other notable people

* R. K. Baliga – founder of the Electronics City in Bangalore
* Shakuntala Devi – known as the "human calculator"
* Trivikrama Mahadeva – organiser of funerals for tens of thousands of paupers
* Thomas Mohan (born 1959) – wildlife photographer and civil engineer
* Maya Rao (1928–2014) – Kathak Guru; founder of Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography
* Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan AC, (15 March 1977 – 28 November 2008) – military officer
* Dr H. N. Shubhada – educationalist