Best known for his roles in the beloved sitcom Friends, Sneaky Pete and Ted, Giovanni Ribisi was raised in the church with both his parents as Scientologists. Though he keeps his involvement in the faith fairly quiet, he attended the opening gala of the church’s controversial Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum in December 2005.

“It’s a personal thing; it’s something that works for me, and I think it’s that simple,” he said on the Jim and Sam Show.

The Handmaid’s Tale actress grew up in Scientology; her father even played in a band with Ron Miscavige, whose son David is the current head of the church.

According to records, Elisabeth took the Hubbard Key to Life Course at age eight and was declared ‘clear’ at 11. Her manager is Gay Ribisi, the mother of fellow Scientologist Giovanni.

When asked about her religion by The New Yorker, Elisabeth was hesitant to go into detail: “I don’t want to come off as being cagey. I don’t want people to be distracted by something when they’re watching me. I want them to be seeing the character. I feel like, when actors reveal too much of their lives, I’m sometimes watching something and I’m going: ‘Oh, I know that she just broke up with that person, or, I know that she loves to do hot yoga, or whatever it is.”

She did, however, have this to say: “It’s not really a closed-off religion. It’s a place that is very open to welcoming in somebody who wants to learn more about it. I think that’s the thing that is probably the most misunderstood.”

The Saturday Night Fever actor has been a member of the church since 1975.

“As a Scientologist, I have the technology to handle life’s problems and I have used this to help others in life as well. I would say Scientology put me into the big time,” the actor is quoted as saying on the church’s website.

“I was 21 when I first heard about [Scientology],” he told ABC News in 1998.

“And someone introduced it to me and they were so certain and happy, and I wasn’t used to people being certain and happy. I was used to people being insecure and unhappy. I took a course and my life has never been the same.”

John has spoken openly about how Scientology helped him cope with personal tragedies, including the death of his girlfriend Diana Hyland from breast cancer in 1977 and the loss of his son Jett in 2009.

“Life is overwhelming. Life is not easy. Life is tough,” he said, opening up to CNN’s Larry King in 2001 about how the church helped him through the difficult times.

“And you need something that really works and helps you actually, not promises to help you, then fail. And that’s why I’ve always loved Scientology, because it offers help, and it works.”

He reiterated a similar sentiment to The Telegraph in 2014: “They [members of the Church] were with me every day after Jett died. They even travelled with me when I needed to get away. And for a solid two years it was like that. It was only in the second year that I started to take a break of a day or two just to see how I was doing on my own.”

Despite rumours in 2023 that Travolta was distancing himself from Scientology, neither he nor the church has commented.

Perhaps the most famous Scientologist, Tom was introduced to the church by his first wife, Mimi Rogers, in 1986 – the same year Top Gun catapulted him to superstardom.

He has credited the church with being a positive catalyst for personal growth. “What I believe in my own life is that it’s a search for how I can do things better, whether it’s being a better man or a better father or finding ways for myself to improve. Individuals have to decide what is true and real for them,” Tom told Playboy.

Tom’s heavy involvement in the church has also been reported as an influencing factor in the breakdown of both his marriages to Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes.

Both of Tom’s children from his marriage to Nicole are members of Scientology. The former couple adopted Bella and Connor during their marriage – Nicole did get pregnant early on, but she suffered an ectopic pregnancy, and they lost the baby. 

After their divorce in 2001, Tom and Nicole shared joint custody, but Bella and Connor ultimately chose to live with their father and embrace his faith. Over the years, much has been speculated about Nicole’s relationship with her eldest children, particularly given her absence from significant public milestones in their lives. She has, however, remained gracious and unwavering in her love for them. In a 2019 interview with The Sun, she reflected:

“Motherhood is about the journey. There are going to be incredible peaks and valleys, whether you are an adopting mother or a birth mother. What a child needs is love. They have made choices to be Scientologists. It’s our job as a parent to always offer unconditional love.”

Some reports claim Scientology considers Nicole a ‘suppressive person’ (SP), a label given to those deemed a threat to the church, though neither Bella nor Connor has publicly confirmed using this term for their mother. It has also been suggested that they refer to her by her first name rather than calling her ‘Mom.’

The Mission Impossible star’s relationship with his youngest child, Suri – his daughter with ex-wife Katie Holmes – has also made headlines. Following his 2012 split from Katie, she was granted full custody, and Tom has not been publicly seen with Suri in over a decade. 

Their separation was rumoured to have been driven, at least in part, by Katie’s desire to distance her daughter from Scientology. In a 2013 deposition during a libel lawsuit, Tom was directly asked if Katie had left “to protect Suri from Scientology” and admitted, “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.” But he assured: “There is no need to protect my daughter from my religion.”

Now 20, Suri appears to be carving out a life on her own terms. In May 2024, a casting sheet revealed that she is now going by ‘Suri Noelle’, dropping her father’s famous last name in favour of her mother’s middle name.

Leah was brought into the church at the age of eight, and the King of Queens actress stayed in the religion until 2013, when she left, citing concerns over the well-being of her daughter, Sofia – who was nine at the time.

Since her exit, she has been one of Scientology’s most vocal critics, calling it “evil” and a “cult”. She also filed a missing persons report for Shelly Miscavige, the wife of church leader David, who has not been seen publicly in years. The LAPD investigated and closed the case.

In 2023, the actress went so far as to sue the church, alleging harassment and intimidation. In a statement to Variety, she said: “For 17 years, Scientology and David Miscavige have subjected me to what I believe to be psychological torture, defamation, surveillance, harassment, and intimidation, significantly impacting my life and career.

“I believe I am not the first person targeted by Scientology and its operations, but I intend to be the last.”

The aim of the lawsuit, filed in August 2023, is to: “require Scientology, and any entity it controls and funds, to cease and desist its alleged practice of harassment, defamation, and other unlawful conduct against anyone who Scientology has labelled as an ‘enemy.'”

The Church of Scientology released a statement in response: “This lawsuit is ludicrous and the allegations pure lunacy.

“Remini spreads hate and falsehoods for a decade and is now offended when people exercise their right to free speech, exposing her for what she is – an anti-free speech bigot.”

Her Emmy-winning docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, detailed the experiences of ex-Scientologists, shedding light on the organisation’s alleged darker side.

The Hallmark actress has long been involved in the church. She appeared in a 2006 promotional music video called ‘United’, and Scientology Christmas shows.

Catherine has publicly defended her faith.

“People don’t really understand what Scientology is. There is so much false information [out there].

“I always say read something for yourself, pick up a book and read Dianetics [by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard], direct from the source, and then make a decision,” she told Page Six in 2023.

The actress, businesswoman and ex-wife of Elvis joined Scientology in 1978, and according to her daughter Lisa Marie Presley, it all started with a birthday party.

Lisa Marie recalled in her memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, that her mother invited Grease star John Travolta to meet her for her 10th birthday. “He was having a hot moment with Welcome Back, Kotter,” she wrote. “He talked to her about Scientology, and a few days later, she joined.”

Lisa-Marie said her mother described the religion as something that “can help you become really powerful”. Though Priscilla has largely kept her involvement private, she spoke about its impact in a 1990 Scientology magazine, saying:

“Scientology, in many ways, gave me the driving force to continue with acting. Without it, I probably would have given up a long time ago.

“I’m able to reach areas of creativity that were never accessible to me before. Not only is it applicable in everyday life, it is vital to an actor.”

Elvis and Priscilla’s late daughter Lisa Marie was introduced to Scientology by her mother at a young age and spent a lot of time within its Celebrity Centre.

“The Celebrity Centre takes care of me. They take care of other artists. Since the artist can create very big effects on a broad scale, the understanding of them is incredibly important. That’s what celebrity centre does. I love the whole atmosphere,” she once said in a church publication.

In her memoir, Lisa Marie detailed how the church helped her feel a sense of belonging, saying: “It became my tribe.

“My mom would drop me off after school at their building in Hollywood. I felt like she was dumping me there so they could handle me, and she didn’t have to.”

Lisa Marie met her husband, Danny Keough, through Scientology, and the couple were reportedly married by a minister in the Church of Scientology at the Celebrity Centre International.

However, the singer’s feelings changed over time. By 2013, Lisa Marie had distanced herself from Scientology, describing it as “too much”.

What changed her mind? “Uncovering the fact that I was surrounded by people who were not well-intentioned, for one. Confidants [who were] very, very intimately and closely involved with me and my life. And had been for years. Basically, it was a big sinister situation, where there was like, kind of intel and covert ops going on, and a whole effort to control me that I didn’t know about,” she told USA Weekend.

The Fury actor joined the church in 2000, initially seeking help to curb his drinking habits. He enrolled in the controversial Purification Rundown, a programme which aims to detoxify the body through sauna, exercise and consumption of vegetable oils and vitamins. Medical experts widely dispute the treatment as ineffective and even potentially harmful to health. 

Michael, however told The Guardian that he found something in Scientology that resonated with him: “And then there was the next thing, and the next thing. For me, it isn’t religion like a belief; it’s practical things you do.”

He added that Scientology helped him become “a better actor because I felt like it helped my understanding of scripts.”

Orange is the New Black star Laura was introduced to Scientology through her relationship with actor Christopher Masterson, the brother of disgraced That ’70s Show star Danny Masterson. She joined in the early 2000s and, for years, praised its practices – especially auditing.

“Honestly, I’ve become more me. The auditing has stripped away all of this charge, false ideas, decisions and misemotions that were affecting me,” she told Celebrity Magazine in 2015.

However, becoming a mother prompted a shift in her thinking and contributed to Laura’s move away from the church.

“I’m no longer practicing Scientology. I’ve always been very open-minded, even since I was a child. I was raised Catholic and Jewish. I’ve prayed in churches, meditated in temples. I’ve studied Chinese meridian theory. I haven’t practiced Scientology in close to five years and it’s no longer part of my life,” she told PEOPLE.

“If motherhood has taught me anything so far, it’s that something can work out for a period of time and then you move on and evolve from that.”

The late actress was one of Scientology’s most high-profile advocates, remaining a devoted member for 40 years until her death, aged 71, from colon cancer in 2022.

She attained Operating Thetan Level VIII – the highest spiritual rank in Scientology – and fiercely defended the church throughout her life.

She told a Scientology magazine: “Now here I stand a new OT VIII shiny, fresh, and calm… I now fully have the confront that puts me right up that damn confront scale with other Scientology Freedom Fighters.”

Her dedication came at a cost – ex-Scientologist Leah Remini revealed in her documentary that she spent “millions” attempting to reach that same level when she was a member of the church.

Since his introduction in the 90s, My Name is Earl actor Jason has distanced himself from Scientology and is no longer a member.

His ex-wife, Carmen Llywelyn, claimed he was introduced to Scientology by his ex-girlfriend Marissa Ribisi and later pressured her into joining.

“I started to feel like he was forcing Scientology on me, past the point where I didn’t want to go any further,” she told Gawker. “He would never stop talking about it. It became a source of contention, and I realised that unless I accepted Scientology the way he did and the way he wanted me to, we would most likely cease to know each other.”

Explaining why he joined and subsequently left, Jason told The Guardian: “Everybody wants answers. Everybody wants to feel less depressed or less anxious or they want to try to understand some issue that they might have with themselves.

“Ultimately, it was just not for me. That’s it. I wasn’t really involved going back many, many years now.”

Nancy is best known for voicing the cartoon character Bart Simpson and has been one of Scientology’s most devoted and generous celebrity members since converting in 1991.

She has defended the church against critics, particularly after the 2015 HBO documentary Going Clear alleged that famous faces, including John Travolta, stayed in the organisation for fear of their personal information being leaked. Nancy described the documentary as “prejudice” and “irresponsible reporting”.

Her financial contributions to Scientology have been staggering. In 2023, Nancy was awarded Patron Excalibur With Honours by the church for donations of over $20 million (£15.9 million). She called the award: “the most beautiful acknowledgement I have ever received in my entire life”.