JNN 08 Mar 2012 TEHRAN American actor and documentary filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam during a religious ceremony in Iran ,  where he is making a documentary, he told AFP.

“The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets,” he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony.

Sean Stone’s famous father is Jewish, while his mother is Christian.

The 27-year-old filmmaker did not say why he converted.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, Sean Stone had become a Shiite and had chosen to be known by the Muslim first name Ali.

Sean/Ali Stone has acted in minor roles in several of his father’s films, and has directed a handful of documentaries

Stone who visited Iran several months ago said he needed to know more about Persian culture and civilization and become familiar with Iranian traditions and rituals.

Stone referred to Iran as one of Asia’s major filmmaking centers saying that he “would like to introduce Persian culture and civilization to the West.”

The 27-year-old filmmaker is a graduate of history from Princeton University and has collaborated on many of his father’s projects such as the 2004 Alexander. He has also directed a handful of documentaries.

Sean is not the first renowned celebrity who has converted to Islam. The English singer and songwriter Cat Stevens converted to Islam in 1977 and adopted the name Yusaf Islam.
The prominent boxer Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.) also converted to Islam in 1964.