In the past, a surprising number of Hollywood stars have confessed to wishing to be a priest or nun. Dolores Hart, nicknamed the “next Grace Kelly” and the kid who gave Elvis Presley his first onscreen kiss, reportedly ended her marriage and left Hollywood at the age of 24 to become a nun. In addition to Hart, a number of well-known actors have shown an interest in living a life that is deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition. Some of these actors went to a seminary, and others went to a monastery. Though they did not pursue their original goals of becoming priests or nuns, their experiences in the church had a profound impact on their life, and their religion continues to play a significant role in their lives today. Nine  celebrities who were on the verge of becoming priests or nuns.

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise went to seminary before and was a member of the Church of Scientology.

Tom Cruise was a devout Roman Catholic on his way to becoming a priest, as well as a Scientologist. According to The Daily News, Father Ric Schneider urged him to apply to St. Francis Seminary School in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Tom was instantly hooked,” Father Schneider said. “I think he wanted a good education. With his parents going through a divorce, it was tough on him, that’s maybe one of the reasons why he came here.” Despite showing some promise in seminary, he was thrown out of the religious school after stealing liquor from the monks who ran the institution according to his best friend of the time.

Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes said that becoming a nun was her first ambition.

This fiery Latin screen siren once told Contact Music that she wanted to be a nun but changed her mind after learning that nuns didn’t make any money. Ryan Gosling must be counting his blessings right now.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese was a seminary student when he was younger. In the end, he chose to be a filmmaker rather than a priest, as history and a slew of awards attest. V ocation had a special place in his heart. Scorsese enrolled in Cathedral College Seminary in New York at the age of 14 with the intention of becoming a priest. ““I entered the seminary because I had a mentor – Fr Principe his name was. He was down in the Lower East Side and he had a great effect on my life from the ages of 11 to 17 ,” Scorsese said. “He was a major influence on a lot of us kids in those days. He’d give us books by Graham Green and Dwight Macdonald and many others, and he opened my eyes to a lot intellectually .” He soon acquired a new outlook after he entered the seminary, discovering that he couldn’t dedicate himself to a way of life and call it a vocation only to be like someone else. It had to be from the inside out. The director was expelled from the seminary when he was a young man.

Anne Hathaway

When she was younger, the Oscar winner revealed that she fantasized about becoming a nun.

“When I was younger I thought about becoming a nun for a while. You know how it is when you’re growing up and you’re going to be a lot of different things, but I actually wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a nun. The nun was more of a side-bar thing,” the actress said in 2011.

Carson Daly

One of television’s most well-known celebrities aspired to be a priest as a child. Daly finally gave up his religious ambitions to seek a career as a professional golfer. He interned at a radio station during his training and began a DJ career, which ultimately led to his on-screen work. While he has abandoned the notion of being a priest, his Catholic faith is very important to him. When debating marriage with longtime girlfriend Siri Pinter on Today, he spoke about how important and serious marriage is to him, as well as how important it is to be married in the Catholic Church. The former MTV host also noted that walking down the aisle was important because many people’s perceptions of marriage have shifted in today’s society.

Anjelica Huston:

Despite the fact that her father was an atheist, Anjelica Huston always wanted to be a nun. “I longed to be indoctrinated. I’d put my mother’s old tutus on my head and pretend I was at my First Communion. When I was six, I told my father I wanted to be a nun and he said: ‘That’s wonderful, honey. When are you going to start?'”  she told The Independent

Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel Byrne attended seminary for five years.

Michael Moore:

The American filmmaker appears to have considered becoming a priest while attending a parochial school in Michigan.

He once told ABC News that he went to seminary to become a priest and that his popular health documentary Sicko came from “a very spiritual place.”