Famous Faces Who Are Vegan and Inspired Millions to Be the Same

Joaquin Phoenix, Billie Eilish, and Pamela Anderson are just a few of the many public figures who are vegan—and inspire others to be vegan, too.

Every person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year. And when someone inspires others to do the same, that impact multiplies fast.

That’s the power of visibility. When celebrities choose compassion and use their platforms to talk about it, the effect is a tidal wave of change. Their choices spark conversations, shift norms, and make being vegan more accessible, more joyful, and more mainstream than ever before.

Meet some of today’s animal-advocating icons making the world a kinder place.

Joaquin Phoenix

“When we look at the world through another animal’s eyes, we see that inside we’re all the same—and that we all deserve to live free from suffering,” says Phoenix, who has been vegan since he was just three years old. A major Hollywood force known for transformative roles like Her and Joker, Phoenix has used his massive platform to speak up for animals for decades. He’s starred in many powerful PETA campaigns like “We Are All Animals,” reminding audiences that we all feel, and we all deserve respect and compassion. He’s taken on the wool industry in his “Cruelty Doesn’t Suit Me” ad, and even “drowned” onscreen to show how fish typically suffer in their final moments when fishing nets tear them from their ocean homes.

RZA

Legendary rapper and Wu-Tang Clan founding member RZA has been vegan since around 2000—and he’s used his influence to encourage his fans around the world to eat with empathy and intention.

Through his work with PETA—including the campaign “A Better Tomorrow Is a Vegan Tomorrow”—he’s shared a straightforward truth: It doesn’t make sense to put dead flesh into a live body.

Pamela Anderson

Who could forget PETA’s iconic “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, the cultural flashpoint that signaled the beginning of the end for the fur industry? Pamela Anderson, PETA honorary director, was one of the first celebrities to front it, baring all at the height of her Baywatch fame and helping catapult animal rights into the mainstream.

Vegan since the 1990s, she’s used her platform ever since to challenge cruelty in food, fashion, and beyond. She’s taken her advocacy straight to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, urging him to remove foie gras from the menu at his flagship London restaurant in favor of faux gras for World Vegan Month. She’s also brought it into everyday life with her cookbook, I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, inviting readers into her kitchen with 80 soul-nourishing vegan recipes.

James Cromwell

Cromwell went vegan while filming Babe in 1995, a turning point that forever changed how he saw animals. For decades, he’s lived by a simple truth: Pigs, fish, cows, and chickens are someone, not something.

And he hasn’t stayed quiet. His compassion has shown up in bold, headline-making ways, from supergluing his hand to a Starbucks counter to protest unfair vegan upcharges (now a thing of the past), to standing with a megaphone right in front of a SeaWorld tank imprisoning orcas. He even ceremoniously discarded his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Humane Society of the United States (now Humane World for Animals) because its leaders sat on—and have since left!— the board of the Global Animal Partnership, the group behind misleading “animal welfare certified” labels.

In recognition of his dedication to animal liberation, we named our Los Angeles headquarters the James Cromwell Empathy Center—a fitting tribute to a voice that’s never wavered.

Billie Eilish

“Eating meat is inherently wrong … You can eat meat … You can love animals. But you can’t do both,” said Eilish, who took the heat and still proudly doubled down. Vegan since early childhood, the global superstar has used her platform to push that message far beyond interviews. Named PETA’s 2021 Person of the Year, Eilish has consistently turned influence into action, from agreeing to wear an Oscar de la Renta gown to the Met Gala only if the brand banned fur (it did), to launching a vegan Air Jordan collection with Nike. She’s brought the conversation to film as both an executive producer and a featured voice in They’re Trying to Kill Us, a documentary examining racial inequality in the food system, and into everyday life with her own vegan fragrance and plant-based chocolate bar.

For Eilish, advocacy for our fellow animals isn’t a side note, it’s woven into everything she creates, proving that compassion can be just as influential as chart-topping success.

Lewis Hamilton

Seven-time Formula One World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton doesn’t just race at the front of the grid—he’s also driving a powerful movement for animals. Vegan since 2017, he made the switch because of “[a]nimal cruelty, global warming and our personal health.” Named PETA’s 2018 Person of the Year, Hamilton consistently champions vegan living, urging fans, “Please find it in your heart to not support this horrific cruelty and go plant-based!”

Alicia Silverstone

Vegan for more than 25 years, Alicia Silverstone has long made compassion her signature on- and off-screen. In her book The Kind Diet, she shares the personal awakening that led her to kind eating, saying, “you can heal yourself eating this way.”

A longtime PETA supporter, she’s brought that message to bold, unforgettable campaigns like “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Wool” and “Don’t Be a Prick—Wear Vegan,” promoting vegan leather made from cactus. For Silverstone, being vegan isn’t just a philosophy; it’s a path to personal well-being and a more compassionate world.

Tabitha Brown

Vegan influencer, actor, and “America’s mom,” Brown helped make vegan go viral, and, in 2020, PETA named her our Person of the Year. With her signature warmth and joy, she inspires millions to extend compassion to all individuals, one delicious recipe at a time. “I love people and animals, so my mission is to get people healthier by not eating animals or animal products. The more people I get to try a vegan lifestyle, the more animal lives I save in the process! It’s a win-win,” she told Chowhound.

Brown’s journey began after her daughter, Choyce, encouraged her to watch the documentary What the Health. After experiencing the health benefits of going vegan firsthand, she started sharing her story—and her mouthwatering recipes—with the world. From her viral review of Whole Foods’ TTLA (tempeh bacon, tomato, lettuce, and avocado) sandwich to her fan-favorite vegan mac and cheese, her infectious joy and flavorful creations have shown that living compassionately can be as satisfying as it is sustainable. She’s also brought her mission to the mainstream through major collaborations, including a Target line featuring vegan foods, kitchen essentials.  Like so, like that!

Emily Deschanel

Bones star Deschanel has been vegan since her teens, a decision sparked by the documentary Diet for a New America. Ever since, she’s used her platform to connect the dots between animals, the environment, and our everyday choices.

In PETA’s “Meat’s Not Green” campaign, she delivered a clear message: There’s no such thing as a meat-eating environmentalist. Highlighting the massive environmental cost of animal agriculture, she points out that going vegan can have a greater impact against the climate catastrophe than driving a hybrid or switching to energy-efficient light bulbs.

Pinky Cole

Star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta season 17 and founder of the wildly popular Slutty Vegan, Aisha “Pinky” Cole has turned animal-friendly eating into a full-on cultural movement. Since launching the Atlanta-based burger chain in 2018, she’s built a phenomenon known for its indulgent comfort food, bold branding, and electric, can’t-miss atmosphere—all vegan.

But for Cole, it’s about more than the hype. She’s raising her children vegan, too, prioritizing compassion from the very beginning. “I don’t play about my lifestyle. I read the back of every label, the back of every box, [and] I’m always in the produce aisle,” she says. “I want my children to be able to follow in my footsteps and live a more conscious life.”

Through every burger, business move, and message, Cole makes vegan food more visible, celebratory, and easy to say “yes” to.

Cory Booker

American senator, lawyer, animal advocate, and recipient of PETA’s 2025 Congressional Leadership Award, Booker has been vegan since 2014, using both his platform and policy work to push against cruelty and exploitation.

Booker has championed efforts to end cruel animal experimentation, co-sponsoring legislation like the CARGO Act to block U.S. funding for international animal testing and helping pass the FDA Modernization Act, which opens the door for non-animal methods in drug development. He’s also directly challenged federal agencies, like questioning the National Institutes of Health over funding for primate experiments and working to investigate and halt the kangaroo skin trade.

Evanna Lynch

Best known as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter franchise, Lynch has always loved doing good for animals and the planet. Vegan for nearly 13 years, she waves her wand against animal-abusing systems, reminding everyone that kind living is as simple as “swish” and “flick.”

She’s brought that message to bold, creative campaigns, including PETA’s parody “makeup tutorial” exposing the ugly side of cosmetics testing. And she doesn’t shy away from speaking her truth: “Killing and eating animals is a betrayal of our own core humanity,” she says.

She also brings a bit of vegan magic to social media, sharing playful, delicious recipes with her audience—like her signature vegan Chocolate Frogs and Butterybeer. Check them out:

Woody Harrelson

The odds are ever in animals’ favor when it comes to Harrelson. An outspoken vegan advocate, he traces his journey back to a chance encounter that changed everything. In one interview, he recalled cutting out dairy in his 20s after a stranger’s advice cleared up persistent skin and health issues. “By God she was right,” he said. That breakthrough led him to rethink his entire diet, ultimately ditching meat as well.

Since then, Harrelson has used his voice to bring others along, including encouraging fellow actor Sadie Sink to go vegan while they filmed The Glass Castle. It’s a domino effect in action—one choice leading to another, and another—proving how a single shift can spark lasting change for animals.

Daniella Monet

Known for her spunky role as Trina on Nickelodeon’s hit series Victorious, Monet has used her talents to champion animals and make vegan living feel effortless. Vegan since around her early teens, she once said she “didn’t even know it”—the transition came so naturally. Monet has brought that message front and center in PETA campaigns, including one where she donned a mermaid tail to urge viewers to stop eating fish—animals who feel pain and fear when fishing nets tear them from their homes and families.

Monet shows her fans that going vegan is intuitive. And by sharing that message, she’s helping them see how easy it is to choose compassion.

Miyoko Schinner

Vegan for more than 40 years, Schinner has helped redefine what people think of as vegan food. A trailblazing chef and author of seven vegan cookbooks, she’s built a movement around rich, artisan dairy-free cheeses and butters that deliver top-tier flavor. At the same time, they spare gentle mother cows from an industry that tears their babies away and treats them like milk-producing machines.

Her most recent cookbook, The Vegan Creamery, invites readers to create their own dairy-free milks, butters, and cheeses at home, continuing her mission to make kind eating both accessible and irresistible. Across her work—from recipes to her “Phenomenally Vegan” tattoo—animals remain at the heart of everything she does.

“As I get older, I get bolder in sharing my personal mission,” she says, “… a lifestyle, a philosophy, a belief that all creatures are entitled to liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Natalie Portman

Oscar-winning actor Portman is known for commanding the screen, and she brings that same presence to speaking up for animals.

As the narrator and co-producer of the 2017 documentary Eating Animals, she brings audiences face-to-face with the environmental, economic, and public health fallout of today’s farms, making the issue impossible to ignore.

She’s also turned to history to sharpen her message, starring in a PETA video honoring maverick writer and animal advocate Isaac Bashevis Singer. “Nowadays, many of us speak up for animals, but it wasn’t always like this,” Portman says. “Decades ago, one man articulated the plight of animals so boldly that the modern world couldn’t ignore him.”

Edie Falco

The Emmy-winning Sopranos actor doesn’t separate her career from her convictions. “I work with PETA. That’s one reason I became vegan,” she’s said. “It’s hard to justify working for animal rights when you eat animal-based foods.”

That clarity drives everything she does. Falco has spoken candidly about animal exploitation, saying, “Animals are mistreated in ways I had not imagined … If you don’t have respect for life of any kind, it will manifest in more obvious ways.” And she’s brought that message to the screen through a series of powerful PETA PSAs. In one striking Super Bowl–week TV spot, she took aim at the dairy industry, showing why it’s time for the “milk mafia” to finally get pinched.

Alan Cumming

In 2023, PETA honorary director Alan Cumming turned heads by posing nude, covered only by a single leaf of romaine. The ad read, “I’m the Vegan Option,” urging others to rethink who’s on their plate. He’s also blasted the animal-skins industry, promoting stylish, plant-made leathers, and has called on chains to offer vegan options—like his successful push for Dairy Queen to add dairy-free options.

Tig Notaro

Comedian and actor Tig Notaro has been vegan since 2017, and her reason is as straightforward as it gets. “I loved animals,” she said. “Still do; I’m vegan.”

True to form, Notaro keeps it simple: Compassion isn’t complicated, it’s a choice. And for her, it’s one worth sticking with.

Every Compassionate Choice Matters

You don’t have to be a celebrity to make a huge impact. You have the power to save animals yourself and to inspire others in your own community. Host vegan dinners and show others how delicious compassion can be. Talk to your friends and family about why you choose animals. Share your favorite meals, swaps, and vegan wins on social media. Every conversation, every post, every plate plants a seed.  

Spending just one day vegan easily turns into a week. Soon enough, it becomes part of your routine. As you continue, that caring choice means more pigs get to enjoy their playtime and exploration, more cows stay close with their calves, more chickens have the freedom to grow and socialize, and more fish swim happily in their ocean homes.

Let every meal become an act of respect for our fellow animals who want to live, to be safe, and to be free.

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Note: PETA supports animal rights, opposes all forms of animal exploitation, and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.