Nazanin Boniadi: Who is Mystery Woman to Tom Cruise, Scientology? (PHOTOS)
Many are now questioning who Nazanin Boniadi is after reports have surfaced that she was selected to be Tom Cruise's wife by the Church of Scientology before the actor married Katie Holmes.
Katie Holmes' split from husband Tom Cruise has raised numerous questions about the Church of Scientology. A number of questionable reports have come forward about the church's practices and beliefs, the latest of which charges the church of holding "auditions" for Tom Cruise's next wife.
The selected woman was to be Nazanin Boniadi, but why was she the chosen one? Boniadi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1980 before moving to London with her family. She studied molecular science in regards to cancer treatment at the University of California, Irvine before beginning her acting career on "General Hospital" in 2007.
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Boniadi allegedly attended an acting screening for a "training film" in 2004 when she was selected to meet Tom Cruise. After meeting, the couple reportedly got the sense that their marriage was to be arranged, according to a Vanity Fair interview with Maureen Orth.
Following her role on "General Hospital," Boniadi played the love interest of Neil Patrick Harris on "How I Met Your Mother" for two years. She was later cast in a film starring Russell Crowe, "The Next Three Days," by former scientologist Paul Haggis.
Haggis claims that Boniadi was forced to quietly leave the church following her falling out with Cruise because members were unresponsive to her case.
"Naz quietly and privately resigned from the church a couple of years ago after several years of trying to handle this injustice internally, to no avail," Haggis wrote in a letter to Showbiz 411.
Boniadi is a known human rights activist and a spokeswoman for Amnesty International. Boniadi appears to still have an ongoing friendship with Haggis, who she referenced on her Twitter account a few days ago.
The reports claim that Boniadi was selected by Cruise after he watched audition tapes of select women. But the actor later rejected Boniadi because she did not have enough of her own "power" although it was also suggested that Boniadi was not as submissive or caring as Cruise had wished.
