Michael Peña thanks Scientology for improving his acting ability.
Peña, 40, explained that the church’s StudyTech program aided his reading skills, which paid off in spades.
“[StudyTech] made me a better actor because I felt like it helped my understanding of scripts,” he told The Guardian on Thursday.
The eventual career boost was just a bonus for the “Ant-Man” actor, who initially joined the church in 2000 to help with his drinking.
“I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I was doing it too much,” Peña said. He used the church’s Purification Rundown program to detox, which led to more studies within the controversial religion, but he clarified that he doesn’t see Scientology from a spiritual standpoint.
“There was the next [study], and the next thing,” he said. “For me, it isn’t religion like a belief; it’s practical things you do.”
That practicality is part of why Peña says he dismisses any gossip about the controversial religion. “I don’t read that stuff,” he sniffed. “Imagine we’re friends … and there’s a tabloid story about you. There’s no way I’m going to read some f—king tabloid story about you, especially when I know it’s misinformed.”