The Vegan List

Below is a list of vegans out there in the public eye. They're all arranged by # of years vegan, from a cute old lady for 90 years to NFL & NBA newbies. There's a whole vast diversity of people, with their reasons & stories for going vegan as varied as their lifestyle. There are big ones and small ones. Young and old ones. Loud and quiet, black and white, tall and short. Those super healthy living on raw foods, to those less so, living on more of the processed, vegan junk food. Super rich celebrities and pro-athletes, to just regular everyday people. Some changing primarily for ethical or environmental reasons, others just for health. Some active in talking about it, others not so much. Essentially, the only real similarity is leaving flesh, eggs and dairy off their plates. You won't quite get to know them personally from a few sentences and a small picture. Nevertheless, just a short glimpse at people around the world, who quite simply, no longer eat things that come from animals.

40+ years vegan

Loreen Dinwiddie, was a vegan of 90 years until her death in 2012 at 109. She went vegan in 1922 after hearing a speech by a doctor in Portland, Oregon. Up until her death she was still able to walk with the help of a walker and was an avid painter.

   

Dr. Ellsworth Wareham, was a vegan for over 50 years until his dealth in 2018 at 104. He was one of the earliest practitioners of open heart surgery. Known to be incredibly sharp in his old age, Dr. Wareham worked as a surgeon until the age of 96, and up until his death contined to drive, mow the lawn, and stay active.

Thich Nhat Hahn, 91, is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk living in France. He became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of 16 and eventually came to the U.S. to teach at Princeton and Columbia. He was very active during the Vietnam war and Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a long-term vegan, teacher and popular author.

Fiona Oakes, 48, is an ultramarathon runner with a PR of 2:38 in the marathon. She’s been vegan since she was 6, vegetarian since 3, and runs her own animal sanctuary/foundation with 400+ animals. Despite a long schedule running her sanctuary, she continues to run around 100 miles per week. She is known for competing in races in difficult environments such as the North Pole, Sahara Desert or up at high altitude. She has completed the famous Marathon Des Sables, which is a 6 day, 154 mile race across the Sahara Desert starting in Morocco, carrying all of her supplies for the week on her back.

Ingrid Newkirk, 68, is the co-founder of PETA, the largest animal rights group in the world. She first got into animal rights working at a shelter in the 1970's which eventually lead to her co-founding PETA in 1980.

John Robbins, 69, is a famous author and son of Baskin-Robbins founders. He is a long-term vegan and writes about the environmental, health and ethical reasons for veganism. He is best known for his two books: Diet for a New America (1987) and The Food Revolution (2001).

Benjamin Zephaniah, 59, is writer/poet and Rastafarian from the UK, who has been a vegan for ethical reasons since he was 13. He finished school when he was 13 and he has been performing his poetry since he was 10. He was once considered Britain's most recognizable poet and writes for both adults and children. He was the first person to collaborate with the Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. He also incorporates a lot of animals in his poetry and children's books.

Lynda Stoner, 65, is an animal rights activist and former Australian actress. She went vegan over 40 years ago after reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation.

Donald Watson died when he was 95 and coined the word "vegan". From experiences seeing animals slaughtered at his family farm, he went vegetarian at 14 and years later vegan which was completely unheard of at that time in the UK.

Aris Latham,71, originally from Panama, is one of the pioneers of raw food in the U.S. as founder of Sunfired Foods. He went vegetarian in 1970 and then raw vegan in 1976 and has been living on raw, plant-based food ever since. He's trained thousands of raw food chefs over the years.

Joaquin Phoenix, 42, is an Academy Award nominated actor known for roles in Parenthood, Her, Gladiator, Hotel Rwanda and Walk the Line. He went vegan when he was 3 for ethical reasons. He's been active in educating people on going vegan, such as narrating documentary Earthlings, appearing in PETA campaigns or most recently producing documentary What the Health.

Dr. Neal Barnard, 64, is president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, fellow at American College of Cardiology and Associate Professor at George Washington University Medical School. Born into a cattle ranching family, he went vegan while in medical school at George Washington.

  

Dr. John McDougall, 70, is a physician and popular author. Dissatisfied with constantly prescribing pills that weren't working during the 1970's in Hawaii, he began researching diet and lifestyle. Combining his experience of seeing declining health amongst the first, second and third generation Hawaiian families he had worked with as a doctor on a sugar plantation, and reading research studies, he eventually came to the conclusion that a whole foods plant based diet, low in fat, is ideal for human health. 

Dr. Joel Kahn, is a cardiologist and long-term vegan of 40+ years. He is a professor at Wayne State University and Oakland University medical schools.

Mimi Kirk, 79, went vegan over 40 years ago for ethical reasons. She was voted Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50 by PETA in 2009 when she was 71. She’s been a raw vegan for the past 10+ years and is most known for how young she looks despite her age. 

Spice Williams-Crosby, 65, is an actress, stunt performer, third degree black belt and PhD. She went vegan over 40 years ago for health reasons

Dexter Scott King, 56, is son of Martin Luther King Jr. and long time ethical vegan and activist

Seba Johnson, 44, is the first black woman to ski at the Olympics and the youngest alpine skier in Olympic history (14 years old). She is known for her activism and love for animals. She has been a vegan her entire life having been raised as one since birth

  

Karyn Calabrese, 70, is an author and restaurant owner having opened one of the first ever raw vegan restaurants.She's been vegan for over 47 years and raw vegan for over 35 years.

  

Vegans/vegetarians since birth

Jehina Malik, 38, is a IFBB professional bodybuilder and vegan since birth. She's been an athlete her whole life and got into body building when she was 19.

Torre Washington, 43,  is a professional and natural body builder (i.e. no supplements). He is a Rastafarian, raised as a vegetarian and went vegan in 1998 for spiritual reasons. 

Tia Blanco, 20, is a professional surfer and winner of the ’15 and ’16 World Surfing Championships in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. She grew up in a vegetarian family, but decided in 2013 to go vegan and follows a mostly whole foods plant based diet.

  

Nimai Delgado is a 28 year old professional body builder who was raised as a vegetarian (95% vegan as he puts it) and went vegan more than 3 years ago for ethical reasons realizing the realities of the dairy/egg industries.

Alissa White-Gluz, 32, is lead singer for the death metal band, Arch Enemy. She was raised as a vegetarian and went vegan in 1998 for ethical reasons.

Summer Phoenix, 39, is an actress and sister of Joaquin Phoenix. She has been a vegan since birth.

Kuntal Joisher summited Mt. Everest from the South side in 2016. His first attempt was cut short by an avalanche that took the lives of 16 Sherpa guides and climbers. Born into a strict vegetarian family, he went vegan in 2002 for ethical reasons.

Cody Elkins, 10, was born vegetarian and has been vegan since he was 2. He grows up in a vegan household and is one of the best racquetball players in the country, winning the California state championship in ’14 and the world indoor championships in 2015.

  

Vegan 30-39 years

Bryan Adams, 58, is a famous musician from the 80’s and 90’s. He went vegan in the 80’s for health and ethical reasons.

Rip Esselstyn, 54, is former professional triathlete and firefighter in Austin. He’s followed a whole foods plant based diet for almost 30 years and started for purely health reasons. 

Sharon Gannon, 66, is famous yogi, musician, dancer and long-term vegan/ animal rights activist. She is the co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga, which stresses a vegan lifestyle, and has helped to popularize yoga in the West. She is known for her work as a yoga teacher to celebrities such as Madonna and Russell Simmons, as well as collaborating as a musician with Run DMC and the Beastie Boys.

  

Dr. Michael Klaper, 71, is a physician and long-term vegan. He graduated from the University of Illinois Medical School in 1972 and practiced medicine for over 40 years, including being a member of the Nutrition Task Force for the Medical Student Association and nutrition advisor to NASA. Between 1992 and 2015 he was Director of the non-profit Institute of Nutrition Education and Research where he also conducted research into people who follow a plant based, vegan diet. He now promotes a whole food plant based diet for treating and curing disease, sickness and obesity.

John Joseph, 55, is a former punk/metal singer part of the Cro-Mags. A pretty difficult childhood landed him homeless when he was 14 and eventually in jail with drug addiction issues. He brought his life around when he was released from prison, finding punk rock, martial arts, meditation and a plant based lifestyle. He wrote a book called “Meat Is for Pussies” and regularly competes in ironman triathlons.

Ruth Heidrich, 82, is a runner and ironman triathlete who switched to a low-fat/high carb vegan diet over 30 years ago after being diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. She still runs competitively and follows a mostly low fat raw vegan diet.

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, 84, is a long-time surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, served as an Army Surgeon in Vietnam and won the gold medal in the 1956 Olympics men’s crew eights. He transitioned to a whole foods plant based diet in 1984 while Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's Breast Cancer Task Force. Eventually it lead him to conduct a multi-year research project with 18 patients on reversing their heart conditions with a low fat/ whole food plant based diet, which proved to be successful. 

Moby, 52, is a musician known especially for his electronic dance music and has been performing as a musician since the 1980's. He went vegan over 30 years ago and also currently runs a vegan restaurant in LA which donates all of its profits to animal rights organizations.

Gene Baur,55,  is a long-term animal rights activist, vegan and founder of Farm Sanctuary, an animal protection organization and America's first shelter for farm animals. He’s done a lot of work over the years shedding light on current animal agriculture practices while also pushing for legislative changes. To raise awareness on veganism, he also regularly competes in marathons and ironman triathlons.

Anne Osborne, 52, has been vegan for over 30 years and fruitarian since 1990. She initially went vegan for ethical reasons, but noticing how much better she felt, she began exploring plant-based diets and ultimately stuck with one of mainly raw fruit. She's also raised two very healthy children this way, that would rarely get sick growing up. 

Gary Francione, 63, is a legal scholar and professor at Rutgers Law School who writes about the rights, ethics, philosophy and legality surrounding human's relationship with animals. In 1989, he was one of the first professors to teach animal rights at a law school. He went vegetarian after a slaughterhouse visit in 1979 and vegan soon after influenced by PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk. 

Victoria Moran, 67, is a popular vegan author with such books as Main Street Vegan  and The Good Karma Diet: Dine Gently, Feel Amazing, Age in Slow Motion. Overweight growing up, she went vegetarian almost 50 years ago sparked from an interest in yoga, and eventually vegan in 1983. She writes frequently about emotional eating, our relationship with food and spirituality. 

Glen Friedman, 55, is a photographer famous for shooting musicians and skateboarders such as Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and Tony Alva. He went vegan over 30 years ago for a combination of health, ethical and environmental reasons

  

Vegan 20-29 years

Catra Corbett, 52, is a prolific ultra-marathon runner, having run over 250 ultramarathons and over 100 races longer than 100 miles. She found running after getting arrested for selling meth over 20 years ago and has been vegan and clean since then. When she turned 50, she ran for 50 straight hours. She ran the 212 mile John Muir trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney (there and back, so 424 miles) over the course of 12 days. She now follows a diet consisting mostly of fruit and continues to run 100+ mile races, including the Moab 238 Miler. 

Andreas Hanni, 38, is a professional hockey player in Switzerland for the SC Bern. He went vegan when he was 18 for ethical reasons and vegetarian when he was 13.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, 83, is a professor of Nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University. Despite growing up on a dairy farm, his research into links between cancer and nutrition made him go vegan in 1990 while concluding the China-Cornell-Oxford project which studied diets, lifestyle and disease characteristics in rural china across 6,500 people.

Robert Cheeke, 38, is a bodybuilder and trainer that went vegan in 1995 at the age of 15 for ethical reasons. Growing up on a farm he saw the animals more as friends than food, similar to a dog, and went vegan.A competitive runner for most of his life including running for Oregon State University, he eventually turned to bodybuilding almost 18 years ago. 

Howard Lyman, 79, is a former cattle rancher/farmer turned vegan over 20 years ago for a combination of health, environmental and ethical reasons. He grew up as a fourth generation rancher and at one point had over 7,000 cows and 12,000 acres. He is well known for his appearance on Oprah discussing a recent Mad Cow outbreak and getting sued by the National Cattleman’s Beef Association as a result.

  

Ed Bauer, 38, went vegan when he was 16 for ethical reasons after reading John Robbins' Diet for a New America. He turned to cross-fit competing and body-building in 2009 as a form of activism.

Dale Vince, 56, is the founder of Ecotricity (a wind energy company) and Chairman of the Forest Green Rovers Football Club in England. He went vegan at a young age for environmental and ethical reasons. He is particularly well known for turning the Forest Green Rovers stadium completely vegan in 2014 for environmental and ethical reasons as well as for the health/performance of the team.

Brendan Brazier is a 40 year old former professional ironman triathlete and ultramarathon road runner. He went vegan in 1998 largely for performance/health reasons.

Brian Greene, 54, is a theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is the author of many science related books written for the average person and is a professor at Columbia. He went vegetarian when he was 9 for ethical reasons and vegan when he was 33 after learning more about the dairy/egg industries

Rza, 48, is famous as a rapper for Wu Tang Clan, considered one of the best hip-hop groups of all time. He went vegan over 20 years ago for ethical/spiritual beliefs

  

Dr. Milton Mills, is a critical care physician in Washington, D.C. and advocate of a whole foods plant based diet. A graduate of Stanford Medical School, he interestingly got into veganism as a Seventh Day Adventist when he was a teenager.

Wayne Hsiung, 37, is the founder of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), which is an animal rights activist group. A former corporate attorney and professor at Northwestern Law School, he went vegan over 20 years ago for ethical reasons

Pamela Anderson, 50, is a former actress best known for her role on Baywatch. She is a long term vegan and animal rights activist

Nathan Runkle, 33, is the founder of Mercy for Animals, which is an animal rights non-profit organization aimed at helping farmed animals. He grew up on a farm, and went vegan as a young kid after learning about factory farming. He formed Mercy for Animals when he was 15 after witnessing a piglet being smashed into the ground at a local high school

Dr. Ron Weiss is a primary care doctor in NJ who is the Executive Director of Ethos Health and an Assistant Professor at Rutgers Medical School. He prescribes an organic, whole-foods plant based diet to his patients and his office is located on a 342 acre farm in NJ where he grows organic fruits and vegetables. He found a whole food plant based diet when his father was diagnosed with cancer in the early 90’s.

Alicia Silverstone, 41, is an actress best known for her role in Clueless. She went vegan almost 20 years ago for health reasons and currenty runs an online website centered on her vegan lifestyle called "The Kind Life".

Woody Harrelson, 56, is a long time actor known for roles in Cheers, White Men Can't Cump, Kingpin, The Hunger Games and The People Vs. Larry Flynt. He has been vegan for 20+ years and follows a predominantly raw diet 

Emily Deschanel, 41, is a an actress best known for her role on TV series, Bones. She went vegan over 25 years ago for ethical and environmental reasons

Mike Fremont, 95, went vegan over 20 years ago after being diagnosed with cancer. He's received a lot of attention in the past few years for setting world records such as running a 3 hour half marathon at 91 or a 6:35 marathon at 90. He continues to remain active paddling and running on a daily basis. He credits his longevity to his plant based diet.

Casey Affleck, 42, is a long-time actor known for roles in Goodwill Hunting, Oceans 11, 12 and 13, Gone Baby Gone and Interstellar. He went vegan in the mid 90's for ethical reasons

Gary Steiner, 61, is a professor of philosophy at Bucknell, long term vegan, and writer on the ethics and morality of human’s relationship with animals

Martin Balluch, 53, is an Austrian physicist, animal rights activist and long term vegan. He worked for 12 years as a researcher with the University of Vienna before becoming a full-time animal rights activist

Kerry McCarthy, 52, is a British Labour Party politician who has been a member of parliament (MP) since 2005. She’s a long term vegetarian and vegan for 25+ years.

James Cromwell, 77, is an actor known for his roles in Star Trek, The Green Mile, I Robot, Babe and 24. He went vegetarian over 40 years ago after touring a stockyard and went vegan while filming movie Babe in 1995

Paul Watson, 67, is a marine wildlife conservationist and environmentalist who founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is an anti-poaching activist group focused on marine life. He is a long term vegetarian and vegan since the 90's.

Melanie Joy, 51, is a social psychologist and professor at University of Massachusetts-Boston. She went vegetarian after getting a food borne sickness from a hamburger and eventually became vegan. She wrote the book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows and is known for coining the word, "carnism", which explores the diversity of human justifications used in our treatment of different species of animals.

John Feldmann, 50, is a musician most known for being lead singer/guitarist for Goldfinger. He went vegan in the mid-90’s for ethical reasons.

Shaun Monson is best known for writing, directing and producing the documentary Earthlings which highlights human’s relationship with animals as food, pets, clothing, entertainment and scientific research. He went vegan over 20 years ago for ethical reasons

Ed Templeton, 45, is a professional skateboarder and founder of skateboard company ‘Toy Machine’. He went vegan in 1991 for ethical reasons.

Dr. Michael Greger, 45, is a physician, author and long term vegan for over 20 years. He graduated from Tufts Medical School in 1999 as a general practicioner specializing in clinical nutrition and went on to start the website, nutritionfacts.org and wrote the book, “How Not To Die”.

  

Robert Paterson, 47, is a composer of contemporary classical music and conductor. He went vegan over 20 years ago for ethical, environmental and health reasons

Vegan 10-19 Years

Mac Danzig is a 37 year old mix martial artist competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a light weight and winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 6. He always wanted to go vegan for ethical reasons but never thought possible being a serious athlete. Nevertheless, he eventually went vegan in 2004 and had a very successful career as a UFC fighter.

Jessica Chastain, 40, is an actress known for her roles in The Tree of Life, The Help, Zero Dark Thirty and Interstellar. She went vegetarian as a teenager and then vegan in 2007 for ethical reasons

Scott Jurek is a 43 year old ultra-marathoner. He is famous for winning the Western States 100 Miler seven years in a row, and also claiming multiple 1st place finishes over the years amongst the 153 mile Spartathalon (3x winner), the Hardrock 100, the Badwater 135miler (2x winner, in Death Valley, CA in the height of summer), 100 miler Leadville ultra (race in Leadville, CO at over 10,300 feet altitude) among many other 50+ mile races since starting ultra-running in 1994 when he was 21. He has the American record for 24 hours, running 165.7 miles or 8:42 per mile pace. He recently set a record running the Appalachian trail in 46 days, averaging 50 miles a day over 2,189 miles. His PR’s include: 15:36 for 100 mile trail run, 7:28 for 100k road, 5:50 for 50 mile road race and a 2:38 marathon. Jurek went vegetarian at 24 and vegan at 26 largely due to health reasons from his experience working with people as a physical therapist.

Dr. Jaimela Dulaney, is a cardiologist, marathon runner and triathlete who grew up on cow and pig farm. She initially went vegan for ethical reasons, realizing the realities of factory farms from John Robbins' "A Diet for a New America". But it wasn't until watching Forks Over Knives where she realized the health benefits. Since then, she's been prescribing a whole foods plant based diet to her patients.

Dotsie Bausch, 44, is a former professional cyclist, 7x USA Cycling National Champion, former world record holder, 2x Pan American gold medalist and silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympics. After battling cocaine addiction and eating disorders as a runway model, she turned to cycling at 26. She went vegan initially for ethical reasons, but realized immense benefits while training and competing in the Olympics. She now runs Compassion Champs, a non-profit that encourages athletes to eat a plant-based diet. 

Dominick Thompson, 38, is a competitive triathlete who went vegetarian for ethical reasons in 2001 while serving time in prison. After learning about the dairy/egg industry, he eventually went vegan and now runs the vegan clothing company "crazies and weirdos" which designs t-shirts that raise awareness for animals everywhere - farm, domestic and wild.

The Fisher family are a vegan family living in Hawaii. Ellen and Andrew (the parents) went vegan over ten years ago and follow a mostly low fat, raw vegan diet heavy in fruit. They have 2 children, also raised eating this way. They're well known based on Ellen’s youtube channel and online presence AKA “Mango Island Mama”.

Christine Vardaros, 48, is professional road, mountain and cyclocross racer who went pro in 2000. A long-term vegetarian, she went vegan in 2000 for health and performance reasons. She still continues to compete and mainly focuses on cyclocross racing.

Dr. Garth Davis is the medical director at the Davis Clinic in Houston. He is an expert in bariatric procedures (obesity related medicine) and revisional bariatric surgery. He wrote the book ‘proteinaholic’ and advocates for a whole foods plant based diet. He also competes in marathons and ironman triathlons.

Vanessa Espinoza is a body builder, boxer and 3x Colorado Golden Glove Champion. She went vegan in 2003 for ethical reasons.

Rob Zombie, 52, is a super famous musician and film maker, known especially for his heavy metal band, White Zombie and graphic horror movies. He has been a vegetarian for over 30 years for ethical reasons and vegan for over 10 years

Kara Lang, 31, is a former professional Canadian soccer player, having represented Canada in 2 FIFA World Cups and the Olympics as well as being inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. At 15, she was the youngest woman to be named to Canada's National Team. She went vegan as a teenager, almost 15 years ago, for ethical reasons.

  

Yassine Diboun, 39, is a competitive ultramarathon runner who went vegan in 2008 for various reasons. He regularly competes in 100 mile races with a top 10 finish in the Western States 100 as well as recently completing the notoriously difficult 100 mile Hurt race in the mountains of Hawaii for the second time.

Steph Davis, 44, is a rock climber, BASE jumper and wingsuit flyer, and is one of the best female climbers in the world. Having completed some of the hardest routes such as a solo 5.11 grade climb, she was the first woman to solo all of the peaks of the Fitzroy Range in Patagonia, the first woman to summit Torre Egger and the second woman to free climb El Capitan in a day. She’s been vegan for over 15 years, which she started for health reasons.

Travis Barker, 42, is best known as the drummer for Blink 182. He's been a vegetarian since 15, and went vegan in 2008 after surviving a plane crash that left him severely injured and burned.

Persia White, 45, is an actress best known for her role on the sitcom Girlfriends. She's been vegetarian since she was 12, after seeing her dog run over and has been vegan since 2000. 

Dr. Alona Pulde, board certified practitioner of acupuncture and oriental medicine as well as family medicine physician, and Dr. Matthew Lederman, internal medicine physician, have co-authored many books promoting a whole foods plant based diet and appeared in the documentary, Forks Over Knives. Alona went vegan while in medical school after seeing her father die of a heart attack, while Matthew went vegan after experimenting with a whole food plant-based diet over 10 years ago.

Lilian D. Aguilar is a fitness model and bodybuilder that went vegan in 2001 for ethical reasons after volunteering at local animal shelter. She is supplement free, following a whole food plant-based way of eating. 

Harold Brown, is a former beef and dairy farmer. While admittedly loving many of the animals growing up, he eventually got used to his life as a farmer and never questioned it. It wasn't until he was in his 30s when he came across someone with a bumper sticker that said "I don't eat my friends" where things started to change. Thinking it was just some weird joke, he asked the girl about it who responded that she was a vegetarian, which he had never even heard of before. From there he started questioning his upbringing until eventually becoming a vegan and activist.

Laura Dennis, 30 , AKA “Allie”, is a professional wrestler with Impact Wrestling and long-time vegan since she was a teenager. She's been a professional wrestler since she was 18 where she started in Toronto under the name "Cherry Bomb".

John Salley, 53, is a former NBA basketball player as a power forward and center for the Pistons, Lakers, Heat, Bulls and Raptors, where he won 3 NBA championships. He went vegan back in 2007 for health reasons.

Rich Roll is a 52 year old ultra-endurance athlete. In 2010 at 45, he completed the EPIC5 Challenge which consists of 5 ironman triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run) in 5 days. He’s also had top finishes at the Ultraman World Championships (3 day event - Day 1: 6.2 mile swim and 90 mile bike; Day 2: 170 mile bike race; Day 3: 52 mile running race). He became vegan over 10 years ago for health and psychological reasons when struggling with a toxic lifestyle of drugs and alcohol.

Tonya Kay is an actress, dancer and stunt performer.  She went vegetarian over 28 years ago, vegan 18 years ago and has followed a low fat/raw vegan diet for over 11 years, which she credits for curing her bipolar disorder

Dr. Kim Williams, 62, is a cardiologist, head of the cardiology department at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and former head of the American College of Cardiology. He graduated from the University of Chicago Medical School in 1979 and has board certifications in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology and cardiovascular computed tomography. He went vegan in 2003 after a concern with his cholesterol levels and now recommends a whole foods vegan diet to all of his patients.

Linda Blair, 58, is an actress best known for her role as the child in The Exorcist (1973). She went vegetarian in the 80’s and vegan in 2001

Russell Simmons, 60, co-founded Def Jam which is an American record label focused on Hip Hop and works with the biggest rappers in the world. He went vegan in 1999 for ethical, environmental and health reasons

Michael Arnstein is a 40 year old marathon and ultramarathon runner. He follows a fruitarian diet which is comprised mostly of fruit and some additional raw vegetables. His PR in the marathon is 2:28 (5:39 pace), 1:10 half marathon, 12:57 100 miler (7:46 pace) and a 9:38 ironman. More impressive is his insanely quick recovery times such as running a 2:39 marathon 2 days after completing the Leadville Trail 100 (ultramarathon at 10,000+ feet elevation) or running the Badwater 135mile Ultra the same week as the Vermont 100 miler. He went vegan when he was 26 and became a fruitarian when he was 30.

Billy Simmonds, 37, is a professional natural bodybuilder, powerlifter and martial artist. He holds multiple Black-belts in martial arts and won the 2009 INBA Mr. Universe title. He's been vegetarian for most of his life and went vegan over 15 years ago for ethical and health reasons.

Peggy Oki, 61, is a skateboarder/surfer, environmental activist and was the only female on the original Zephyr Skating Team (Z-Boys). She went vegan in 2005 for ethical reasons and founded the Origami Whales Project to raise awareness of commercial whaling in Japan, Norway and Iceland.

  

Jason Lester, 43, is an endurance athlete known for being the first disabled athlete to complete the Ultraman World Championships. He's the 4th fastest person to run across the U.S, and has completed endurance challenges such as the EPIC 5 Challenge (5 ironman triathlons in 5 consecutive days), and a 4,000 mile bike/1,000 mile run across the U.S. He's also run 2,600 miles along the Great Wall of China, and is the 2009 ESPY winner for the Best Male Athlete with a Disability. He's been vegetarian for over 25 years and went vegan over 10 years ago. 

Derek Tresize is a competitive body builder. He went vegan in 2007 after meeting his wife who encouraged him to try it for the health benefits.

Dr. Michelle McMacken is an internal medicine physician and assistant professor at NYU Medical School. After graduating Yale with a degree in English, she became interested in working in public health from her first job as a writer for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She then went on to graduate from Columbia Medical School. Dissatisfied with treating symptoms and prescribing medications to patients not getting better, she started filling in the gaps of her education by exploring nutrition and became a big proponent of a whole food plant based diet. A nearly life-long vegetarian, she eventually went vegan in 2007 for a combination of health, ethical and environmental reasons. 

Philip Wollen, 67, is a former senior executive and merchant banker at Citibank in Australia. He went vegan after visiting a client's slaughterhouse and has since retired dedicating himself to giving away his money and helping various animal rights causes

Daniella Monet, 28, is an actress/singer best known for her roles on Nickelodeon shows Victorious and Zoey 101. She was raised vegetarian and went vegan in 2000 for ethical reasons

David Meyer, 60, is a professional Brazilian Jiu-jitsu champion becoming the first American to become a black belt and also to win a bronze medal at the BJJ Championships. He is considered a pioneer in the sport and continues to compete today winning national and world titles. He went vegetarian in 1985 for ethical reasons and vegan in 2000.

  

Janette Murray-Wakelin and Allan Murray, 68 and 72, are long-term ultra-marathon runners from Australia. The couple became low fat/raw vegans in 2002 after Janette was disgnosed with breast cancer that had already spread to her chest walls and lymph nodes. She was given a 6-month prognosis to live even with chemo and radiation treatment. Janette took to juice fasting and raw food, and was cancer free a year later. In 2013, to celebrate 10+ years being cancer free, they ran 366 marathons around Australia in 366 days between January 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014 featured in the documentary Raw. 

Sam Simon, died when he was 59 of cancer. He was a director, producer and was the co-developer of Simpsons. He had been a vegetarian for 40 years and vegan for 15 and was a passionate animal rights supporter

Kale and Aubry Walch, 22 and 35 respectively, are long term vegans and founders of The Herbivorous Butcher (first vegan butcher shop in the U.S.) in Minneapolis.They sell fake meats and cheeses, along with a menu of common sandwiches and jerky. 

Freelee, 37, AKA “The banana girl” is well-known for starting website, 30bananasaday and popularizing the “Raw Till 4” diet. She went vegan for a combination of health and ethical reasons over 10 years ago after battling years of eating disorders and drug addictions. She follows a mostly high carb/low fat diet comprised mostly of fruit.

Cyrus Khambatta, 38, was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at 22. After years of struggling to manage his blood sugar, he started eating a low fat/high carb diet of raw fruits and vegetables, and his insulin intake went from 42 units per day to 26. He went back and got his PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from UC Berkeley, and now helps people with Type 1, 1.5 and 2 diabetes by educating them about a low fat whole food plant based diet, with lots of raw fruits and vegetables. He's been vegan for 15 years.

Dan Piraro, 59, is painter, illustrator and cartoonist popular for Bizarro cartoon. He is a long-term vegan for health, environmental and ethical reasons. 

Dr. Harriet Davis, 45, is a Board Certified Family and Sports Medicine physician, fitness model and marathoner who has been a vegetarian for 20+ years and vegan for 10 years.

Biz Stone, 43, founded Twitter, and went vegan over 15 years ago after visiting an animal sanctuary.

Ruby Lathon was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer in 2007. A lifelong vegetarian and trying to avoid surgery, she drastically altered her diet to a whole foods plant based one heavy in green leafy vegetables, and 14 months later she was cancer free. Afterwards, she left her job as an engineer and now is focused on educating people on healing through a whole foods plant based diet.

Stevo, 43, is famous as former crazy stunt person/comedian on Jackass and Wildboyz, reality TV shows on MTV that aired from 2000-2006 that featured various stunts and pranks. After recovering from years of drug abuse, he went vegan for ethical reasons over 10 years ago

Mayim Bialik, 41, is a long time actress known for her roles in Beaches, Blossom and Big Bang Theory. She also received her PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA in 2007.  She went vegetarian when she was 19 and eventually vegan after reading Eating Animals

Tobey Maguire, 42, is an actor best known for his roles in Spider-man, Pleasantville, Seabiscut and Brothers. He's been a long-term vegetarian, since the early 90's, and has been vegan since 2008.

  

4-9 years vegan

Patrick Baboumian, 38, is a strongman competitor from Germany with a number of world records, such as the log lift for the 105kg weight class and a 560kg (1,234lbs) yolk walk. He’s the proclaimed, “strongest man in Germany”. He can bench press over 450lbs, and squat/deadlift over 800lbs. He’s been a vegetarian since ’05 and vegan since ’11 for ethical reasons.

Crissi Carvalho, 44, is fitness model who went vegan over 6 years ago for health and ethical related reasons. She follows a mostly wholefood plant-based way of eating which she credits with healing bad skin, chronic digestive issues and cancer.

Xavier Desharnais, 27, is one of the world’s best marathon, open-water swimmers and multiple year winner of the 32km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean in Canada. He went vegan for ethical reasons in 2012.

Meagan Duhamel, 31, is a Canadian pair skater, Olympic silver medalist, 2x world champion and 6x Canadian national champion. She went vegan 9 years ago largely due to health and ethical reasons after reading the popular book, Skinny Bitch. 

Madi Serpico, 24, is a professional Canadian triathlete. She’s been vegetarian since 16 and vegan since 19 for a combination of ethical and health reasons after watching Forks Over Knives and Earthlings.

Juliet Burnett is one of Australia's most recognized ballet dancers, dancing with the Australian Ballet from 2003-2015 in lead roles for Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet and Giselle. She currently dances with Ballet Vlaanderen in Belgium. She's been vegetarian since 2000 and went vegan in 2013 for ethical reasons.

Vlad Ixel, 30, is a competitive ultramarathon runner that got into distance running in 2012 and went vegan late that year. He competes in over 20 races per year with very frequent 1st place finishes in prestigious races throughout Asia and Australia. He originally went vegan for health reasons inspired by Scott Jurek and Rich Roll. 

Dr. Columbus Batiste, is the chief of cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Riverside and Moreno Valley. He adopted a whole foods plant based diet in 2010 after watching his father die. He had always focused purely on medications and procedures to cure diseases, but after educating himself on the scientific research, he realized the power of nutrition and lifestyle in preventing and treating chronic diseases.  He now runs a program at Kaiser to educate his heart patients on a whole food, plant based diet.

Rebecca Soni, 31, is a former professional swimmer and 6x Olympic medalist, former world record holder in the 100 & 200 meter breast stroke, and the first woman to swim the 200 meter breaststroke in under 2:20. She went vegan in 2013 for health reasons and currently runs RISE athletes, a coaching/mentorship program for young, aspiring athletes.

Bruno Carvalho, 36, is a Brazilian welterweight MMA champion, BJJ Black belt and Judo Black belt performing in Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Submission wrestling. He comes from a long line of MMA pioneers and has been competing most of his life. He went vegan in 2012 largely for health and performances reasons.

Kitten Barbossa, 42, was over 500lbs in 2011. She could hardly walk or even fit into her car. She was suffering from countless painful health issues such as difficulty breathing and sleeping, and edema in her leg (that she couldn't touch without feeling pain). Fearing she might die soon, and being the mother of three children, she decided to go on a 42 day juice fast. From there, despite growing up in a hunting family, she went vegetarian and eventually vegan, and lost over 100 lbs in the first year. She's since lost 300+ lbs and is living a much more active lifestyle. Her parents, siblings and children have since gone vegan as well.

Alan Cummings, 52, is an actor, singer/performer known for stage performances in Hamlet, Bent andThe Threepenny Opera as well as movie roles in Emma, X-Men 2, GoldenEye and The Spy Kid's trilogy. He went vegan in 2012 for health and ethical reasons.

Landon Cassill, 28, is a professional NASCAR driver. He went vegan in 2012 from the inspiration of his wife as well as from Rich Roll's, Finding Ultra book. 

George Etzweiler, 97, is a runner who in 2017 set a world record for being the oldest to finish the Mount Washington Road Race (7.6 miles uphill). At an average of 12% grade (max being 22%), he is the only person over 88 to have finished the race. A former engineering professor at Penn State, despite being overweight and inactive at 49, took to running and has been with it ever since. He went vegan at 91 after reading The China Study. 

Alexey Voevoda, 37, is a Russian bobsledder and professional arm-wrestler (one of the best in the world). He won the gold medal in the 2-man and 4-man events in the 2014 Winter Olympics. He went vegan in 2010 for a combination of health/ethical reasons.

Ariel Rosenfeld, is a competitive Israeli ultramarathon and marathon runner with a PR of 2:41. Along with numerous 1st places finishes in the Sovev Emek (Israel's premier ultramarathon), he recently completed the 153-mile Spartathalon in Greece for the 2nd time, 6 hours under the cut-off time. He went vegan in 2012 for ethical reasons after hearing a speech by Gary Yourofsky. 

Georges Laraque, 40, is a former NHL player who over a 14 year career played for the Oilers, Coyotes, Penguins and most recently the Canadiens. He went vegan in 2009 for ethical reasons after watching the documentary, Earthlings.

Samantha Shorkey, 33, is a professional bikini body builder. She went vegetarian at age 8 and then fully vegan in 2011 after learning about the egg and dairy industries.

Korin Sutton, 32, is a professional bodybuilder that went vegan in 2013 for ethical reasons after listening to a speech by Gary Yourofsky. He served 8 years in the military as an active Marine for 4 years in Iraq and the Navy Reserves for 4 years.

Peter Siddle, 33, is a professional Australian test cricketer. He's been a vegetarian since 2002, and he went vegan in 2013 for health and ethical reasons from the influence of his wife. He's known for eating lots of bananas, sometimes over 20 per day.

Barney Du Plesis, 43, is a lifelong body builder and 2014 Mr. Universe winner. He was raised vegetarian until 18 when he started competitive body building. In 2014 after winning the Mr. Universe title, he decided to retire and go vegan for the sake of animals and years of health issues, though he still continues to compete. 

Natalie Matthews, 28, is a professional bodybuilder, vegan chef and former professional surfer. A long-term vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, she went vegan in 2010 after her husband ran into some health issues.

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, 29, is a professional dancer specializing in street dancing style called jookin. He’s performed with Cirque du Soleil, Yo-Yo Ma and Madonna. He went vegan in 2010 for health reasons.

Amanda Riester, 37, is an American body builder and retired boxer who was ranked #2 in the U.S. when she was 18. She went vegetarian at 5 for the animals and went vegan at 29 after learning more about the dairy industry. She now competes as a professional body builder and follows a mainly raw, vegan diet.

Michaela Copenhaver, 28, is a professional lightweight rower (formerly rowing for Princeton) and national champion currently training for a spot on the U.S. national team. She went vegetarian in 2010 and vegan in 2012 for health reasons. 

D. Anthony Evans was born with neurofibromatosis, which is rare disorder that causes tumors to spontaneously form throughout the body. In 2012, they turned malignant resulting in MPNST, an agressive form of cancer. He was given 6 months to live, even with the surgey where the doctors removed 325 tumors, including a 2lb tumor from his spine. He avoided chemotherapy, instead embracing a whole food plant-based lifestyle (from the guidance of his aunt) and 5-6 hours of exercise per day, and was cancer free a year later. He now actively promotes a whole food plant-based way of eating and continues a very active lifestyle, which includes 200 pull-ups per day and being able to deadlift almost 700lbs.

Andy Lally, 42, is an American professional sports car and stock car racing driver. He’s won the Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona five times and was rookie of the year at the NASCAR spring cup. He’s been a vegetarian since 2004 and went vegan in 2010, largely for ethical reasons.

Erin Fergus, 33, is a professional body builder and long-time vegetarian who went vegan in 2013 for ethical reasons.

Griff Whalen, 27, is a wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens. He went vegan over 4 years ago out of curiosity and stuck with it when he noticed how much better he felt.

Simone Collins, 31, is a professional body builder and cross-fit competitor. As a big animal lover growing up, she went vegetarian when she was 13 for ethical reasons. Despite being a competitive athlete, after learning about the dairy and egg industries in 2010, she went vegan and still continues to compete and win competitions.

Dustin Watten, 31, is a professional volleyball player on the USA men’s national team. He went vegan in 2012 for health reasons after reading Rich Roll’s “finding ultra” book.

Hillary Biscay, 39, is a professional triathlete having completed over 65 ironman races, and was the 2013 winner of the Ultraman World Championship. She won the ’08 Ironman Wisconsin, 6x 2nd place iron-distance finishes, 30x top-5 iron-distance finishes and 18x podium finishes. She was the first person to record 6 top-5 ironman finishes in one season. She went vegan in 2009 for environmental reasons.

Kendrick Farris, 31 is a U.S. Olympic weightlifter competing in the 2008 (8th), 2012 (10th)  and 2016 (11th) Olympic games. He went vegan in 2014 for health and for ethical reasons. Since then he went on to setting an American record during the Olympic Trials for 460lbs in the clean/jerk and 370lbs for the snatch.

Stefanie Moir, 25, is a bodybuilder, health coach and long term vegetarian that went vegan in 2013 for health reasons. 

Rob Bigwood is a professional arm wrestler featured in AMC’s Game of Arms series and one of the top arm wrestlers in the world. A long-term vegetarian, he eventually went vegan in 2009 for ethical reasons.

Arvid Beck, 35, is a competitive body builder from Germany who went vegan in 2011 for ethical reasons. He follows a mostly high-carb/low fat whole foods diet.

Morgan Mitchell, 23, is an Australian sprinter specializing in the 400m. She made her Olympic debut at Rio on the 4x400 team and has a PR of 51.25 set in 2016. She went vegan back in 2014 for both ethical and health reasons.

Leilani Munter, 43, is an American race car driver in the ARCA racing series and in 2007 became the 4th woman in history to compete in the Indy Pro Series. She is one of the best female drivers in the country and an avid environmental and animal rights activist. She is a life-long vegetarian and went vegan in 2011.

Damien Mander, 37, is a former Australian Royal Navy Clearance diver and special operations sniper. He put in 12 tours of duty in Iraq where he managed the Iraq Special Police Traning Academy. After relocating to South Africa and seeing the state of the wildlife there, he founded the International Anti-Poaching Foundation and eventually went vegan. He is now an anti-poaching/animal/environmental activist.

Atanas Skatov, 39, is an agronomist in plant protection, entomologist and ecologist from Bulgaria. He summited Mt. Everest in 2014 from the North side and has climbed five of the fourteen 8,000 footers. He is currently attempting to scale the fourteen highest summits in the world. He went vegan in 2012 largely for the environment.

Anastasia Zinchenko is a power-lifter, bodybuilder and scientist with a PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge. She has been a pescetarian since 15, and went vegan in 2012 for a combination of health, ethical and environmental reasons. 

  

Mirco Bergamasco, 34, is a professional rugby player from Italy and has played in the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2017 World Cups. He went vegan over 5 years ago for both health and ethical reasons.

  

Rocky Luedeker, 62, is a vegan powerlifter who started lifting over 4 years ago and now holds a number of national and world records. Weighing 90 lbs, she can squat 125lbs and deadlift 185lbs. 

Haile Thomas, 16, is a vegan chef and the founder of HAPPY Organization, which educates young people in impoverished communities on obtaining affordable, easy and nutritional food and living healthier lifestyles. She went vegan in 2014 after learning about factory farming and the health, ethical and environmental implications of consuming meat, dairy and eggs.

Frank Madrano is plant-based trainer and calisthenics athlete. He went vegan in 2011 largely for health reasons and eats a whole foods plant based diet. He moves around doing body weight exercises pretty effortlessly like one arm pull ups, hand stand push ups and things I’m not quite sure what you’d call them.

David Carter, 29, is a former NFL defensive end, most recently playing for the Chicago Bears in 2015. He went vegan in 2014 for health reasons after watching Forks Over Knives. He stuck with it as he was able to heal a number of painful health issues from years of playing football.

Dr. Angie Sadeghi, 41, is a gastroenterologist. She went vegetarian in 2005 for ethical reasons and eventually vegan in 2014 for health reasons. She credits a whole foods plant based diet with losing over 30 lbs and clearing up her eczema skin condition.

Jason Gilespie, 42, is a former Australian cricketer. He went vegan in 2014 after watching his father die from a heart attack. Initially it was a health related quest to figure out the right approach to eating, which lead him to watching Earthlings and giving up animal products seeing the realities of animal agriculture.

Antjuane Sims, 42, is a bodybuilder and Crossfit competitor, that switched to a whole foods plant based diet after watching Forks Over Knives in 2012.

Chase Armitage, 32, is a free runner, actor and parkour performer. He went vegan over 5 years ago for ethical reasons. He is known for his work in Harry Potter, Death Race and Pirates of the Caribbean. 

  

Tim Kaufman, 44, once 400lbs and born with Elhers Danlos Syndrome (which affects the joints) was hardly able to walk or stand up in 2011. After a serious warning from his doctor and wanting to be healthy for his wife, he started small with just getting up from his chair 2 times a day, and eventually moving up to adding stairs to walk up. At the same time, after watching a number of plant-based documentaries, he gave it a try eating a whole food plant based diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes. He eventually began to lose weight, and worked up to walking outside where he was able to walk 3/4 of a mile. He's since gone on to running marathons. He's lost over 200lbs, and lowered his blood pressure,cholesterol and high blood sugar as well as getting rid of his crutches and medications. 

James Wilks, 39, is a retired mixed martial artist from the UK who won Ultimate Fighter Season 9 in the welterweight division. Following an injury in 2011, he switched to a whole foods vegan diet and stuck with it noticing the drastic transformation in feeling and performance. He most recently teamed up with James Cameron to produce a documentary highlighting vegan athletes called "The Game Changers".

Ravi DeRossi, 43, is the owner of 15 bars and restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He went vegan for environmental and ethical reasons and is now in the process of converting his restaurants to 100% vegan menus.

David Haye (on the left), 37, is a professional boxer from the UK who has held the world title in both the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, and is considered one of the best boxers of his generation. He continues to box in the heavyweight division and has been a vegan since 2014 for a combination of ethical and health reasons after an injury.

Kiki Adami, 28, is the founder of Veganizer which helps restaurants “veganize” their menus either completely or just to make them more vegan friendly. She helped convert GustOrganics, a popular organic meat restaurant in NYC to go 100% vegan in 2014.

Stevan Harnad, 72, is cognitive scientist and professor at UQAM and University of Southampton. He is the current editor in chief of Animal Sentinence which is a scholarly journal publishing studies on the feelings of non-human animals. He’s a long term vegetarian and went vegan in 2010 for ethical reasons.

Austin Aries, 39, is a professional wrestler for WWE, TNA and ROH. He's a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time X Division Champion and 2-time ROH Champion. He went vegan in 2011 for health reasons

Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, 53, is a guitarist for the Misfits (a horror punk band started in 1977). He went vegan in 2013 after meeting his girlfriend who happened to be vegan.

Bob Comis is a former pig farmer and owner of Stony Brook Farm which raised over 250 pigs annually. After seeing the realities of factory farming, he was deeply troubled and decided to raise his own pigs as humanely as possible in order to continue eating meat. After 10 years of raising pigs, he developed a strong attachment to them and decided to close down. He went vegetarian and soon after vegan and now runs a veganic vegetable farm (In Line Farm) instead. His story is featured in documentary, The Last Pig.

Natalie Portman, 36, is an actress known for her roles in Leon: The Professional, Star Wars I, II and II, V for Vendetta and Black Swan. She went vegan in ’09 for ethical and environmental reasons after reading Eating Animals

  

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, 36, is considered one of the most influential rabbis in America. He went vegan in 2011 for ethical reasons, and has since challenged synagogues across North America to go vegan

Cam Awesome, 29, is an American heavyweight boxer who won the US title in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014 and the Golden Gloves in 2009, 2011 and 2013. He was previously captain of the U.S. National team and is also well known as a stand-up comedian. He went vegan in 2012 for health reasons. 

Jan Gerdes and Karin Muck, were former dairy farmers in Germany turned vegan and have since founded the Hof Butenland Animal Sanctuary. Hof Butenland has been producing milk and cheese since the 1850's, but after opening up to their cows, they fell in love with them and decided to turn the operation into a sanctuary which now houses pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, horses and rabbits.

Kate Mara, 34, is an actress most known for her work on television shows, House of Cards and 24. She went vegan over 5 years ago for health, ethical and environmental reasons

Rooney Mara, 32, is an Academy Award nominated actress most known for her roles in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Her and Carol.  She went vegan over 5 years ago for a combination of ethical, environmental and health reasons.

Josh LaJaunie, 39, is from Southern Louisiana and lost over 200lbs over the course of a few years. Despite growing up as an avid hunter, he adopted a whole foods plant based diet in 2013 after watching Forks Over Knives, and has since gone on to being a competitive ultra-marathoner, including competing in 100 mile races. He was featured on the cover of Runner's World Magazine.

James Cameron, 63, is an academy award winning writer, director and producer known for movies like Avatar, Terminator I and II, True Lies, Alien and Titanic. He went vegan in 2011 for a combination of environmental and health reasons

  

Dr. Fred Distelhorst, 88, is a retired orthodontist and vegan that set a world record for oldest person to hike Kilimanjaro. He did the total hike, up to the 19,360 ft summit and down, in 6 days. Despite his age, Fred still skis 100 days out of the year and remains very active.

Cheri Ezell and Jim Vandersluis, are former goat milk farmers and cattle ranchers. They met when Cheri was buying goats for her goat milking business and Jim was selling his cows. After falling in love with a sick calf who was to be sent to slaughter, they decided to focus on the goat milking business. Yet, because the baby goats had no use, they would sell them to be butchered for their meat, and it always pained them to see and hear the baby goats cry as they were being hauled away. Despite it being their primary income source, they sent all of their goats to different sanctuaries and closed down. They've since gone vegan and now run the Maple Farm Sanctuary in Massachusetts. 

Stevie Wonder,67, is a musician and considered one of the most decorated performers of the 20th century, receiving 25 Grammy Awards, more than 30 Top Ten hits and sold over 100 million records. He went vegan in 2014 for health and environmental reasons.

Karen Hauserman, 50, weighed over 400lbs in 2010. After a heart attack scare, she committed to improving her health and eventually found a whole foods vegan diet in 2012 after watching Forks Over Knives. By 2013, she lost over 260lbs, lowered her blood pressure, got rid of constant joint pain and quit smoking. She now follows a whole food plant based lifestyle and helps others do the same.

Ariana Grande, 24, is a famous singer/actress that began her career on Broadway and as an actress on Nickelodeon shows Victorious and Sam & Cat. She went vegan in 2013 for ethical reasons.

Tommy and Renee Sonnen, turned their cattle ranching operation into The Rowdy Girl Sanctuary and went vegan in 2014. Tommy grew up in a multi-generation cattle ranching family, yet when Renee went to buy a calf for the ranch, she fell in love with it and soon after started her path towards going vegan. Tommy agreed to close down the ranch because of her strong feelings, but not wanting to see all of the animals die, she started a fundraising campaign to help convert the ranch into a sanctuary, now home to cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, horses and a goat.

Will Tucker, 42, is a professional bodybuilder and trainer, who went vegetarian in 2006 and vegan in 2009 for health reasons.

Ellen Page, 30, is an Academy Award nominated actress known for her roles in Juno, X-Men, Super and Inception. She went vegan over 5 years ago for ethical reasons.

Baggio Husidic, 30, is professional soccer player for the LA Galaxy. Originally from Bosnia, his family fled in the 1990’s to escape the war. He lived in refugee camps until settling in Illinois when he was 10. He went vegetarian in 2010 and then vegan in 2013 for health/performance reasons.

Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed, 55, is the son of a billionaire Saudi businessman and went vegan over 5 years ago for environmental and ethical reasons. He made the transition after questioning his lifestyle and former hobbies, which included a trophy hunt trip in South Africa that still haunts him today. He's since convinced his father to also go completely vegan.

Fraser Bayley, 31, is a competitive bodybuilder, former butcher/ paleo diet follower who went vegan in 2013 for a combination of health, ethical and environmental reasons.

2-3 years vegan

Bill McCarthy, 37, is an American powerlifter, coach and trainer with multiple top-5 performances at the U.S. nationals. His PR's include: ~500lb bench press, 750lb squat and 620lb dead-lift. He went vegan after doing an Engine 2, 28-day challenge over 3 years ago and stuck with it, without using any supplements as well.

  

Julia Hubbard, 42, is a professional bodybuilder, sprinter and former bobsledder. She went vegetarian at 18 for ethical/environmental reasons, and went vegan in 2015 to cure health/digestion issues. As a sprinter, she's won multiple championships including the Master's world championship for the 200m as well as the British indoor national championships. 

  

Abel Trujillo, 34, is a professional MMA who competes as a lightweight for UFC. He went vegan a few years ago for a combination of health, ethical and spiritual reasons.

Genesis Butler is a 9 year old girl who went vegetarian on her own when she was 4 and vegan when she was 6. She now is an activist picketing circuses, lobbying her local politicians and setting up her own non-profit to raise money for animals. 

Bridget Malcom, 25, is an Australian model. After watching videos on the PETA website in 2009, she bounced back and forth between being vegan and vegetarian before becoming a committed vegan in 2015

Mark Lenihan, 35,  is a trainer and calisthenics athlete in London that went vegan in 2014 for ethical/environmental reasons and vegetarian in 2013. He follows a mostly wholefood diet, with lots of fruits and vegetables.

Bryant Jennings, 33, is a professional heavyweight boxer that fought for the world heavyweight title in 2015. He went vegetarian in 2013 and then vegan in 2015, particularly noting the increased mental clarity from the change. 

Claire "Fury" Foreman, 29, is a professional Muay Thai fighter from Australia, and previous 2015 WMC bantamweight national champion. She went vegetarian in 2007 for ethical reasons, and eventually went vegan in 2015 inspired from seeing an abundance of vegan athletes as well as seeing how easy the transition from a food perspective. 

Brian turner, a natural body builder, went vegan more than 2 years ago to cure an intense acne condition. With a whole foods, plant based diet and lots of water, he cured his skin completely.

Heather Jo Clark, 37, is a professional MMA fighter competing in the Strawweight division of UFC. She's a long-term vegetarian and went vegan a few years ago.

Massimo Brunaccioni, 33, is an Italian bodybuilder, sprinter and former professional soccer player. From a combination of a dog entering the family and the influence of his vegan mother, he eventually went vegan for a combination of health and ethical reasons. 

Anthony Mullally, 26, is a professional Irish rugby player. He is 6’5, 250lbs and has been vegetarian since 2014. He went vegan a few years ago after watching Gary Yourofsky’s “the best speech you will ever hear”.

Cristiano Vitelli is the co-owner (with Andrea Moro) of the PickyWops Pizzeria, a popular restaurant in London, that switched to an all vegan menu in April 2017 for ethical and environmental reasons

Bianca Taylor is a body builder, model, mixed martial artist and trainer who went vegan in 2014 after doing research into world hunger and learning more about how the current food system impacts poor communities around the world.

Patrick Reiser is a professional natural, bodybuilder from Switzerland. He went vegan a few years ago and works today as a trainer/coach. 

Antoine Jolicoeur Desroaches, 24, is a professional triathlete competing in half and full ironman events, while recently going under 4 hours for the half ironman. He initially became interested in veganism from Scott Jurek and Rich Roll, but it was Cowspiracy (a documentary about animal agriculture’s effect on the planet) that made him go vegan in 2014.

Gavin Fernback is the co-owner (with wife Caz) of The Fields Beneath in London. They went vegan in 2015 for ethical reasons and converted the café to 100% vegan in 2017.

Agnes Muljadi is a ballet dancer, actress, model and long-term vegetarian who went vegan in 2015 for health reasons. She follows a mostly raw, whole foods vegan diet and maintains a busy training schedule of over 30 hours per week across ballet, yoga and pilates.

Mischa Janiec is a professional, natural bodybuilder that went vegan in 2015 for a combination of ethical and environmental reasons. He's since been active in promoting it noticing how much better he feels and how easy/enjoyable the transition. 

Evanna Lynch, 26, is an actress known for role in the Harry Potter movies. She went vegan in 2015 for ethical reasons

Marco Matino, is the owner of the popular Gigi Pizzeria, in Sydney. In 2015 after watching a number of documentaries, he went vegan for ethical, environmental and health reasons and converted the restaurant to a 100% vegan menu, which is still thriving today.

  

Newly Vegan

Derrick Morgan, 28, is an outside linebacker for the Tennessee Titans. He went vegan in the summer of 2017 for health reasons after watching What the Health and Forks Over Knives. He convinced a quarter of the team to make the switch as well with 11 players switching to a whole-food plant based (and mainly gluten free) diet. For what it's worth, the Tennessee Titans made it to the post-season playoffs for the first time in 9 years in 2017 after the change.

Colin Kaepernick, 30, is an NFL quarterback previously for the 49ers that gained attention for kneeling during the national anthem. He went vegan in late 2015 for ethical and health reasons. 

Kyrie Irving, 25, is a former point guard of the Cleveland Cavaliers and current guard for the Boston Celtics. He's a 5x NBA all-star, 2012 Rookie of the Year and NBA champion in 2016. He recently switched to a plant-based diet for health reasons.