Sunait Chutintaranond (Thai: สุเนตร ชุตินธรานนท์ ; born 1956) is a Thai historian and screenwriter. He is a professor of history at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. His field of expertise is the pre-modern history of Thailand and mainland Southeast Asia, especially the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Thai-Burma relations, and multicultural societies in Thailand. Together with director Chatrichalerm Yukol, he has written the screenplays of several historical drama films, most notably the King Naresuan series.
Sunait Chutintaranond completed his undergraduate studies of history at Thammasat University, his bachelor's degree in 1978 was awarded with first-class honors and gold medal. He continued his studies in the United States at Cornell University's Southeast Asian Studies program, completing his M.A. in history in 1982 and Ph.D. in 1990.[1] The topic of his dissertation was Cakravartin: Ideology, Reason and Manifestation of Siamese and Burmese Kings in Traditional Warfare (1548–1605).
A professor of history at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Sunait served as the director of the university's Thai Studies Centre, director of the Institute of Asian Studies and dean of the Graduate School.[2] He has published mostly on the mid- to late Ayutthaya period (16th to 18th century) and its relationships and conflicts with powers in neighbouring Burma.