Elisabeth Moss has managed to live a fairly quiet life despite her success, though privacy
is hard to come by in Hollywood. Because she keeps to herself, there's a lot about the
Mad Men and Handmaid's Tale actress that fans might not know. Here's the untold truth of
Elisabeth Moss.
While most people's perception of Elisabeth Moss tends to have a lot to do with her career,
there's a lot more to her than just that. In fact, when Moss was growing up, her childhood
was pretty relaxed.
She lived with her parents in what she said:
"Used to be a hippy enclave in Los Angeles."
In fact, Moss' childhood definitely appeared to be pretty chill. After all, who wouldn't
want to have hippy musicians for parents while in L.A.?
Moss added:
"We grew up with musicians coming over, jamming. We had tons of instruments. So holidays were
always like, 50 people would come over and there would be a jam session with everyone
playing jazz."
Truly, Moss' childhood sounds like a dream, and with musically-inclined parents, it's
no wonder she was interested in Hollywood. Moss got her start in the entertainment industry
at a fairly young age, but fortunately that didn't mean her childhood was anything short
of idyllic.
Elisabeth Moss had an interesting schooling experience. Likely because Moss' parents were
so busy as musicians, the actress wasn't able to complete traditional schooling. Moss' mom
was a harmonica player in a blues band, and her dad was a music manager who often was
on tour with clients.
Moss told the The Guardian:
"My earliest memories are at the Blue Note here in New York, or backstage at different
theatres or different clubs, dressing rooms."
So, Moss was homeschooled.
Moss has been a go-getter from an early age, and she graduated from high school two years
early, in 1999, at the age of 16. With such a fascinating background, it's no wonder that
Moss grew up to be the talented actor that she is, playing complex and wonderful characters.
Elisabeth Moss' first acting role was in 1990, when she was just a little 8-year-old girl,
in a TV movie called Bar Girls.
She followed that up with notable roles as a young girl, and then, when she was a teenager,
she landed the role of a lifetime in The West Wing. In fact, Moss credits her career for
helping her not to have an angsty, teenage rebellion because she was just too busy.
She told the Daily Beast:
"I didn't really have a rebellious period because I moved to New York when I was 18,
and I started West Wing when I was 17."
It's no secret that Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist. It''s really one of the most well-known facts
about the actress. The religion is controversial, as members of the church of Scientology go
through a so-called auditing process, which involves divulging a lot of personal information,
according to CNN.
While many celebrities become Scientologists later in life, Moss grew up in Scientology,
as reported by Elle Australia. Her religion is often the subject of articles and think-pieces,
as many wonder how the actor can be a part of such a controversial religion while also
advocating for women's rights and other progressive values.
However, one source told The Sun:
"Elisabeth is a devout member who was born into this ­religion and would never do anything
to rock the boat. She's a role model within the church."
Obviously Elisabeth Moss is a talented actor, but she also had a lot more going for her
when she was younger. Along with acting, Moss loved to dance. She told The Guardian:
"I loved ballet. I was a bun head for 10 years."
But Moss had to make the choice between acting or dancing. She told the Daily Beast:
"I stopped dancing when I was 15 or 16 — you had to go either way at that point, and if
I went with ballet I knew I wouldn't be able to act, and if I acted I could still possibly
dance — so I went with the acting."
Elisabeth Moss scored her breakout role when she starred as Peggy Olson on the period drama
Mad Men. The role practically made Moss' career, and the character Peggy was perfect for the
actress.
In an interview with Vogue, Moss explained that she really related to Peggy. She said:
"I just felt like I knew that girl. I felt like I could see Peggy. She was the unwitting
feminist, the one that wasn't burning bras or marching, who didn't know the phrase glass
ceiling but was banging her head up against it."
While the show might have taken place in the 1960s, Moss' Peggy still had relatable struggles
that the women of modern times could understand. Mad Men set off Moss' career and launched
her name in a big way, and Moss played Peggy in a way that no one else could have.
"I'm the person you need to you need to impress right now."
"You looked at my book, what more can I say?"
While many people associate Elisabeth Moss with being fairly private, she did have quite
the public marriage back in 2009, when she married Portlandia star and comedian Fred
Armisen.
The relationship was short-lived, as they separated less than a year after tying the
knot, and, even though their romance was pretty complicated, Moss doesn't seem to hold any
ill will towards her ex nowadays.
In her interview with The Guardian, Moss also explained that the marriage was actually a
great learning experience. She said:
"God, I learned so much that I am still sifting through it. I was young. I was 27, and certainly
I am still young, but now, looking back, six years ago, it seems young. I didn't know everything
about what I wanted, and what I was looking for."
Though it couldn't have been easy for Moss to go through such a public breakup, she came
out the other end stronger and more self-assured.
While acting and dancing are both important to Elisabeth Moss and have each played a significant
role in her life, she wouldn't be who she is today without the music she listened to
as a child.
She told Vogue:
"My upbringing was not full of the cool music that everyone else at school was listening
to, but classical and blues and jazz. It was only more recently that I could identify a
Nirvana song, but I could easily name any Gershwin tune from the first few bars."
Classical music was a huge part of her childhood and Moss noted that she listened to the likes
of Ella Fitzgerald when she was 12.
Though Elisabeth Moss may be super successful and, of course, gives interviews every now
and then, she's still a very private person. After her highly publicized marriage to Fred
Armisen, she's chosen to keep her personal life to herself.
Moss explained to the Daily Beast why she preferred to keep some things on the down-low.
She said:
"I choose to express myself in my work and my art. I don't choose to express myself about
it in interviews. I don't choose to talk about not just religion, but my personal life — who
I'm dating and that kind of thing."
Celebrities may feel they almost have some kind of obligation to share their lives with
their fans, but Moss has found a way to be open about some things while keeping other
aspects of her life to herself.
Scientology has been such a huge part of Moss' identity that there isn't really an interview
with Moss that doesn't at least touch on her religion.
"Do you feel you have to explain at all your faith to people? Or is that just something
you'd rather just put to the side and keep private?"
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Moss explained that her faith is very personal
to her and that she can only vouch for how the religion has worked for her.
She said:
"The things that I believe in, I can only speak to my personal experience and my personal
beliefs."
Moss explained that she looks to her church for guidance on social issues. She said:
"One of the most important things I take from my church is the idea of personal freedom
and our rights as human beings, and that includes the right to date a man or a woman. Personal
freedom is a very important concept in my religion, and I translate that to sexual orientation."
For Moss, Scientology isn't a controversial topic — it's just part of who she is.
With Elisabeth Moss' roles in Mad Men and The Handmaid's Tale, it's clear that she enjoys
playing roles that are politically poignant. In an interview with the Daily Beast in 2019,
Moss described how it felt to film scenes for The Handmaid's Tale while in Washington,
D.C. at the height of such political turmoil.
She said:
"When you're kneeling on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial, you're looking at
where MLK gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech, you're in the outfit of complete lack of freedom,
and your president is a few blocks away arguing about putting up a wall, you can't help but
feel that you have the responsibility to tell this story, and I feel honored to be able
to express what I think, what I feel, and what a lot of other people feel through what
I love doing."
Just like the novel by Margaret Atwood on which the show is based, The Handmaid's Tale
takes place in a dystopian future where many women lose their freedom and become Handmaids.
Their only job is to get pregnant and deliver a healthy baby, and they have absolutely no
say in what happens to them. So, while Elisabeth Moss hasn't experienced what it's like to
be a submissive baby-making machine in real life, she still feels connected to her character
on the show, June Osborne, otherwise known as Offred.
"You're not going to be any trouble are you?"
"No, sir."
In an interview with Vogue, Moss explained why she feels such a kinship to June. She
said:
"June is a heroine like you are and I am and my mom is. She's a mother. She's a wife. She's
a woman. She's human. I think that's really interesting — the question of, 'How would
you act in her position? What would you do? What kind of hero would you become?'"
Elisabeth Moss is known for playing big, intense roles and is also known for speaking out on
social and political issues, but that doesn't mean she's always so serious in real life.
In fact, in an interview with Vogue, Moss explained that she's a lot more relaxed than
fans might assume. She said:
"People meet me and they're thrown because they expect me to be more serious, intense.
I'm just so not."
Additionally, Moss explained that because she films scenes that are difficult on such
a regular basis, she likes to unwind with reality TV, specifically The Real Housewives
franchise.
"[..] It was difficult maintaining that level of tension and drama and hyperness and speed.
I think that's why I love my reality TV and my comedies."
Throughout her impressive career, Elisabeth Moss has continued to act her heart out and
has starred in some major roles. One particular part in 2020 that really spoke to her.
"Hangsaman. It's about that girl. The missing one."
In an interview with Deadline, Moss explained that her role as the titular character in
Shirley, based on the life of horror writer Shirley Jackson, was a really great experience.
And more than that, she actually related to the dark character.
She said:
"I loved how honest she was sometimes [...] She expected the people around her to be smart,
and expected people around her to be able to keep up with her."
And while Moss admired the female antihero, she also clarified:
"I think that in my life, I'm probably a little kinder and less abrasive."
As you might have guessed by now, Elisabeth Moss is probably best known as the leading
character in Hulu's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The dystopian
show has been a huge success.
Moss, however, doesn't just act on the series. During Season 4, she made her directorial
debut. Originally, Moss explained that she was supposed to direct one episode of the
series before production shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, but then she wound
up directing three episodes when shooting restarted.
Moss explained during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
"So all of a sudden I was, like, the sort of director on hand."
Making your directorial debut on a show as popular and intense as The Handmaid's Tale
is no small feat, so we imagine Moss was excited to direct those episodes!
"By the end, we were joking that I was just gonna be this journeyman director now, like
off to do my ninth episode of Law & Order."
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