Celebrities Who Have Converted to Different Religions

Several celebrities have converted to different religions either for love or for their own personal spiritual growth.

Sofia Richie converted to Judaism ahead of getting married to music executive Elliot Grainge in April 2023.

“What a magical day. I want to thank cantor Nathan Lam for helping me along this journey of converting to Judaism,” Richie wrote via Instagram Story alongside a photo of herself signing a document. “It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Today was that day!!! ✡️✡️✡️✡️✡️.”

Meanwhile, comedian Dave Chappelle converted to Islam when he was 17 years old after having a conversation at a pizza shop with a Muslim employee.

“I would ask him questions about his religion and the guy was so passionate about it, it was very compelling,” Chappelle told David Letterman on his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction in October 2020. “I liked the perspective of [Islam] and I think these things informed my decision: that I wanted to have a meaningful life, a spiritual life.”

Keep scrolling to see more celebrities who have converted religions:

Sofia Richie

Richie was born Christian but converted to Judaism ahead of her April 2023 wedding to Grainge.

Isla Fisher

Fisher was raised as a Methodist but converted to Judaism in 2007 ahead of her wedding to Sacha Baron Cohen. (The twosome tied the knot in 2010 and announced their split in April 2024.)

“I love Judaism, the fact that there’s such a huge emphasis on family and, to me, family’s everything,” she told Metro in a 2009 interview. “We’re quite observant, we keep Shabbat and do Friday night dinner and celebrate the holidays. I really enjoy being part of that Jewish community.”

Karlie Kloss

While it is unknown what religion Kloss was raised as, she converted to Judaism ahead of her 2018 wedding to Joshua Kushner.

“Changing part of who you are for someone else can be seen as weak,” she told British Vogue in a July 2019 interview. “But you know what? Actually, if you’ve been through what I’ve experienced, it requires you to be anything but weak. It requires me to be stronger and self-loving and resilient. I really did not take this lightly.”

The model noted that her decision to convert wasn’t just about how much she loved Kushner and was a choice she chose to make herself.

“It was only after many years of studying and talking with my family and friends and soul searching that I made the decision to fully embrace Judaism in my life and start planning for a future with the man I chose to marry,” she explained to the outlet.

Dave Chapelle

Chappelle was raised in a Christian household and converted to Islam when he was only 17 years old after a conversation he had with an employee at a pizza shop.

Shia LaBeouf

LaBeouf raised in a Christian household and converted to Catholicism in January 2024 after feeling inspired following the filming of Padre Pio in 2022. In the movie, LaBeouf starred as Italian priest Padre Pio, who was venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.

“I found that through Pio, this idea of ‘myself’ had died … and, instead, the Lord was working in my life. It wasn’t for naught!” the actor told The Catholic Register in a June 2023 interview. “The ego death that I had experienced when I started this project, when looked through a different lens, started to feel like a gift. So what Pio, and Catholicism in general, has done for me is to give me a hack to my suffering, a hack to my pain; I’ve found a way of looking at the death of self, the death of ego, as the supreme gift from on high.”

Julia Roberts

Roberts was raised Christian, but after filming Eat, Pray, Love in 2010, she shared that she was a practicing hindu.

“I’m definitely a practicing Hindu. I’ve been so spoiled with my friends and family in this life,” she said in a 2011 interview with Elle. “Next time, I want to be just something quiet and supporting.”

Leah Remini

Following her departure from Scientology in 2013, Remini reconnected with her Catholic faith.

“Nobody is asking me for money. Nobody is demanding that I come,” she told People in a November 2015 interview. “I light a candle. I sit and I listen. … Sometimes I don’t do anything. To me it’s what religion is supposed to be: a beautiful thing.”

Elizabeth Banks

Banks was raised in a Protestant household, however, underwent the conversion process for Judaism ahead of her wedding to Max Handelman in 2003.

“My kids go to Jewish pre-school, we only celebrate Jewish holidays, I love seder,” the actress and director told Marc Maron on his “WTF” podcast in January 2013. “Frankly, because I’m already doing everything, I feel like I’m as Jewish as I’m ever going to be.”

Richard Gere

Gere was raised Methodist Christian and converted to Buddhism in 1978 following a deep depression.

“[Walter] Evans-Wentz’s books on Tibetan Buddhism had an enormous impact on me. I just devoured them,” he told Lion’s Roar in a June 2016 interview. “They had all the romance of a good novel, so you could really bury yourself in them, but at the same time, they offered the possibility that you could live here and be free at the same time. I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility — I just wanted out — so the idea that you could be here and be out at the same time — emptiness — was revolutionary.”

Ice Cube

The rapper was raised Christian, but converted to Islam in the 1990s.

“What I call myself is a natural Muslim, because it’s just me and God,” he told The Guardian in a 2000 interview. “You know, going to the mosque, the ritual and the tradition, it’s just not in me to do. So I don’t do it.”

Zooey Deschanel

Deschanel was raised in a Christian household, specifically a Protestant family, however, she in 2015 a source told Us Weekly that the actress converted to Judaism ahead of her wedding to ex-husband Jacob Pechenik. (The twosome tied the knot in 2015 before calling it quits in 2019.)

Sharon Stone

The Basic Instinct star was raised Roman Catholic, but started practicing Buddhism in the 2000s.

“I’m a Buddhist,” she shared with Time in January 2018. “I really believe in the yin-yang practice.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The NBA great was raised in a Roman Catholic household and converted to Islam in 1971 when he was 24.

“I was born Lew Alcindor. Now I’m Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” he wrote in a blog post on his website in March 2015. “The transition from Lew to Kareem was not merely a change in celebrity brand name … but a transformation of heart, mind and soul. I used to be Lew Alcindor, the pale reflection of what white America expected of me. Now I’m Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the manifestation of my African history, culture and beliefs.”

Orlando Bloom

Bloom was raised Christian, but became a Buddhist at 16 when he was working with an artist on painting and drawing.

“As a philosophy and as a practice, it’s something that’s definitely been the anchor in my life,” the actor shared with Today in May 2024. “At its core, it’s about respecting all living beings. And I liked that as a roadmap. I always wanted a roadmap, and in a way, this practice has been that for me.”

Mike Tyson

After the prize fighter was arrested in 1992, he converted to Islam after being raised as a Christian.

“I’ve learned in life you have to worship somebody else bigger than yourself,” he told the “PBD” podcast in December 2023. “I only knew worshipping myself because I was always told to believe in myself, and the connection with me and Allah is just what it is. It is who I am and that’s just what it is.”

Jermaine Jackson

Hailing from a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jackson became interested in Islam during a trip to the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s and later became a Muslim.

The singer noted during an interview with Al-Arabiya in 2010 that he “never felt a connection” until he became a Muslim.

Marilyn Monroe

Monroe was raised Christian, but converted to Judaism after her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller in 1956.

According to an article published in The Jewish Chronicle in September 2022, Monroe told her friend actress Susan Strasberg that she could “identify with the Jews.”

“Everybody’s always out to get them, no matter what they do — like me,” she explained.

Sinead O’ Connor

The “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer was born into a Roman Catholic family and converted to Islam in 2018.

“This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey,” she wrote via Twitter in October 2018. “All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada.”

Muhammad Ali

Legendary boxer converted to Islam in the 1960s after being raised in a Christian family.

“I went to a Muslim meeting. And as soon as I heard it, I knew this is what I’ve been looking for all of my life,” he shared in a 2011 interview.

Ivanka Trump

Trump was born into a Christian family and converted to Judaism ahead of her wedding to Jared Kushner in 2009.

“We’re pretty observant, more than some, less than others. I just feel like it’s such an intimate thing for us,” she told Vogue in February 2015. “It’s been such a great life decision for me. I am very modern, but I’m also a traditional person, and I think that’s an interesting juxtaposition in how I was raised as well. I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.”

Tom Cruise

The actor was raised Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1986 after being introduced to it from his ex-wife Mimi Rogers.

“It’s something that has helped me incredibly in my life,” Cruise shared in a statement in 2016. “It’s something, you know, without it, I wouldn’t be where I am.”