This is a list of well-known Mormon dissidents or other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who have either been excommunicated or have resigned from the church – as well as of individuals no longer self-identifying as LDS and those inactive individuals who are on record as not believing and/or not participating in the church. While the church doesn't regularly provide information about excommunication or resignation, those listed here have made such information public. In a very few cases, the list below may include former adherents of other Latter Day Saint movement denominations who have ceased identifying as members of the Church, as well.
See: List of Latter-day Saints for current members of the LDS Church.
Former and inactive members
Artists, actors, and entertainment figures Kevin Abstract, rapper, singer-songwriter, director, and founding member of Brockhampton Amy Adams, actress known for roles in Enchanted, Doubt, The Fighter
Christina Aguilera is a singer who was raised in an LDS home but Aguilera has not self-identified as Mormon. Corbin Allred, American actor. He starred in the motion picture Saints and Soldiers and the 1997–1998 television series Teen Angel. David Archuleta, American pop singer Hal Ashby, director of New Hollywood films such as Shampoo and Being There Tal Bachman, son of Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) and Canadian musician known for his 1999 hit song, "She's So High" Randy Bachman, Canadian musician and founder of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive Belladonna, American pornographic actressBelladonna: A Mormon Girl Gets Her Start in the Adult Movie Business . Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter and producer, 2009 Oscar for Best Screenplay for Milk Benson Boone, American singer known for Beautiful Things and Mystical Magical Gutzon Borglum, sculptor most noted for the heads of U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmoreleft the church with his family when they moved to Nebraska; George Thomas Kurian, American Studies Association, Encyclopedia of American studies, Volume 3, 142 (Grolier Educational, Nov 1, 2001) Wilford Brimley, actor known for Cocoon, The Firm, Quaker Oats commercials, and Liberty Medical "diabeetus" meme Win Butler, frontman for the band Arcade Fire Ed Catmull, animation pioneer and president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Johnny Cunningham, brother of Phil, and member of Silly Wizard Phil Cunningham, Scottish folk musician, member of Silly Wizard Cytherea, American pornographic actress. Brian Keith Dalton, the creator, producer and main character of Mr Deity. He coined the term "Formon" for "former Mormon" in 1996. Eliza Dushku, actress known for roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tru Calling, Dollhouse Richard Dutcher, independent filmmaker and actor known for films God's Army, God's Army 2: States of Grace, Brigham City Aaron Eckhart, Golden Globe Award-nominated actor known for roles in Thank You for Smoking, The Dark Knight, Erin Brockovich Mindy Gledhill, singer songwriter Tyler Glenn, lead singer for the American rock band Neon Trees Ryan Gosling, Academy Award-nominated actor known for roles in Half Nelson, The Notebook, Drive Leigh Harline, Hollywood composer, known most notably for "When You Wish Upon a Star""When You Wish Upon A Star: The Musical Legacy of Utah Composer Leigh Harline". Sandra Dawn Brimhall and Dawn Retta Brimhall. Utah Historical Quarterly. Vol. 85, no. 2 , Annette Haven, American former pornographic actress Katherine Heigl, American actress Jessica Holmes, Canadian comedianInterview with Vista Magazine Julianne Hough, dancer, actress, singer, songwriter / Neil LaBute, playwright Bert McCracken, of the rock band The Used David Petruschin is a drag queen with the stage name "Raven" and was raised Mormon. Sue-Ann Post, Australian comedian Kevin Rahm, actor known for his television roles as Kyle McCarty on Judging Amy, Lee McDermott on Desperate Housewives, and Ted Chaough on Mad Men Dan Reynolds (singer), singer for rock band Imagine Dragons Wayne Sermon, guitarist for rock band Imagine Dragons Will Swenson, actor and singer Brendon Urie, of rock band Panic! at the Disco Janet Varney, American actress and podcasterThe JV Club #29: nerdist.com/the-jv-club-29-cara-santa-maria/ Paul Walker, actor known for role in The Fast and the Furious film series Alex Winters, BBC children's TV presenter La Monte Young, composer and musician. Mahonri Young, sculptor and grandson of Brigham YoungMahonri Young: His Life and Art; Thomas Toone, Signature Books, 1997 Warren Zevon, singer/songwriter
Business figures Bruce Bastian, businessman and philanthropist, co-created WordPerfect software. Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. CheeseLearmouth, Michael (September 16, 1999). "No Pain, No Game". Metro. Retrieved 7 June 2015 George S. Eccles, CEO of First Security Bank and philanthropist Marriner Eccles, CEO of First Security Bank and Chairman of the Federal Reserve SystemBeckoning Frontiers: Public and Personal Recollections. Marriner Eccles. Alfred Knopf, 1951. Jim Jannard, sunglasses designer and founder of Oakley, Inc. Bryan Johnson (entrepreneur), Founder of Braintree, Venmo and Kernel Wilson McCarthy, head of the Denver & Rio Grande RailroadBagley, Will. Always A Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Salt Lake City [Utah]: University of Utah Press, 2008.
Sports figures Merlin Olsen, NFL star turned TV star Mark Schultz (wrestler), Olympic Wrestling Champion. Benji Schwimmer, the winner of the 2006 So You Think You Can Dance show.
Scholars Wayne C. Booth, American literary critic and professor of English Paul D. Boyer, biochemist and Nobel Laureate William Jasper Kerr, president of Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) from 1907 to 1932 Spencer L. Kimball, dean of the University of Utah law school, son of Mormon prophet Spencer W. Kimball Kip Thorne, theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Lynn Wilder, Christian author and former Brigham Young University (BYU) professor who has written an ex-Mormon memoir
Politics
Rocky Anderson, 33rd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, 2000–2008Rocky Anderson, "A Call for Compassion", Dialogue – A Journal of Mormon Thought (Vol. 42 No. 2 Summer 2009), pp. v–vii Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister New Zealand, 2017–2023 Frank J. Cannon, U.S. Senator from Utah Jim Dabakis, Utah state senator. James "Bo" Gritz, controversial former United States Army Special Forces officer Abby Huntsman, political commentator and great-granddaughter of Apostle David B. HaightDehlin, John. "661: Abby Huntsman and Carrie Sheffield and their Transitions Out of Mormonism". Mormon Stories. Retrieved June 10, 2018. Jon Huntsman Jr., former Utah governor, former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, China, and Russia, and grandson of Apostle David B. Haight Sonia Johnson, feminist activist.
Kate Kendell, attorney and activist, former director of National Center for Lesbian Rights. Alfred W. McCune, railroad builder, mine operator, and politicianMalmquist, p. 173; "The New Salt Lake 'Herald'." The Deseret Weekly. June 6, 1891. Sterling McMurrin, U.S. Commissioner of Education in the Kennedy administration, provost of the University of Utah, and philosopher Culbert Olson, twenty-ninth governor of California Esther Peterson, Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Kennedy administration and consumer advocate Pro-Life (born Marvin Richardson), politician known for his opposition to abortion and for changing his name to reflect his views Calvin Rampton, three-term Utah governor Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State and former Senator from Florida Brent Scowcroft, National Security Adviser to multiple U.S. Presidents Carrie Sheffield, writer and political analyst Kyrsten Sinema, U.S. Senator from Arizona Misty Snow, political candidate; first transgender nominee for a major U.S. political party to the nation's Senate Obert C. Tanner, founder of the O.C. Tanner Company, philanthropist, and philosophy professorConscience and Community: Sterling M. McMurrin, Obert C. Tanner, and Lowell L. Bennion. Robert Alan Goldberg, L. Jackson Newell, Linda King Newell. University of Utah Press, 2018. Morris Udall, Arizona Congressman and presidential candidatePerry, James M., reporter, National Observer, "This Fella from Arizona", in Audubon, November 1981, pp. 64–73, National Audubon Society, as reproduced on the Morris K. Udall website section – MS 325 – of the University of Arizona Library Manuscript Collection, retrieved July 23, 2018 Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Arizona congressman, environmental activist, attorney, and author Tom Udall, U.S. Senator for New Mexico Jenny Wilson (politician), Salt Lake County Mayor Ted Wilson (mayor), former Salt Lake City mayor Carl Wimmer, member of the Utah House of Representatives from 2006 to 2012
Miscellaneous Heather Armstrong, blogger, dooce.com Martha Nibley Beck, daughter of Mormon scholar Hugh Nibley and author of bestseller Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith. Steve Benson, cartoonist and grandson of LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson Patrick Califia, sexuality writer Brian Evenson, American writer of literary and popular fiction Vardis Fisher, "Lost Generation" author of Children of God and the Testament of ManVardis Fisher Laci Green sex educator and online video creator for Seeker and MTV. Alyssa Grenfell, American YouTuber and author. Johnny Harris, American journalist and YouTuber Alice Hoagland (1949–2020), American flight attendant and activist Carolyn Tanner Irish, bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America Walter Kirn, literary editor of GQ Grant H. Palmer, lifelong employee of the Church Educational System and author of An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (2003) Levi Peterson, author of The Backslider Arthur Pratt, tenth child of LDS Apostle Orson Pratt and Sarah Pratt, deputy U.S. marshal Sarah M. Pratt, critic of plural marriage, first wife of Apostle Orson Pratt Jeremy Runnells, author of a widely-circulated letter critical of the LDS Church.David Noyce "Author of 'Letter to a CES Director' resigns from Mormon church" The Salt Lake Tribune Published: June 20, 2016 online at:https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2016/06/21/author-of-letter-to-a-ces-director-resigns-from-mormon-church/ Cara Santa Maria, American science correspondent and podcaster William Shunn, science fiction writer Julia Murdock Smith, adopted daughter of Joseph Smith Virginia Sorensen, "Lost Generation" novelist of A Little Lower Than The Angels Jerald and Sandra Tanner, writers, researchers and critics of the LDS Church* Testimony from Jerald and Sandra Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, feministThe September Six were six LDS (Mormons) members who were excommunicated or disfellowshipped in September 1993 for speaking against Church doctrine and leadership. See also Mormon Alliance.
Excommunicated members
Lavina Fielding Anderson, scholar, writer, editor, and feminist posthumously reinstated by the LDS Church in 2024https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/11/21/september-six-writer-readmitted/ Martha Beck, sociologist, life coach, best-selling author, and columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine Arthur Gary Bishop, serial killer and child molester Fawn M. Brodie, biographer and history professor Jason Derek Brown, 489th fugitive to be placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list Ted Bundy, convicted serial killer and rapist John Dehlin, founder of the Mormon Stories podcast James J. Hamula, former LDS general authority Mark Hofmann, double murderer and an expert forger; "considered by forensic experts to be the best forger yet caught" Helmuth Hübener, opponent of the Third Reich; posthumously reinstated by the LDS Church in 1946