It may seem like the Church only relatively recently gained a significant presence among many in the Hollywood elite, not only Tom Cruise but also the likes of John Travolta, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Lee, and others who seem like their best days were in the 90s. With the exception of Moss, who is seeing her career at its highest point yet it would seem, the majority of the stars with public knowledge of their membership in the church came up in the 80s and flowered in the 90s.
That seems to be when the religion started to take hold in the industry, but efforts to nab a major celebrity in hopes of using their influence to expand the church dates back as early as the 1950s, with L. Ron Hubbard himself creating an effort titled “Project Celebrity,” where the goal was to woo the likes of Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Groucho Marx, even folks like Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway reportedly listed among those targeted by the Church. It’s unclear why this mission did not come to fruition until decades later, but it has now become one of the religion’s defining features, even if its membership lists are starting to seem rather dated. One has to wonder what current recruitment efforts must be like if the Church has any interest in updating its demographics in the future.
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