List of Bengalis

This article provides lists of famous and notable Bengali people, from India or Bangladesh, or people with Bengali ancestry.

Academics

*Ashis Nandy, Political Psychologist
*Andre Béteille, Sociologist
*Dipesh Chakrabarty, Historian
*Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, literary critic and theorist
*Partha Chatterjee, Political Scientist
*Kaushik Basu, Economist
*Sumit Sarkar, Historian
*Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, linguist, educationist, litterateur
*Sukumar Sen, Linguist
*Syed Modasser Ali, Ophthalmologist
* Abdus Suttar Khan, Chemist

Actors and actresses

*Victor Banerjee - Bengali and Bollywood actor
*Bipasha Basu - A Bollywood actress
*Jaya Bhaduri - Bollywood actress. Married to Amitabh Bachan
*Chhabi Biswas - Bengali actor
*Bobita ববিতা - Bangladeshi film actress
*Rahul Bose - Bengali and Bollywood actor and rugby player
*Biswajit Chatterjee - Bengali and Bollywood actor
*Moushumi Chatterjee - Bollywood actress
*Mithun Chakraborty - Bollywood and Bengali film actor
*Sabitri Chatterjee - Bengali actor
*Soumitra Chatterjee- Bengali actor
*Shefali Chowdhury - Hollywood actor, seen in Harry Potter movies as Parvati Patil
*Sumita Devi - Bangladeshi film and television actress
*Pooja Bedi - Bollywood actress. Half Bengali
*Tanushree Dutta - Bollywood actress
*Utpal Dutta - Bengali actor
*Humayun Faridi - Bangladeshi film actor
*Rabi Ghosh - Bengali actor
*Raakhee Gulzar - Bollywood actress
*Konnie Huq - British television presenter
*Imran Khan - Bollywood actor
*Pradeep Kumar - Bollywood actor
*Ashok Kumar - Bollywood actor
*Kishore Kumar -Bollywood singer, actor, music composer
*Uttam Kumar - Bollywood and Bengali film actor
*Diya Mirza - Bollywood actress. Part Bengali.
*Kajol Mukherjee - Bollywood actress.
*Madhabi Mukherjee- actress notable works include charulata, mahanagar
*Rani Mukerji - Bollywood actress
*Tanisha Mukherjee - Bollywood actress. Half Bengali
*Bobby Routh-American born Bengali Actor
*Shabnam - (Jharna Basak) - actress in Bangladeshi and Pakistani films
*Aparna Sen - Bengali film actress
*Raima Sen - Bollywood actress, half-Bengali and half-Tripuri
*Rimi Sen - Bollywood actress
*Riya Sen - Bollywood actress, half-Bengali and half-Tripuri
*Suchitra Sen - Bollywood and Bengali film actress
*Sushmita Sen - Bollywood actress, India's first Miss Universe
*Seema Biswas - Bollywood actress
*Konkona Sen Sharma - Bollywood Actress
*Saif Ali Khan- Bollywood actor. Half Bengali.
*Sharmila Tagore - Bollywood and Bengali film actress
*Ruma Guha Thakurta- actress notable works include Ganashatru, Abhijan, Palatak; wife of Kishore Kumar
*Nandana Sen - bollywood actress, daughter of nobel laurete Amartya Sen

Artists

*Zainul Abedin
*Shahabuddin Ahmed
*Ramkinkar Baij
*Nandalal Bose
*Rashid Choudhury
*Anil Kumar Dutta
*Quamrul Hassan
*Prosenjit Kundu
*Paresh Maity
*Ganesh Pyne
*Ranabi, Bangladeshi Cartoonist
*Jamini Roy
*Paritosh Sen
*Shuvaprasanna
*SM Sultan
*Syed Jahangir
*Abanindranath Tagore

Economists

* Amartya Sen অমর্ত্য সেন "Ômorto Kumar Shen" - economist, Nobel Laureate
* Romesh C. Dutt
* Muhammad Yunus মুহাম্মদ ইউনুস "Muhammod Iunus" - economist, Nobel Laureate, micro-credit pioneer
* Rajeev Bhattacharya - Financial and Competition Economist
* Abhijit Banerjee - Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Debraj Ray - Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
* Mukul Majumdar - H.T. Warshow and Robert Irving Warshow Professor of Economics, Cornell University

Entrepreneurs

*Jawed Karim - co-founder of YouTube
*Amar Bose অমর গোপাল বসু "Ômor Gopal Boshu" - founder of Bose Corporation
*Subrato Roy - founder of Sahara India Pariwar
*Bibi Russell বিবি রাসেল founder of Bibi Productions
*Dwarkanath Tagore

Filmmakers

* Satyajit Ray সত্যজিৎ রায় "Shottojit Rae" - filmmaker, won the Bharat Ratna in 1992, won the Academy Honorary Award in 1992 for lifetime achievement and received the Légion d'honneur award of France and also received an Academy Award for his film Pather Panchali.
*Ritwik Ghatak ঋত্বিক ঘটক "Rittik Ghôṭok" - filmmaker
*Hrishikesh Mukherjee হৃষিকেশ মুখার্জি "Rhishikesh Mukharji" - filmmaker
*Mrinal Sen মৃনাল সেন "Mrinal Shen" - filmmaker
*Zahir Raihan জহির রায়হান - filmmaker
*Tapan Sinha film maker
*Aparna Sen অপর্ণা সেন "Ôporna Shen" film maker
*Gautam Ghose গৌতম ঘোষ "Goutom Ghosh" filmmaker
*Rituporno Ghosh ঋতুপর্ণ ঘোষ "Ritupôrno Ghosh" film maker
*Shakti Samanta film maker, President of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association for 5 years
*Anjan Dutta film maker, actor, musician
*Buddhadeb Dasgupta বুদ্ধদেব দাসগুপ্ত "Buddhodeb Dashgupto" film maker
*Basu Bhattacharya বসু ভট্টাচার্য "Bashu Bhôṭṭacharjo" Film maker
*Basu Chatterjee বসু চট্টোপাধ্যায় "Bashu Chôṭṭopaddhae" Bollywood film maker
*Pradeep Sarkar প্রদীপ সরকার "Prodip Shôrkar" Bollywood film maker
*Partho Sen-Gupta "Partho Shen-Gupto" Film maker

Head of major organizations

* Irene Khan, Current Secretary General of human rights organization Amnesty International; she is the first woman, the first Asian, and the first Muslim to hold the position; she won Sydney Peace Prize 2006
* Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari, Elected head of the Muslim Council of Britain

Intellectuals and social reformers

* Shri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru
* Ram Mohan Roy, রাজা রামমোহন রায় - founder of the Brahmo Samaj
* Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, বেগম রোকেয়া - prolific writer, important Women's right activist and social worker
* Debendranath Tagore দেবেন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর - was an active Brahmo, and was against sati, idol worship
* Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ঈশ্বর চন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর - responsible for introducing major reforms in the educational system and was Women's right activist
* Keshub Chunder Sen কেশব চন্দ্র সেন - intellectual and a noted religious reformer
* Sivanath Sastri শিবনাথ শাস্ত্রী - an important intellectual
* Nasreen Pervin Huq, Prominent Women's Rights Activist
* Muhammad Shahidullah, famous educationist, writer, polyglot, philologist and linguist
* Zohra Begum Kazi, First Bengali Muslim female Doctor

Journalists and news reporters

* Fareena Alam - named Media Professional of the Year by Islamic Relief and was named Media Professional of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards.
* Swapan Dasgupta - journalist
* Joya Dass - Bengali-American journalist and tv hostess having worked with CNBC, CNN, and currently ABC for business coverage. She also hosts Sony Entertainment's AVS, a variety show about popular culture in India.
* Mainul Hosein - chairman of the editorial board of the Daily Ittefaq, the largest daily Bengali news publication in Bangladesh
* Nina Hossain - British television news broadcaster
* Pritish Nandy - Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd
* Matiur Rahman মতিউর রহমান - editor of Daily Prothom Alo, winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism
* Prannoy Roy - Founder and President of NDTV - One of India's largest television and media production house
* Harish Chandra Mukherjee - pioneer of nationalistic Hindu journalism and a reformer
* Samar Sen

Musicians

*Abhijeet "Abhijeet Bhattacharya" - Bollywood playback singer
*Nikhil Banerjee, sitar player
*Anjan Chattopadhyay, Notable Sitar Player
*R.D. Burman "Rahul Dev Burman" - music composer (half bengali & half tripuri)
*S.D. Burman "Sachin Dev Burman" - famous music composer and singer and father of R.D. Burman
*Manna Dey "Manna De" - Bollywood playback singer
*Anjan Dutta - Singer and musician of popular Bengali music. Also a Bengali filmmaker and actor.
*Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh - legendary Tabla player and Musician
*Norah Jones - pianist and singer-songwriter, Grammy award winner
*Allauddin Khan
*Ali Akbar Khan
*Kishore Kumar "Kishore Kumar" - Late playback singers of Bollywood
*Vilayat Khan "Bilaeet Khã" - sitar maestro
*Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay - Bollywood and Tollywood playback singer
*Pritam "Pritam Chakraborty" - Bollywood Music Composer
*Runa Laila, Bangladeshi singer, equally popular in Bangladesh, India & Pakistan.
*Sanjaya Malakar is an American born Bengali and Italian singer
*Shaan "Shantanu Mukherjee" - Bollywood playback singer
*Manilal Nag Sitar player
*Kumar Sanu "Kumar Sanu" - Bollywood playback singer
*Anoushka Shankar - sitar player and composer
*Ravi Shankar "Robi Shôngkor" - sitar maestro, Grammy Award winner, father of Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar
*Ruma Guha Thakurta- founder and lead singer of Calcutta Youth Choir. Also playback singer
*Abbas Uddin, folk singer
*Geeta Dutt "Geeta Dutt" - Bollywood playback singer
*Babul Supriyo "Babul Supriyo" - Bollywood playback singer
*Sabina Yasmin, popular Bangladeshi playback singer
*Shreya Ghoshal "Shreya Ghoshal" - Bollywood playback singer
*Madhushree "Madhushree" - Bollywood playback singer

Political figures

*Subhas Chandra Bose-Former President of Indian National Congress,Freedom Fighter and Co-Founder Indian National army
*Pranab Mukherjee- Minister for External Affairs ,Government of India, Senior leader of Indian National Congress
*Priyaranjan Dasmunsi- Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Senior leader of Indian National Congress and President of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
*Muhammad Ali Bogra, - Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955
*Jyoti Basu - former communist Chief Minister of West Bengal
*A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury- Senior leader of Indian National Congress
*Chittaranjan Das চিত্তরঞ্জন দাস - Prominent person in the Indian independence movement also known as Deshabandhu.
*A. K. Fazlul Huq - আবুল কাসেম ফজলুল হক - Presented the Lahore Resolution of 1940 that established Muslim League's demand for a homeland for Muslims, Pakistan
*Iskander Mirza - the first President of Pakistan
*Shyama Prasad Mukherjee শ্যামা প্রসাদ মুখার্জী - Founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh
*Khawaja Nazimuddin খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন - second Governor-General of Pakistan, and the second Prime Minister of Pakistan
*Bipin Chandra Pal বিপিন চন্দ্র পাল - Freedom fighter for Indian independence movement
*Sheikh Mujibur Rahman শেখ মুজিবর রহমান "Shekh Mujibur Rôhman" - Founding Father of Bangladesh; first President of Bangladesh
*Ziaur Rahman জিয়াউর রহমান "Ziaur Rôhman" - Founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, President of Bangladesh from 1977 until 1981; first to propose the creation of SAARC, sector commander and liberation war hero in Bangladesh.
*Siddhartha Shankar Ray- former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal, former ambassador of India to United States
*Bidhan Chandra Roy- physician, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal
*Khwaja Salimullah - founder of Muslim League
*Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy - Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 until 1957; founder of Awami League
* Ashoke Kumar Sen, Former Law Minister, barrister, and parliamentarian
* Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Present Chief Minister of West Bengal

portsperson

* Aftab Ahmed Chowdhuryআফতাব আহমেদ চৌধুরী - Cricketer: Widely judged to be one of Bangladesh's best batsmen
* P.K. Banerjee প্রদীপ কুমার ব্যানার্জি - Footballer: was named Indian Footballer of the 20th Century by FIFA and received the Padma Shri Award in 1990
* Dibyendu Barua, Indian chess grandmaster
* Brojen Das ব্রজেন দাস)- Swimmer: first Asian to swim across the English Channel and the first person to cross it four times
* Mouma Das - Table Tennis player
* Ritwik Bhattacharya - squash player
* Sourav Ganguly - Cricketer, former captain of Indian cricket team
* Poulami Ghatak - Table Tennis player
* Rani Hamid রাণী হামিদ) - Chess player: was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1985 and won British Women's Championship (1983, 1985, 1989)
* Shailen Manna, Renowned Football player. Indian Footballer of the last century.Played in the olympic also.
* Gostho Pal, Great Footballer.Member of the 1st Indian Team(MohunBagan)those who won the IFA shield against a British team in the pre independence period.Led the Mohunbagan Club successfully.
* Mohammad Rafique মোহাম্মদ রফিক - Cricketer: One of the Bangladesh's most senior and best players
* Pankaj Roy, former cricketer
* Mihir Sen, Swimmer: First Indian to swim across the English Channel in 1958.
* Arati Saha, Swimmer: First Asian woman to swim English Channel in 1959.
* Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics: Double gold-medallist in track at Asian games, was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and Padma Shri award
* Jayanta Talukdar, Leading archer
* Niaz Morshed is a renowned chess player from Bangladesh. He is the first Grandmaster to emerge from South Asia.
* Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
* Reefat Bin-Sattar, Rahman] , Bangladeshi Grandmaster
* Enamul Hossain, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
* Abdullah Al Rakib, Bangladeshi Grandmaster
* Jhulan Goswami, ICC Women's Cricketer of the year 2007
* Chuni Goswami, Indian Football
* Isa Guha, English Women Cricketer

Religious figures

* Atiśa Dipamkara Shrijnana, অতীশ দীপঙ্কর শ্রীজ্ঞান - Buddhist teacher: Important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist in tradition and in establishment and was inventor of bodhichitta or known as "mind training"
* Tilopa, Buddhist teacher: Important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist; founder of the Kagyu lineage and progressor of Mahamudra method
* Chaitanya Mahaprabhu চৈতন্য মহাপ্রভূ "Choitonno Môhaprobhu" - Hindu monk and social reformer
* Ramakrishna Paramahamsa রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস "Ramkrishno Pôromôhongsho" - Hindu saint
* Swami Vivekananda স্বামী বিবেকানন্দ "Shami Bibekanondo" - Hindu monk and social reformer
* A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - founder of ISKCON
* Paramahansa Yogananda পরমহংস যোগানন্দ "Pôromôhongsho Joganondo" - monk and exponent of Kriya Yoga
* Sri Anandamoyi Ma, আনন্দময়ী মা) - Spiritual teacher and Guru
* Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji - Hindu Saint
* Baba Lokenath Brahmachari - Hindu saint and philosopher
* Khan Jahan Ali, খান জাহান আলী - considered Muslim saint, built the great Bagerhat Shat Gambuj Masjid (60 dome mosque)
* Thakur Anukulchandra - Hindu Saint
* Tibbetibaba - Hindu Saint whose life was based on both Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana principles.

cientists & Engineers

*Abdus Suttar Khan - Chemist, inventor of alloys for use in commercial jets, U.S. fighter planes, gas turbines, train engines, and space shuttles
* Abul Hussam - Chemist: Inventor of Sono arsenic filter and the gold winner of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability
* Mani Lal Bhaumik ব্রজেন দাস - Physicist: helped develop the first excimer laser at the University of California
*Amar Bose অমর গোপাল বসু - Inventor, founder of Bose Corporation
*Jagdish Chandra Bose জগদীশ চন্দ্র বসু} Physicist, radio and wireless transmittion pioneer, invented the radio before Marconi. Also did substantial work on botany.
*Satyendra Nath Bose সত্যেন্দ্র নাথ বসু)- Physicist, founded Bose–Einstein statistics, which helped to produce Bose-Einstein condensate (2001 Nobel Prize in Physics was given for this discovery); Boson, a study of Elementary particle, is named to honor him
*Upendranath Brahmachari - Biologist: synthesized Urea Stibamine (carbostibamide) and used it in the treatment of Kala-azar (leishmaniasis), was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
*Fazlur Khan ফজলুর রহমান খান - One of the foremost structural engineers of the 20th century: Structural engineer and designer of Sears Tower, the tallest building in the USA
*Dilip Mahalanabis - Biologist: under his leadership International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh medical centre, discovered Oral rehydration therapy, which saved more than 40 millions lives from Diarrhoea
*Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis প্রশান্ত চন্দ্র মহলানবিস) - Statistician: Inventor of Mahalanobis Distance and did pioneering work on anthropometric
*Jamal Nazrul Islam - famous physicist and mathematician
*Sisir Kumar Mitra শিশির কুমার মিত্র - Physicist: pioneer in the investigations of ionosphere and worked with Marie Curie, was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society and Mitra crater on the Moon is named after him
* Subhash Mukhopadhyay সুভাষ মুখোপাধ্যায় - Physicist: became the first physician in India and second in the world to perform the In vitro fertilization
*Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, অমল কুমার রায়চৌধুরী - Physicist: well known for his contributions to relativistic cosmology produced the famous Raychaudhuri's equation, a key ingredient for other major scientific concepts
*Prafulla Chandra Roy - Pioneer in the field of pharmaceutical and chemical works (discovered mercurous nitrite)
*Megh Nad Saha মেঘনাদ সাহা - Physicist, produced the famous "Thermo-Ionization Equation" or Saha Equation
*Ashoke Sen - Physicist: well known for his contributions to string theory and co-discovered S-duality
*Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda - scientist and educator.
*Qazi Motahar Hossain - mathematician and statistician.

Writers

*Humayun Ahmed (b. 1948) - novelist
*Alaol (1607-1680) - poet of medieval era
*Monica Ali - (b. 1954) - novelist
*Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904-1974) - novelist, essayist
*Banaphool - writer of short stories
*Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1894-1950) - novelist
*Manik Bandopadhyay (1908-1956) - novelist, short story writer
*Tarashankar Bandopadhyay (1898-1971) - novelist
*Abul Bashar (b. 1951) - novelist, essayist
*Buddhadeb Bose (1908-1974) - poet, essayist
*Nirendranath Chakravarty (b. 1924) - poet
*Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897-1999) - scholar, essayist
*Upamanyu Chatterjee- novelist
*Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838-1894) - novelist, essayist
*Sandipan Chattopadhyay (1933-2005) - novelist
*Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876-1938) - novelist
*Shakti Chattopadhyay - poet
*Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) - poet
*Ashapurna Devi (1909-1995) - novelist, short story writer
*Mahasweta Devi (b. 1926) - novelist, short story writer
*Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-1873) - poet, dramatist
*Romesh Chunder Dutt
*Sudhindranath Dutta (1901-1960) - poet
*Sunil Gangopadhyay (b. 1934) - poet, novelist
*Amitav Ghosh - novelist, essayist
*Shankha Ghosh (b. 1932) - poet, essayist
*Joy Goswami (b. 1954) - poet
*Ekram Ali (b. 1950} - poet
*Buddhadeb Guha (b. 1936) - novelist
*Mir Mosharraf Hossain (1847-1912) - novelist
*Muhammad Zafar Iqbal - science fiction writer
*Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) - poet
*Jhumpa Lahiri - novelist, short story writer
*Al Mahmud (আল মাহমুদ) - poet, novelist
*Arun Mitra (1909-2000) - poet
*Premendra Mitra (1904-1988)- poet, short story writer
*Dhan Gopal Mukerji ধান গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায় "Dhan Gopal Mukhopaddhae" - author
*Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (b. 1935) - novelist
*Subhas Mukhopadhyay (1919-2003) - poet
*Taslima Nasrin (b. 1962) - novelist
*Shamsur Rahman (1929-2006) - poet
*Dwijendralal Ray (1863-1913) - playwright, poet
*Annadashankar Roy (1905-2002) - novelist, essayist, poet
*Arundhati Roy - novelist, essayist
*Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) - poet, novelist, essayist
*Jasim Uddin (1903-1976) - poet, novelist, essayist

ee also

* List of Bangladeshis
* List of people from West Bengal