List of Famous people born in Odisha, India

Varahagiri Venkata Giri was the fourth president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He was the only president to be elected as an independent candidate. He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974. After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975. Giri died on 24 June 1980.

Sambit Patra is an Indian politician and a general surgeon. He is one of the official spokespersons of the BJP. Patra was a former Medical officer at Hindu Rao Hospital. He was appointed as an independent director of the board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) in 2017.

Bijay Mohanty was an Indian film actor of Odia Cinema. He was honored a National Film Award.

Sona Mohapatra is an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist born in Cuttack, Odisha. In addition to her own material, Mohapatra has recorded remixes of songs by David Bowie, with "Let's Dance", and INXS, with "Afterglow", with the latter proving particularly successful.

Dharmendra Pradhan is the Cabinet Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel in the Government of India. On 31 May 2019, Shri Pradhan began his second consecutive tenure at the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas becoming the first such incumbent in the history of independent India. Shri Pradhan was promoted as a Cabinet Minister on 3 September 2017. As a Member of Parliament, Shri Pradhan currently represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha and was earlier a member of the 14th Lok Sabha.

Jeedigunta Varun Sandesh, also known and credited as Varun Sandesh, is an Indian American film actor and television personality known primarily for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his film debut with a leading role in Sekhar Kammula's coming-of-age drama Happy Days in 2007, which was a blockbuster at the box office and became a cult classic. Sandesh earned praise for his portrayal of a good-hearted college student. He then starred in romantic drama Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008), which received critical acclaim and went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Sandesh followed this initial success by starring in a number of films that did not perform well at the box office, including action film Kurradu (2009), a remake of the 2007 Tamil hit film Polladhavan, and romantic drama Maro Charitra (2010), a remake of the K. Balachander-directed 1978 blockbuter of the same title, which starred Kamal Haasan. Sandesh's career prospects declined further following a series of box office flops through the 2010s, with his only successes being the romantic comedy Yemaindi Ee Vela (2010), crime comedy D for Dopidi (2013), and ensemble comedy Pandavulu Pandavulu Thummeda (2014).

Dr. Haldhar Nag is a Sambalpuri poet and writer from Bargarh, Odisha, India. Popularly known as "Lok kabi Ratna". He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India by Government of India in 2016. He was born in a poor family of Ghens. He is best known for his work Kavyanjali, an anthology of English translation of Nag's selected poetry which was launched in 2 October 2016. Recently he released his 3rd volume of work on Kavyanjali. In 2019 Haldhar Nag was awarded Doctorate Degree by Sambalpur University.

Ajit Jain is an Indian American executive who is the Vice Chairman of Insurance Operations for Berkshire Hathaway as of January 10, 2018. He was raised in India's coastal state of Odisha. Ajit Jain is an older cousin of Anshu Jain, who was the former Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank.

Achyuta Samanta is the founder of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT); Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), which provides free accommodation, food, healthcare, and education from class 1 to post-graduation with vocational training; KIIT International School (KIS), an International Baccalaureate affiliated school, and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a medical college.

Mira Nair is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spheres. Among her best known films are Mississippi Masala, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, The Namesake, the Golden Lion winning Monsoon Wedding, and Salaam Bombay!, which received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.