List of former or dissident Mormons

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.

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.
 * 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 actress
 * Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter and producer, 2009 Oscar for Best Screenplay for Milk
 * Gutzon Borglum, sculptor most noted for the heads of U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmore
 * 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"
 * Annette Haven, American former pornographic actress
 * Katherine Heigl, American actress
 * Jessica Holmes, Canadian comedian
 * 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 podcaster
 * 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 Young
 * Warren Zevon, singer/songwriter

Business figures

 * Bruce Bastian, businessman and philanthropist, co-created WordPerfect software.
 * Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese
 * George S. Eccles, CEO of First Security Bank and philanthropist
 * Marriner Eccles, CEO of First Security Bank and Chairman of the Federal Reserve System
 * 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 Railroad

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, 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, 2000–2008
 * 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. Haight
 * 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 politician
 * 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. 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 professor
 * Morris Udall, Arizona Congressman and presidential candidate
 * 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.
 * Sarissa Hahn, Entrepreneur
 * 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 Man
 * Laci Green sex educator and online video creator for Seeker and MTV.
 * Johnny Harris, American journalist and YouTuber
 * 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.
 * 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
 * Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, feminist

Excommunicated members

 * Lavina Fielding Anderson, scholar, writer, editor, and feminist
 * 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
 * Natasha Helfer, sex therapist
 * 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
 * Sonia Johnson, feminist and a Peace and Freedom Party presidential nominee
 * Kate Kelly, lawyer and feminist, advocate of woman holding the priesthood
 * Ogden Kraut, independent Mormon fundamentalist author
 * Deborah Laake, wrote an ex-Mormon memoir.
 * George P. Lee, former LDS general authority, convicted child molester
 * Bob Lonsberry, writer and talk radio host, expelled for "bad conduct" prior to 2001, has since rejoined
 * David Charles Manners, British writer and charity co-founder
 * Richard McCoy Jr., hijacker of a United Airliner passenger jet for ransom in 1972
 * Brent Lee Metcalfe, LDS Historian
 * Teresa Nielsen Hayden, essayist and science fiction editor, lapsed at time of excommunication
 * Orson Pratt Jr., first son of Apostle Orson Pratt
 * D. Michael Quinn, LDS historian
 * Denver Snuffer, Utah lawyer and author of books on LDS doctrine
 * Simon Southerton, molecular biologist lapsed at time of excommunication
 * Paul Toscano, attorney and author
 * Dan Vogel, LDS Historian
 * James Walker, president of Watchman Fellowship (watchman.org)
 * George D. Watt, secretary to Brigham Young and compiler of the Journal of Discourses
 * Ann Eliza Young, ex-wife of Brigham Young