Do we like Elisabeth Moss?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record, a feminist-themed career and no harmful words found, held back by her contested public defence of Scientology.
Moss is the American actress who became a TV heavyweight as June Osborne in The Handmaid's Tale. That role won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV drama at the 75th Golden Globes in January 2018.
Her acceptance speech was about other people, not herself. She dedicated the award to Margaret Atwood, whose novel inspired the show, and to women who came before and after her.
The stoush that follows her around is Scientology. In a 2022 interview she called it “not really a closed-off religion”, said she keeps quiet about it publicly so audiences focus on her characters, and urged people to research it themselves. Asked whether she fled the room when Leah Remini's series won an award in 2017, she said she went to the bathroom.
A smaller wrinkle: Tony Ortega, a journalist who covers Scientology, reported in August 2022 that a woman suing the church had named Moss as her arbitrator. According to a church letter he cited, Moss declined the nomination. No reason was given, and it is a Scientology-focused outlet's account of a church letter.
On the harm check, nothing nasty from her own words turned up in what we read, and we found nothing on trans issues either way. In 2019 she said she was honoured and inspired by women wearing Handmaid costumes at abortion-law protests. Critics see an awkward fit between her feminist roles and her loyalty to the church, while she says religious freedom matters greatly to her. Where you land depends on how much weight you put on that.
The recent news is a happy one for fans. She slipped back into June for the April 2026 premiere of The Testaments, and executive producer Warren Littlefield said she was keen to honour the character without overdoing it.