- Steve Benson
Stephen R. Benson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal U.S. editorial cartoonist for "The Arizona Republic". Benson is the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson. Benson's more controversial cartoons include one that depicts a firefighter carrying a child from the Oklahoma City bombing similar to a well-known photo of a firefighter's futile rescue of 1-year old Baylee Almon. - Ed Decker
John Edward Decker (born 1935) is an American evangelist and writer. A former member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Decker later became a born-again Christian. He is best known for his many works strongly criticizing the LDS Church. - D. Michael Quinn
D. Michael Quinn (born in 1944) is a historian who has focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 1976 to 1988, he was a professor at Brigham Young University, after which he resigned. At the time, his work concerned church involvement with plural marriage after the 1890 Manifesto, in which the practice was officially renounced. - Richard Packham
Richard Packham (born Howard Richard Packham on September 21, 1933), is a critic of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Christian belief in general and is active in the Exmormon community. He helped establish the Exmormon Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to "offering emotional support to those who are leaving (or who have left) Mormonism." The Foundation operates exmormonfoundation.org, … - Mark Hofmann
Mark William Hofmann (born 7 December 1954), a disaffected member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was a prolific counterfeiter who murdered two people in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is currently serving a prison sentence at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah. Hofmann is widely regarded as one of the most successful forgers in history. - Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl (born November 24 1978) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actress. Heigl is known for her roles on the TV series "Grey's Anatomy" and "Roswell" as well as in the film "Knocked Up". - William Law
William Law was born in Northern Ireland, as the youngest of five children. His family moved to the United States around 1820, and he eventually ended up in Upper Canada. At the age of 24 he married Jane Silverthorn, who was 19 years old. Law and his wife joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836, through the efforts of John Taylor and Almon Babbitt. He led a group of Canadian saints to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839 and in 1841, … - Martha Beck
Martha Nibley Beck (born 29 November 1962) is a sociologist, therapist, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is daughter of deceased Mormon scholar, apologist and defender, Hugh Nibley. - Fawn M. Brodie
Fawn McKay Brodie was a biographer and professor of history at UCLA, best known for "Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History", a work of psychobiography, and "No Man Knows My History", the first important non-hagiographic biography of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Raised in Utah of a respected, if impoverished, Latter-day Saint (LDS) family, … - Neil Labute
Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church; see also Mormon). At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. - Heather Armstrong
Heather B. Armstrong born July 19 1975, is an American blogger who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She writes under the pseudonym of Dooce. Armstrong explains that "Dooce" came from her inability to quickly spell "dude" during IM chats with her former co-workers. Armstrong was raised a Mormon in Tennessee, and majored in English at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, graduating in 1997. She then moved to Los Angeles, California to work. - George P. Lee
George Patrick Lee (b. 23 March 1943) was the first Native American to become a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the Church's First Quorum of Seventy between 1975 and 1989, when he was excommunicated from the Church. - John C. Bennett
John Cook Bennett (1804-1867) was an American physician and a ranking and influential-but short-lived-leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second in command to Joseph Smith, Jr. for a brief period in the early 1840s. Bennett had a mysterious and dubious past in other cities where he had risen to prominent positions, only to leave dishonorably after a scandal. - Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV (born September 12, 1973) is an American actor and former fashion model. He became known during the early 2000s, after starring in several major Hollywood films, including "The Fast and the Furious" (2001). - Sonia Johnson
Sonia Johnson (born February 27, 1936) is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormon), of which she was a member, against the proposed amendment. She eventually was excommunicated from the church for her activities and went on to publish several radical feminist books. - Ann Eliza Young
Ann Eliza Young (née Webb was one of Brigham Young's many wives and later a critic of polygamy and a U.S. Mormon dissident. She was the 19th, or possibly 27th, wife of Brigham Young, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having married him when he was 67 years old and she was a 24 year old divorcee with two children. She filed for divorce from Young in January 1873, an act which attracted much attention. - John Corrill
John Corrill was an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, being baptized on January 10, 1831. He is noteworthy for being elected to the Missouri State Legislature in 1838. He distanced himself from the Mormons the following year, and was excommunicated. Between 1831 and 1837, Corrill served as the second counselor to the Latter Day Saint movement's first bishop, Edward Partridge. - J. J. Dewey
Joseph John Dewey (born February 6, 1945 in Silverton, Oregon) is a U.S. New Age writer living in Boise, Idaho. His books, "The Immortal", which comprises volumes I and II, and "The Lost Key of the Buddha", and "Eternal Words", tell the story of a man named Joe, who bears extremely strong resemblance to the author, Joe's wife Elizabeth, and Joe's interactions with John the Apostle. - Warren Parrish
Warren Parrish ("also" Warren Parish was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint or Mormonism movement. Parrish held a number of positions of responsibility, including that of scribe to church president Joseph Smith Jr. Parrish and other leaders became disillusioned with Smith after the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society and left the Mormon church. - Sheldon Rampton
Sheldon Rampton (born August 4, 1957) is the editor of "PR Watch", and the author of several books that criticize the public relations industry and what he sees as other forms of corporate and government propaganda. Rampton was born in Long Beach, California. At the age of three, his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where his father worked as a musician. Raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), … - Gary Gilmore
Gary Mark Gilmore (December 4, 1940 - January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international notoriety as the first person executed in the United States after the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 after "Gregg v. Georgia" lifted the four-year moratorium instated by "Furman v. Georgia". - Steven Fales
Steven Fales (year born) is a playwright and actor who has gained broad recognition in both the gay community and the LDS community for his one-man play, "Confessions of a Mormon Boy". Fales was born in Utah and grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church. As is common in the LDS community, he served a two-year full-time mission for the church in Portugal. - Lyman E. Johnson
Lyman Eugene Johnson was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He broke with Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon during the 1837-38 period when schism divided the early Church. He later became a successful pioneer lawyer in Iowa and was one of the town fathers of Keokuk, Iowa. Lyman Johnson was born in Pomfret, Windsor County, Vermont in 1811 to John Johnson, Sr., and Alice "Elsa" Johnson. - Eliza Patricia Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku (born December 30, 1980) is an American film actress, who has appeared in several Hollywood movies such as "True Lies", "The New Guy", "Bring It On", and "Wrong Turn". She is also well known for her acting on television, such as her recurring appearances on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" as Faith, as well as the main character in the series "Tru Calling". - Samuel Brannan
Samuel Brannan (March 2, 1819 - May 14, 1889), was the first publicist of the California Gold Rush and the first millionaire because of the rush. "Brannan Street" in San Francisco is named after him. Brannan was born in Saco, Maine. As a teenager, his family moved to Ohio, where Brannan learned to be a printer. He joined the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Brannan moved to New York in 1844, and began printing "The New York Messenger", … - Frank J. Cannon
Frank Jenne Cannon, (January 25, 1859 - July 25, 1933) was the first United States Senator from Utah, who served from 1896-99. Born in Salt Lake City, he was the eldest child of Sarah Jenne Cannon and George Q. Cannon. His father was an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and later was a member of its First Presidency. After attending the school in Salt Lake City, he studied at University of Deseret, graduating at the age of 19. - William Shunn
William Shunn (born August 14, 1967, Los Angeles, California) is a science fiction writer and computer programmer. He was raised in a Latter-day Saint household, the oldest of eight children. He attended the Clarion Workshop in 1985. In 1986, he served a mission to Canada for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was arrested for making a false bomb threat, for the purpose of preventing his fellow missionary from returning home. - Patrick Califia
Patrick Califia (formerly known as Pat Califia; born 1954 near Corpus Christi, Texas) is a writer about women's sexuality and of erotic fiction, nonfiction essays, and poetry. Califia is a bisexual transman - George M. Hinkle
George M. Hinkle was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Born in Jefferson County, Kentucky on November 13, 1801, Hinkle joined the early Latter Day Saint church in 1832. He sat on the church's High Council in Far West, Missouri and led the settlement of De Witt, Missouri. He was commissioned a colonel in the Missouri militia and was the commander of the militia in predominantly Mormon Caldwell County. During the Mormon War at the siege of Far West, … - Bo Gritz
James "Bo" Gritz (born January 18, 1939 in Enid, Oklahoma) was a highly decorated United States Army Special Forces officer during the Vietnam War whose post-war activities-notably attempted POW rescues-have proven controversial. He remained a Special Forces officer until he resigned his commission in 1979. - Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Teresa Nielsen Hayden (born March 21, 1956) is an American science fiction editor, fanzine writer, essayist, and teacher. Born Teresa Nielsen, she grew up in a Mormon household in Mesa, Arizona, but was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1980. In her youth, she served as a page in the Arizona House of Representatives. - Jan Groenveld
Jan Groenveld (1945 - October 22, 2002) was a former member of the Mormon Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses. She spent a total of fifteen years in these organizations before leaving them in 1975. After her negative experiences in these organizations, she resolved to make more information about what she saw as "cults" available to the general public. Her personal experiences involving these groups were featured in Richard Guilliatt's book, "Talk of the Devil". - Kerry Thornley
Kerry Wendell Thornley is perhaps best-known as the co-founder (along with childhood friend Greg Hill) of Discordianism. In this context he is usually known as Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, a name he derived from Omar Khayyám. He and Hill authored the religion's seminal text "Principia Discordia, or, how I found Goddess, and what I did to her when I found her." Less known is a series of "Zenarchy" articles, … - Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson (May 26, 1946 - April 29, 1993) born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of Ziggy Stardust's Spiders From Mars band. He also had a solo career, the most notable exponent of which was his "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" album, … - Brendon Urie
Brendon Boyd Urie (b. April 12, 1987 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is the lead singer and frontman of the band Panic! At the Disco. He also plays keyboard, accordion, piano, organ, cello, bass, drums and guitar. - Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson (born August 12, 1966, in Ames, Iowa) is an American academic and writer of literary fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University (BA) and the University of Washington (MA and PhD). After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University and the University of Denver. He is currently the Chair of the Literary Arts Program at Brown University. - Rafe Judkins
Rafe Judkins (born January 8, 1983 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a contestant on the 11th season of "Survivor", which took place in Guatemala. Judkins was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in a huge Mormon family that is said to include 60 first cousins. Rafe's childhood involved him spending time painting rocks and taking apart machines. This was probably because of his mother being an artist and father being an inventor. - Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn is an American novelist and critic who lives in Montana. A 1983 graduate of Princeton University, he has published a collection of short stories and several novels, including Thumbsucker, which was made into a 2005 film featuring Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn; Up in the Air; and Mission to America. In 2005, he took over pioneer blogger Andrew Sullivan's shoes for a few weeks while Sullivan was on vacation. He has recently finished work on The Unbinding, … - La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14 1935) is an American composer and musician. Young is commonly seen as the first minimalist composer and one of the four most celebrated leaders of the minimalist school, along with Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, despite having little in common formally with Glass or Reich. Young is also probably the least heard and least well known of the major minimalist composers. - Jessica Holmes
Jessica Holmes (born August 29, 1973 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian comedian and actress. She is best known for her work with the "Royal Canadian Air Farce", which she joined in 2003. She is married to actor Scott Yaphe. Holmes attended Canterbury High School in Ottawa followed by Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. She was raised with two older, supposedly fraternal (non-identical) twin brothers.
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