Famous Hindu Americans 2026: Leaders in Government, Congress, Science, Business, Arts, Sports and Spiritual Life

Quick answer: Famous Hindu Americans in 2026 include FBI Director Kash Patel, former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (the first Hindu member of Congress), Representatives Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Suhas Subramanyam and Shri Thanedar, Ohio governor nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, astronaut Sunita Williams, former PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi, Fields Medallist Manjul Bhargava, tennis player Rajeev Ram and Vedanta teacher Swami Sarvapriyananda. Below, 21 people are grouped by field, each with their current role and a sourced note on their Hindu connection.

Hindu Americans are a small community by numbers, yet you will find them in the Senate-confirmed leadership of federal agencies, on congressional benches, at NASA mission control, in corporate boardrooms and on the Olympic podium. This is not a ranking: it is a people-first introduction, field by field, with a sourced note on each person's Hindu connection.

The Hindu American story in brief

The modern Hindu presence in America is often traced to 1893, when Swami Vivekananda addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. The New York society he founded the following year is still active and is led today by Swami Sarvapriyananda, who appears below. Larger-scale migration from India followed the U.S. immigration reforms of 1965, which opened the door to doctors, engineers, scientists and students. Later waves came through universities and the technology sector, and Hindu families also arrived from the Caribbean, East Africa, Nepal and elsewhere.

Not everyone here is of Indian heritage: Tulsi Gabbard and Julia Roberts, for example, are included because of their own public statements about Hindu faith.

Federal government and the courts

Kash Patel has been Director of the FBI since February 2025 and was still in post in early October 2026. He was confirmed as the ninth FBI Director by a 51-49 Senate vote and is the first person of Indian heritage to head the Bureau. He took his FBI oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita on 21 February 2025. Source: Deccan Herald

Tulsi Gabbard served as Director of National Intelligence from February 2025 to June 2026. She was sworn in on 12 February 2025 as the eighth Senate-confirmed DNI after a 52-48 vote, and announced her resignation in May 2026, effective June 2026. Before that she represented Hawaii's 2nd district in the U.S. House (2013-2021) and became the first Hindu member of Congress. She took her 2013 oath on her personal Bhagavad Gita and wrote in 2019 that she was proud to be the first Hindu-American elected to Congress. Source: HuffPost India

Vivek Murthy joined the board of directors of Common Sense Media in October 2025, after serving as the 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General (2015-2017 and 2021-January 2025). When first sworn in, at 37, he was the youngest Surgeon General and the first Indian American in the role. His April 2015 oath, administered by Vice President Joe Biden, was taken on the Bhagavad Gita. Source: Hinduism Today / Hindu Press International

Sri Srinivasan has been Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2020 and a judge of that court since 2013. The Senate confirmed him 97-0, and he is the first South Asian American to lead a federal circuit court. NBC News reported that he took his 2013 oath on the Bhagavad Gita. Source: NBC News

Members of the U.S. Congress

Ro Khanna has represented California's 17th district since 2017 and is a candidate for re-election in November 2026, having won the 2 June 2026 top-two primary with about 62% of the vote. He co-sponsored a 2025 House resolution condemning Hinduphobia and is the grandson of Indian independence activist Amarnath Vidyalankar. He has described himself as an Indian American of Hindu faith, and PTI lists him among the Hindu members of the 119th Congress. Source: The Week (PTI)

Raja Krishnamoorthi represents Illinois's 8th district (2017 to January 2027) and is not seeking re-election to the House; he ran in the 17 March 2026 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, which was won by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. On 6 January 2025 he read from the Bhagavad Gita at the Bipartisan Interfaith Prayer Service, and his office quoted him on sharing the blessings of the Hindu faith with colleagues. Source: Office of Rep. Krishnamoorthi

Suhas Subramanyam has represented Virginia's 10th district since January 2025 and is the Democratic nominee for re-election in November 2026. He is the first Indian American and South Asian elected to Congress from Virginia, and earlier worked as a White House technology policy adviser under President Obama. He took his oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita on 3 January 2025. Source: Deccan Herald

Shri Thanedar represents Michigan's 13th district (2023 to January 2027). In 2023 he founded the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain American Caucus in Congress, and in 2024 he introduced a House resolution condemning anti-Hindu bigotry. He lost the 4 August 2026 Democratic primary. His official House site quotes him describing growing up in a Hindu household and practising Hinduism. Source: thanedar.house.gov

State politics and candidates

Vivek Ramaswamy is the Republican nominee for Governor of Ohio in the election on 3 November 2026, after winning the 5 May 2026 primary. He was a 2024 Republican presidential candidate and founded Roivant Sciences in 2014. If elected, he would be the first Hindu U.S. governor. He said publicly in 2023 that he is Hindu, adding that in the Hindu tradition God resides in each one of us. Source: AP via Bay News 9

Jay Chaudhuri has been a North Carolina State Senator (District 15) since 2016 and is the Senate Democratic Whip; he is on the ballot for re-election on 3 November 2026. He was the first Indian American to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly. The News & Observer described him as a practising Hindu who meditates during the Senate's opening prayers. Source: BJC (reprinting The News & Observer)

Padma Kuppa served as Michigan State Representative for the 41st District (2019-2022), the first Hindu and first Indian immigrant in the Michigan Legislature, according to Michigan House Democrats. She ran for the Michigan Senate in 2022. Source: Michigan House Democrats

Niraj Antani served in the Ohio House (2014-2020) and Ohio Senate (2021-2024). He sponsored the 2024 law making October Hindu Heritage Month in Ohio, calling it a win for Hindus across the state. He suspended a 2026 campaign for Ohio Treasurer in February 2026 and holds no elected office. Source: South Asian Herald

Science and space

Sunita Williams retired from NASA (retirement announced in January 2026) after a career that began in 1998. She logged 608 cumulative days in space, the second-most among NASA astronauts, and nine spacewalks totalling 62 hours 6 minutes, the most by a woman. She commanded ISS Expedition 72 (2024-2025), flew up on Boeing's Starliner Crew Flight Test in 2024 and returned on SpaceX Crew-9 in 2025. In 2013 she said she had taken a Ganesha idol and the Bhagavad Gita to space. Source: The Quint

Swati Mohan is an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As Guidance, Navigation and Controls operations lead for Mars 2020, she gave the 'touchdown confirmed' call when Perseverance landed in February 2021; she also worked on the GRAIL and OCO-3 missions. The Quint reported that she speaks Kannada at home and is a practising Hindu. Source: The Quint

Manjul Bhargava became Interim Director of the Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute in July 2026 and is a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. He won the Fields Medal in 2014 and has written about mathematical patterns in Sanskrit poetry. Princeton Alumni Weekly describes him as a practising Hindu, more for ethical than doctrinal reasons. Source: Princeton Alumni Weekly

Business and philanthropy

Indra Nooyi joined Honeywell's board as an independent director in January 2026, after her appointment in December 2025. She led PepsiCo for 12 years as CEO (2006-2018) and Chairman, has served on Amazon's board, and wrote the memoir My Life in Full (2021), in which she describes a puja alcove at home where she lights a lamp every day. Source: Free Press Journal / PTI

Ramesh Bhutada is founder and CEO of Star Pipe Products in Houston. In May 2026 he became the first recipient of the Honorary Doctorate in Hindu Stewardship from Hindu University of America, to which he pledged $1 million in 2023, its largest single gift. At the ceremony he described his philanthropy as a duty of Dharma. Source: Hindu University of America

Film and sports

Julia Roberts has acted in films since 1987 and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Erin Brockovich (2001). She starred in Eat Pray Love (2010), filmed partly in India. In an August 2010 Elle interview she said she was a practising Hindu and that her family goes to temple together to chant, pray and celebrate. Source: Sowetan (citing Elle)

Rajeev Ram retired from professional tennis in September 2026 after the US Open. A former world No. 1 in doubles (2022), he won Olympic silver medals in 2016 (mixed doubles) and 2024 (men's doubles) and three straight US Open men's doubles titles (2021-2023). In 2016 he told the Washington Post that Hinduism teaches control of the mind and self-control. Source: Hinduism Today (Washington Post reprint)

Spiritual teachers

Swami Sarvapriyananda has been Minister of the Vedanta Society of New York since 2017, the society founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1894. A monk of the Ramakrishna Order (joined 1994, sannyasa 2004), he was Nagral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School (2019-2020) and is a widely followed lecturer on Advaita Vedanta, which his society describes as the non-dualist school of Hindu philosophy. Source: Vedanta Society of New York

Swami Tyagananda has been Hindu Chaplain at MIT and Harvard since 1999 and head of the Vedanta Society of Boston since 2002. A monk of the Ramakrishna Order since 1976, he edited Vedanta Kesari from 1986 to 1997. MIT lists him as its Affiliated Chaplain, Hindu. Source: MIT Division of Student Life

At a glance: famous Hindu Americans

Frequently asked questions

Who was the first Hindu member of the U.S. Congress?

Tulsi Gabbard, who was elected from Hawaii's 2nd district and took office in 2013. She took her congressional oath on her personal Bhagavad Gita (HuffPost India) and later wrote that she was proud to be the first Hindu-American elected to Congress.

Which Hindu Americans took their oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita?

Among the people on this page: Tulsi Gabbard (Congress, 2013), Judge Sri Srinivasan (D.C. Circuit, 2013), Vivek Murthy (Surgeon General, 2015), Suhas Subramanyam (Congress, 2025) and Kash Patel (FBI Director, 2025).

Has a Hindu ever been elected governor of a U.S. state?

Not as of 9 October 2026. Vivek Ramaswamy is the Republican nominee for Governor of Ohio in the election on 3 November 2026, and would be the first Hindu U.S. governor if elected.

Is Sunita Williams Hindu?

Sunita Williams said in 2013 that she took a Ganesha idol and the Bhagavad Gita to space, explaining that Ganesh had always been in her house (The Quint). She retired from NASA, with her retirement announced in January 2026.

Is Julia Roberts a Hindu?

In an August 2010 interview with Elle, Julia Roberts said she was a practising Hindu and that her family goes to temple together to chant, pray and celebrate. We report only that public statement.

How did you choose the people on this list?

Each person has publicly described their Hindu faith, practised it in a public setting such as an oath on the Gita, or is described as Hindu by a reputable source we link to. The list is grouped by field, not ranked.

Editor's note

Editor's note (9 October 2026): This guide has been restored at its original address. Inclusion is based on each person's public statements or on reputable reports of their Hindu faith, linked beside each profile. Roles and titles are as of 9 October 2026 and will change with elections and appointments. We do not comment on anyone's politics, and the order within each section is not a ranking.

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