1 / 21 Tom Cruise

Today, Tom Cruise is reported to be one of the top level members of the Church of Scientology, but he was first introduced to the religion by his first wife, Mimi Rogers, in 1990. The actor has become the most recognizable face of the organization and <a href="http://digitaljournal.com/article/268639" target="_hplink">has said that he overcame dyslexia though its teaching. </a>Cruise remained relatively quiet about his religious beliefs until he began <a href="http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/01/22/tom-cruise-psychiatry-should-be-outlawed.htm" target="_hplink">openly criticizing psychiatry in 2004</a> and lashed out at Brooke Shields for taking the drug Paxil to deal with her postpartum depression in 2004. When the actor suddenly became the posterboy for the group, he also <a href="http://www.celebitchy.com/14397/tom_cruise_rehires_his_sister_as_publicist/" target="_hplink">dumped his publicist of 14 years</a>, Pat Kingsley, and hired his sister, a fellow Scientologist. In 2008, the <a href="http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/videos/tom-cruise-scientology-video/" target="_hplink">church produced a promotional video featuring a lengthy interview with the actor</a>, discussing what being a Scientologist meant to him.

Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters