Was that an actress or Scientologist in the new Scientology TV ad? Turns out she's both
We were surprised and intrigued by three new TV ads that Scientology leader David Miscavige revealed at this year’s IAS gala on October 25, and that Scientology posted to its slide show of the event this weekend.
Of the three, we remarked that the first of them was a departure for the church that has put out so many slick ads trying to find a way to interest a larger public that finds Scientology to be controversial and weird.
In the spot, a young woman begins describing what it’s like when people find out that she’s involved in something unusual. She’s followed by a number of others who also describe the situation, coming back to the initial woman a few times, until at the end she reveals what they’re talking about — that they’re Scientologists.
Naturally, our readers who saw the clip yesterday wondered, are these just actors or are they actually Scientologists? Well, thanks to another of our readers, we learned that this woman who is the most prominent figure in the piece is both: She’s actress and Scientologist Wyni Landry.
Wyni is short for Wyndoline, and she’s appeared in numerous TV shows, including most recently an episode of CSI: Vegas. She’s also second-generation Scientologist: Her mother is a longtime Scientologist named Keli Daniels, who is also an actress.
And we thought it was interesting that Landry played a prominent role in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad this year that also featured Post Malone. We have a feeling that a shorter version of this Scientology spot might end up being the church’s Super Bowl ad this year, which would mean Landry would be featured at the big game two years in a row.
Is she Scientology’s next big thing? Well, it might be premature to jump to that conclusion, but she does a good job in this ad, which does seem a bit more clever and even cheeky for the kind of spot Scientology usually puts out.
Here’s the full script of the ad, with Landry’s lines in bold…
In my day to day life, when people find out, people are like, 'Wait...wait, what? You're what?'
When they find out, they are usually surprised.
There is such disbelief, because they don't really know what it is.
'Whoa, really?' I told them, yeah.
Usually they're a little bit shocked.
Or, it's something that they've actually been looking for, for a long time and didn't know it was right there.
And they get really curious about it.
They immediately go, 'Oh really?' And it's like, yes, really.
'No, you can't be one.' I get that a lot. Like, 'You're not.' Or, like, the room will go silent. And I'm like, Yeah, I am. I am one.
Most of the time it's like really genuine interest.
And I can see that they want to know more.
I actually love answering questions. They'll simply say, hey, well what is it?
It's sometimes hard for me to answer, because it contains so much.
It's the most important thing to me, hands down.
It is the only thing that gave me my life back.
It's helped me personally, my family, my friends, and my community as well.
It's not for any one particular group of people or any class of people, it's for everybody.
I get questions all the time, like, Oh, you've been this your whole life? I'm like, yeah, I have.
Ten years now.
Twelve years.
Fourteen years.
Twenty-one years.
Thirty-one years.
Thirty-four years now.
Thirty-five years.
Forty-six years.
My whole life.
My entire life.
All my life.
All my life.
I'm a third generation.
And it has completely changed my life.
You know, we're just people who believe in bettering ourselves and bettering the world.
And I'll tell them, yes, I am a Scientologist.
One more note about Wyni Landry and her mother, Keli Daniels.
It was Keli Daniels, Leah Remini revealed in a blog post at Mike Rinder’s website in 2019, who first alerted her years earlier to the horrific abuse that was happening at the ‘Day Care from Hell’ that we have written about numerous times.
Leah began her account of how she learned about the abuse with these paragraphs…
I remember getting a phone call from Keli Daniels whose son Zeut was also in Bridgette’s Day Care. She said “something terrible is going down at Bridgette’s. It sounds like there’s some molestation with some of the girls.” My heart stopped.
There was that fearful feeling of ‘OK, something bad has happened involving a ‘fellow Scientologist,’ but if I demand and get too loud about his, the Church will turn on me and it will be my overts in question.”
I was told that Bridgette was being “handled” at the church based on the fact that her two sons (the oldest more so) had taken advantage of two of the older girls (more were being investigated) during baby sitting at their homes outside of the daycare.
Eventually, several parents learned that their daughters had been abused at Bridgette’s Day Care, but only one of them — Trish Conley, who spoke to us about it — agreed to prosecute the older boy, so he was only given a misdemeanor. Scientology’s “Sergeant at Arms,” Julian Swartz, had convinced the other parents to allow Scientology to handle the matter in-house.
It was a shameful episode in Scientology history that had a lot of ramifications in later years.
According to what Leah said that Mike published, Keli Daniels had a son at the day care. But even if Wyni herself was not involved, there’s little doubt that she knows about the scandal and how Scientology covered up a horrific case of abuse.
But hey, she delivers her lines well.
Speaking of videos, we have another gem to share with you, this time thanks to our friend Alex Barnes-Ross, who said it comes from the good folks at Scientology’s UK headquarters at Saint Hill Manor.
It’s an eight minute (!) exploration of how convenient it is now for Scientologists to do extension courses at home.
You tell us, does this tempt you to absorb the lectures and writings of L. Ron Hubbard in the privacy of your own domicile, and on your own time schedule? How convenient!
And finally, one more video for you today, a real treat from Mark Bunker, who has been doing some very fun experimenting with AI creativity.
He said we could premiere his latest creation, a surreal promo for Xenu’s Playhouse, featuring himself, Tory Christman, and their annoying neighbor David Miscavige.
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Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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"...how convenient it is now for Scientologists to do extension courses at home."
1. This can be used to help explain why the big buildings are empty.
2. So, why do you need big, expensive, member-money draining buildings if people can do even more at home? :)
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could respond to these ads (like a live chat) as they were happening. That would be fun.