List of Famous people born in Kerala, India
Aparna Balan
Aparna Balan is an Indian badminton player from Kozhikode, Kerala. She was part of the national team that won the silver medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games, also gold medals in 2004, 2006 and 2010 South Asian Games. She is 6 times National Champion in mixed doubles and 3 times National Champion in women's doubles. She represented India in many international badminton tournaments.
B. Ajithkumar
B. Ajithkumar is an Indian film editor and director. He has won the National Award for Best Editing in 2007 for Naalu Pennungal as well as the Kerala State Film Award for Best Editor in 2002, 2013 for Annayum Rasoolum, and 2017 . Ajithkumar graduated from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. After graduating, he started his career as film editor. His debut directorial film was Eeda, which depicts the violent political atmosphere of Kannur.
Matthew Kavukatt
Kavukattu Mar Mathai Metropolitan was the first Catholic Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Changanassery. He was appointed archbishop in 1951 and served until his death. He was named a Servant of God in 1994.
Sunny Varkey
Sunny Varkey is a non-resident Indian, Dubai-based education entrepreneur and education philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of the global advisory and educational management firm GEMS Education, which is the largest operator of private kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in the world, with a network of 52 schools in 4 countries. He is also the chairman of the umbrella business organisation the Varkey Group, and the founder and trustee of the philanthropic Varkey Foundation. As of 2012, Varkey is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. And in June 2015, Varkey committed to The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate at least half of his money to philanthropic causes over his lifetime. He is the first education entrepreneur to join the pledge.
K. P. Kottarakkara
T. V. Chandran
T. V. Chandran is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and actor, predominantly working in Malayalam cinema. Born in a Malayali family in Telicherry, Chandran worked as a Reserve Bank of India employee before entering into the film industry. He started his film career as an assistant director to P. A. Backer. He also acted the lead role in Backer's highly acclaimed political drama Kabani Nadi Chuvannappol (1975). He made his directorial debut with the unreleased feature Krishnan Kutty (1981), and followed this with the Tamil film Hemavin Kadhalargal (1985). Chandran came into prominence after Alicinte Anveshanam (1989), which was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. This was followed with Ponthan Mada (1993), his most famous film to-date. Chandran is most known for his art-house films which have references to history and undertones of politics and feminism. He is also known for his trilogy on 2002 Gujarat riots, consisting of Kathavasheshan (2004), Vilapangalkappuram (2008) and Bhoomiyude Avakashikal (2012). Other highly acclaimed films include Mangamma (1997), Dany (2001) and Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam (2003).
Geethu Anna Jose
Geethu Anna Jose is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the Indian women's national basketball team.
Stanley Roman
Stanley Roman is an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of Quilon, India, from 2001 to 2018. He also chaired the education committee of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council.
Valiyaveetil Diju
Valiyaveetil Diju, also known as V. Diju, is an Indian badminton player from Kozhikode, Kerala. He clinched six National Championships title, once in the men's doubles and five times in the mixed doubles. He represented India in the 2012 London Olympics, became the first Indian player to participate at the Olympics in the mixed doubles alongside Jwala Gutta. He is the winner of Arjuna Award 2014, given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, government of India to recognize his outstanding achievement in National sports. He is also the winner of G. V. Raja awards, which is the highest government-level recognition for sports persons in Kerala. He is winner of Jimmy George award 2014. He is also winner of Vivekanandha sports excellence award 2014. He won the Youth excellence award also in 2014.He is the only mixed doubles player from India to reach top 10 in the world badminton ranking(BWF) .His highest ranking is number 6th in world ranking.