diff --git a/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst b/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
index ed57783177..2e3d67373e 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
@@ -409,6 +409,10 @@ To work with Base64 encoded strings::
     {{ encoded | b64decode }}
     {{ decoded | b64encode }}
 
+To create a UUID from a string (new in version 1.9)::
+
+    {{ hostname | to_uuid }}
+
 To cast values as certain types, such as when you input a string as "True" from a vars_prompt and the system
 doesn't know it is a boolean value::
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
index 98e9d0ef42..9330bbc539 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import hashlib
 import string
 import operator as py_operator
 from random import SystemRandom, shuffle
+import uuid
 
 import yaml
 from jinja2.filters import environmentfilter
@@ -38,6 +39,9 @@ from ansible import errors
 from ansible.utils import md5s, checksum_s
 
 
+UUID_NAMESPACE_ANSIBLE = uuid.UUID('361E6D51-FAEC-444A-9079-341386DA8E2E')
+
+
 def to_nice_yaml(*a, **kw):
     '''Make verbose, human readable yaml'''
     return yaml.safe_dump(*a, indent=4, allow_unicode=True, default_flow_style=False, **kw)
@@ -297,6 +301,8 @@ def get_encrypted_password(password, hashtype='sha512', salt=None):
 
     return None
 
+def to_uuid(string):
+    return str(uuid.uuid5(UUID_NAMESPACE_ANSIBLE, str(string)))
 
 class FilterModule(object):
     ''' Ansible core jinja2 filters '''
@@ -307,6 +313,9 @@ class FilterModule(object):
             'b64decode': base64.b64decode,
             'b64encode': base64.b64encode,
 
+            # uuid
+            'to_uuid': to_uuid,
+
             # json
             'to_json': to_json,
             'to_nice_json': to_nice_json,
diff --git a/test/units/TestFilters.py b/test/units/TestFilters.py
index 7d921a7e37..d15147b098 100644
--- a/test/units/TestFilters.py
+++ b/test/units/TestFilters.py
@@ -131,6 +131,11 @@ class TestFilters(unittest.TestCase):
                                                       'a\\1')
         assert a == 'ansible'
 
+    def test_to_uuid(self):
+        a = ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.to_uuid('example.com')
+
+        assert a == 'ae780c3a-a3ab-53c2-bfb4-098da300b3fe'
+
     #def test_filters(self):
 
         # this test is pretty low level using a playbook, hence I am disabling it for now -- MPD.