List of converts to Buddhism

The following people are all converts to Buddhism, sorted alphabetically by family name.

From Abrahamic religions

From Christianity

From Islam

 Wong Ah Kiu (1918–2006), Malaysian woman born to a Muslim family but raised as Buddhist; her conversion from Islam became a legal issue in Malaysia on her death 
 Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lankan cricket player who converted from Islam to Buddhism at the age of 16, previously known as Tuwan Muhammad Dilshan
 Kenneth Pai, Chinese American writer of Hui descent

From Judaism
Peter Coyote (1941–), American actor and author
Surya Das (1950–), lama who founded Dzogchen Foundation and Centers
Tetsugen Bernard Glassman (January 18, 1939–), American Zen Buddhist roshi and co-founder of the Zen Peacemakers
Jack Kornfield (1945–), teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism
Sharon Salzberg (1952–), meditation teacher and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society
 Steven Seagal (1952–), American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician who holds American, Serbian, and Russian citizenship.

From Indian religions

From Hinduism

Ashoka, Emperor of Maurya Empire, India's largest empire 
Aśvaghoṣa (80?–150 CE?), Indian Buddhist figure, philosopher- poet
B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), converted from Hinduism
Jagdish Kashyap (1908–1976), Buddhist monk
Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, Buddhist monk, writer, and scholar
Balachandran Chullikkadu (born 1957), Malayalam language poet from Kerala
Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963), Hindi author and translator
Iyothee Thass (1845–1914), Siddha practitioner and leader of the Dravidian movement
Lalai Singh Yadav (1921–1993), social justice activist and play writer. He translated Periyar E. V. Ramasamy's The Key To Understanding True Ramayan from Tamil to Hindi as Sachi Ramayan Ki Chabi
Laxman Mane (1949–), Dalit author and social worker
Rupa Kulkarni-Bodhi, social activist
Swami Prasad Maurya, politician
Udit Raj (1958–), prominent Indian social activist and Buddhist polemicist
Lenin Raghuvanshi (1970–), activist, one of the founding members of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)

S. N. Goenka, the foremost lay teacher of Vipassana meditation of Modern Time, Founder of multitude of Meditation Centers all-over the World, Raised in a Staunch Conservative Hindu Family in Burma.  
Suresh Bhat (1932–2003), Indian poet and writer
Kabir Bedi (1946–), Indian film actor

Pracheen Chauhan, Indian television actor
Tisca Chopra (1973–), Indian actress, author and film producer

Barkha Madan, former Indian model, film actress, ordained a Buddhist nun and changed her name to Ven Gyalten Samten
Vinay Jain, Indian television actor
Poonam Joshi (1980–), Indian television soap opera actress
Shibani Kashyap, ndia singer
Sweta Keswani (1980–), Indian actress, dancer and model
Manav Gohil, Indian television actor

From other or undetermined

Robert Baker Aitken (1917–2010), co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha
 Reb Anderson (1943–), Zen teacher 
Alistair Appleton (1970–), British television presenter
Stephen Batchelor (1953–), writer
Orlando Bloom (January 13, 1977–), actor who played Legolas in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
 Kate Bosworth (1983–),  American actress
John Cage (1912–1992), American composer
Arabella Churchill (1949–2007), English charity founder, festival co-founder, and fundraiser
 Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer/songwriter/poet
John Crook (1930–2011), British ethologist
Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908), American professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University
Richard Gere (1949–), actor and activist for Tibetan causes
 Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), poet 
 Natalie Goldberg (1948–), writer 
Herbie Hancock (1940–), jazz pianist who has also released funk and disco albums
Joseph Jarman (1937–), jazz musician and Jodo Shinshu priest
Miranda Kerr (1983–), model
 k.d. lang, Canadian singer
Jet Li (1963–), actor
 Courtney Love, American singer-songwriter
Menander I (died c. 130 BCE), Greco-Buddhist king (from pre-Christian Hellenistic religion)
Dennis Genpo Merzel (1944–), abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center
 Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer-songwriter
 Ole Nydahl (1941–), lama teacher 
Tenzin Palmo  1943–), nun of Drukpa Kagyu lineage
Zeena Schreck (formerly LeVey) (1963–), a Berlin-based American visual and musical artist, author, the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM),  Tantric Tibetan Buddhist yogini and second daughter of the late Church of Satan's founder Anton LaVey.
 Oliver Stone, American film director 
 Sharon Stone, American actress, producer, and former fashion model
Ajahn Sumedho (1934–), most senior representative of the Thai Forest Tradition in the Western hemisphere; abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK
Tan-luan (6th to 7th century), Chinese Buddhist monk important to Pure Land Buddhism (from Taoism)
Robert Thurman (1941–), Buddhist priest and writer who has been called "the Billy Graham of Buddhism"
Tina Turner (1939–), American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress who has won eight Grammy Awards
Philip Whalen (1923–2002), Beat generation poet and Zen monk
Adam Yauch (1964–2012), aka MCA, American rapper (member of Beastie Boys), songwriter, film director, and human rights activist

Related pages 
 List of Buddhists
 List of Buddhist conversions in India
 List of converts to Buddhism from Christianity
 List of converts to Christianity
 List of converts to Islam
 List of converts to Hinduism
 List of converts to Judaism
 List of converts to Sikhism
 List of people by belief
 Index of Buddhism-related articles
 Secular Buddhism

References 

 
Buddhism, converts
Religious conversion