Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician who has served as the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), having taken charge on 28 August 2018 after serving as the party's working president from January 2017. He is the third son of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Stalin completed his education at Presidency College, Madras, in 1973. He entered active politics in the late 1960s and was elected to the DMK's general committee in 1973. He was jailed during the Emergency in 1976. In 1982, he was appointed secretary of the DMK's youth wing, a post he held for more than four decades.
In electoral and administrative roles, Stalin served as the Mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002. He has been elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on eight occasions and served as the state's first Deputy Chief Minister from 2009 to 2011. He subsequently led the DMK to office and served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2021 to 2026.
Stalin is married to Durga. Their son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2024 to 2026. Anna University conferred an honorary doctorate on Stalin in 2009. In 2025, The Indian Express listed him among India's most powerful personalities, ranking him 23rd.