We all know that Hinduism is the third world largest religion, but do we know who are the biggest white Hindu celebrities in America?
It is estimated that there are around 1 billion Hindu followers worldwide. In India, of course, the number is the largest with 80% of the total population. What’s more, there is around 30 million Hindus that live outside of India, all around the world. If you want to know more you should read about 11 Countries with Highest Hindu Population. In America, the number of Hindu population is 2.29 million according to statistics from 2008. However, we don’t know how many people converted to Hinduism, nor how many people practice it without the conversion. All we know is that yoga and meditation, as Hindu practices, became very popular mostly in the 1960s in America, with the rise of the Hare Krishna Movement in the West. How do we know that? Because of the celebrities, of course!
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There were many celebrities, who, even though they haven’t converted, were very interested in Hinduism or they have just practiced it through already mentioned yoga and meditation. For example, Marlon Brando expressed his affinities to Hinduism, through meditation as the form of everyday relaxation. Then Sting, even though he considered himself to be agnostic, in one interview said that he is “addicted to India” and that he likes Hinduism a lot. On the other hand, there were many non-American celebrities who converted to Hindu religion. Some of the most known are George Harrison, a member of the Beatles, Aldous Huxley, British author famous for the “Brave New World” and Russell Brand, a British actor.
In order to create our list of the biggest white Hindu celebrities in America, we browsed the Internet a lot. We found the necessary information on many sources such as India Behind The Lens, Quora and Daily News&Analysis, just to name several. Out of that, we singled out 10 most famous ones and created the following list. In addition, just to make sure, we also checked each celebrity individually by browsing through different articles, interviews, and news. If you are interested more in Hinduism as a religion and its practice in America, we advise you to have a look at our previous article about 10 Most Famous Hindu Temples in America. Now let’s check out our celebrity list.
10. Alfred Ford
Alfred Brush Ford is a great-grandson of Henry Ford, which makes him an American heir of the Ford company. He is also a businessman, but not the usual stressed one. He has been practicing Hinduism since 1974, and he is also known as the Ambarish Das.
9. Richard L. Thompson
For some maybe unknown, Richard Thompson, the number nine on the list of biggest white Hindu celebrities in America was an American mathematician, who strongly believed in Hinduism. Together with Michael Cremo (next on our list), he wrote Forbidden Archaeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race in 1993. His Hindu name was Sadaputa Dasa.
8. Michael Cremo
Together with previously mentioned Richard Thompson, Michael Cremo or Drutakarma Dasa, wrote the book Forbidden Archaeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race, for which he is mostly famous for. Moreover, he claims that he is “Vedic creationist” and an “alternative archaeologist”.
7. Heather Graham
Heather Joan Graham is an American actress mostly known for the television series Twin Peaks. The creator of this show, David Lynch, was one of the persons that influenced her to consider Hindu religion and particularly, Transcendental Meditation.
6. Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary that ranked 5th on our list of biggest white Hindu celebrities in America was an American writer and psychologist who is mostly known for the experiments with psychedelic drugs, such as LSD. He strongly believed that LSD could be therapeutic in psychiatry.
5. Kelli Williams
American actress from the Army Wives, converted to Hindu religion when she got married to her husband, Ajay Sahgal. Some of you may remember her from the role of Lindsay Dole in the drama The Practice.
4. Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth M. Gilbert is widely known as the author of the book Eat, Pray, Love, upon which the famous movie was filmed. Precisely this book shows her affinity towards Hindu religion, as it is about the spiritual journey of one woman across India, Indonesia, and Italy.
3. Jerry Garcia
We are continuing our list of biggest white Hindu celebrities in America with Jerry Garcia that was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. For some of you, he was mostly known as the lead guitarist and vocalist in the band Grateful Dead. He was born in California, where he also died from a heart attack. His ashes were thrown into the Ganges River in India, as a sacred Hindu practice.
2. J.D. Salinger
Famous for his book The Catcher in The Rye, this American writer led his life very privately with few interviews and TV show-ups. However, it was known that he was firstly very interested in Buddhism, until he didn’t find out about Hindu religion. He became an adherent of Ramakrishna’s Advaita Vedanta, school of Hindu religion which advocated celibacy and detachment from some human responsibilities such as family.
1. Julia Roberts
First on our list of biggest white Hindu celebrities in America is Julia Roberts! This American actress is known for many movies such as Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich, Notting Hill and many more. In many sources such as CNN for example, she announced that she firmly believes in and practices Hindu religion.
