List of converts to Buddhism from Christianity

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of notable converts to Buddhism from Christianity.

• 
  Roberto Baggio
• 
  Pema Chödrön
• 
  Steve Jobs

Name	Former denomination	Nationality	Notes	Refs.
Nyanatiloka Mahathera (Anton Walther Florus Gueth)	Catholic Church	German	one of the earliest western Buddhist monks and founder of Island Hermitage	[1]
Anthony Lee	Baptist	American	actor and activist	[2]
Ananda Metteya (Charles Henry Allan Bennett)	Catholic Church	British	one of the earliest western Buddhist monk and established the first Buddhist Mission in the United Kingdom	[3]
Chris Evans	Catholic Church	American	actor and producer	[4][5]
Thomas William Rhys Davids	Congregationalism	British	scholar of the Pāli language and founder of Pali Text Society	[6]
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott	Presbyterianism	American	military officer, lawyer and first well-known American to make a formal conversion to Buddhism	[7]
Lokanatha (Salvatore Cioffi)	Catholic Church	Italian	Theravadin Buddhist missionary monk	[8]
Roberto Baggio	Catholic Church	Italian	footballer	[9][10]
Kotahene Soma Maha Thera	Catholic Church	Sri Lankan	Theravadin Buddhist monk, translator and missionary	[11]
Aliana Lohan	Catholic Church	American	actress, singer and fashion model	[12][13][14][15][16]
Alanis Morissette	Catholic Church	American	singer-songwriter and musician	[17]
Solomon Bandaranaike	Anglicanism	Sri Lankan	former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and founder of Sri Lanka Freedom Party	[18]
Dewi Lestari	Catholic Church	Indonesian	writer, singer-songwriter	[19]
Prince Esper Esperovich Ukhtomsky	Russian Orthodox Church	Russian	poet, publisher and Oriental enthusiast	[20]
Helena Blavatsky	Russian Orthodox Church	Russian	philosopher, occultist, founder of the Theosophical Society	[21]
Richard Tiffany Gere	Methodism	American	Famous actor and producer, co-founder of Tibet House US	[22]
Jimmy Barnes	Protestantism	Australian	Singer and rapper	[23]
Orlando Bloom	Church of England	English	Famous actor and leading man in Hollywood films	[24][25]
Ajahn Sumedho (Robert Karr Jackman)	Episcopal Church (United States)	American	the one who introduced Thai Forest Tradition to the West and most senior western disciple of Ajahn Chah	[26]
Ajahn Viradhammo (Vitauts Akers)	Lutheranism	Canadian	senior western disciple of Ajahn Chah, founder & abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery	[27]
Ajahn Brahm	Not specific	English	senior western disciple of Ajahn Chah and abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery	[28]
Ajahn Candasiri	Not specific	Scottish	Theravada Buddhist nun of Thai Forest Tradition and one of the senior monastics in western Buddhist circle	[29][30]
Ayya Nirodha (Elizabeth Gorski)	Catholic Church	Austrian, later Australian	Theravada Buddhist nun of Thai Forest Tradition, former Abbess of Santi Forest Monastery	[31]
Tara Brach	Unitarianism	American	psychologist and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. (IMCW)	[32]
Belinda Carlisle	Southern Baptist Convention	American	singer (the Go-Go's), songwriter	[33][34]
Houn Jiyu-Kennett	Church of England	English	Soto Zen rōshi and founder of Shasta Abbey	[35]
John Daido Loori	Catholic Church	American	Zen Buddhist rōshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery	[36]
Ananda Claude Dalenberg	Dutch Reformed Church	American	Zen priest ordained by Shunryū Suzuki	[37]
Michael D. ("Mugaku") Zimmerman	Episcopal Church (United States)	American	prominent attorney and former justice of the Utah Supreme Court	[38]
William Oliver Stone	Episcopal Church (United States)	American	film director, producer, and screenwriter	[39]
Pema Chödrön	Catholic Church	American	Tibetan Buddhist nun	[40]
Fabian Fucan	Catholic Church (Society of Jesus)	Japanese	writer of tracts, at first supporting Christianity and then criticizing it	[41]
Ko Ye Lwin	Not specific	Burmese	prominent musician, guitarist and peace activist	[42]
Alfred Bloom	Evangelicalism	American	professor and dean of the Institute of Buddhist Studies	[43]
Seungsahn Haengwon	Presbyterianism	Korean	Seon master and the founder of Kwan Um School of Zen	[44]
Junius Richard Jayewardene	Not specific	Sri Lankan	first President of Sri Lanka and former Prime minister	[45]
Steve Jobs	Lutheranism	American	co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc.	[46][47]
Charles R. Johnson	African Methodist Episcopal Church	American	political cartoonist, novelist and Buddhist writer	[48]
Dewi Lestari	Pentecostalism	Indonesian	singer and writer	[49][50]
Tsai Chih Chung	Catholic Church	Taiwanese	famous cartoonist, well-known in both Taiwan and mainland China	[51]
Leung Man-tao	Catholic Church	Chinese	writer, critic and host	[52]
Christine Rankin	Catholic Church	New Zealander	politician and former civil servant who served as head of the Ministry of Social Development	[53]
Seta Manoukian	Armenian Apostolic Church	Armenian	Armenian painter	[54]
Tina Turner	Baptist	Swiss	singer and actress	[55]
Herman Vetterling	Swedenborgianism	American	mystic but he retained elements of Swedenborg thought after his conversion	[56][57]
Michael Imperioli	Catholicism	American	actor, writer, director, and musician.	[58][59]
Sam Lao	Church of the East	Chinese	Rishi, Dalit Buddhist and New Age Scientist.	[60][61]

See also

• Dalit Buddhist Movement
• List of American Buddhists
• List of converts to Buddhism
• List of converts to Buddhism from Islam
• List of converts to Buddhism from Hinduism
• Jewish Buddhists
• Comparison of Buddhism and Christianity
• Buddhism and Christianity
• Index of Buddhism-related articles