18 Celebrities You Didn't Realise Were So Smart
You would be forgiven for assuming that most celebrities do not have much education. Sure why would they need them? What good is a college degree going to do you in the music business, or if you're trying to make it in Hollywood? Now there are certain celebrities (Emma Watson) who everyone knows has gone to college and put a lot of emphasis on their education. But some of them you won't know and, even though some of them don't necessarily have full credentials, will really be quite surprised at.
Natalie Portman
Education: Psychology, Harvard University
In the midst of filming the second Star Wars trilogy she found the time to attend Harvard. She's also fluent in Hebrew, and has apparently studied French, Japanese, German and Arabic. Oh and she's also co-authored two papers that were published in scientific journals, titled "A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", and "Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy"..... Yeah. Told you she was smart.
Dolph Lundgren
Education: Chemistry, Washington State University. Degree in Chemical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Master's in Chemical Engineering, University of Sydney.
That's right, the bad guy in Rocky IV and one of the main character's in The Expendables movies is much smarter than all of us.
Conan O'Brien
Education: History and American Literature, Harvard University.
He apparently graduated "Magna Cum Laude" (Latin for "With Great Honour"), which from what I can gather roughly translates to a 2.1. But much more importantly, he wrote some golden age episodes of the Simpsons, including "Marge vs. The Monorail", and "Homer Goes To College".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjTv_bJRwf4
Dr. Mayim Bialik
Education: Neuroscience, Hebrew Studies and Jewish Studies. Ph.D in Neuroscience, UCLA.
Best known for her role on the Big Bang Theory, she has pretty much the exact same credentials as her character, Amy Farrah Fowler.
Rowan Atkinson
Education: Electrical Engineering, Newcastle University. Master's in Electrical Engineering, Queen's College, Oxford.
Who would've believed that not only did Mr. Bean go to college, but he also has a Master's. I'm due to start a Master's in Electrical Engineering this September, so I can only imagine it's a matter of time before I get my very own hit TV show.
James Franco
Education: English and Drama, UCLA. Master's in Creative Writing, Columbia University. Master's in Film-making, NYU. Ph.D in English, Yale University.
Even though he's not quite gotten his Ph.D yet, all of those degrees are still ridiculously impressive. He paints, writes poetry and books. And of course, he's also an actor, screenwriter, producer and director... Show-off...
Kate Beckinsale
Education: French and Russian Literature, New College Oxford.
Dropped out of her course to pursue her acting career, but is still fluent in both languages, along with German.
David Duchovny
Education: English Literature, Princeton University. Master's in English Literature, Yale University.
Turns out the guy who looks for aliens in the X-Files, and the sex addict in Californication is actually really intelligent.
Ken Leong
Education: Pre-Med, Duke University. MD, UNC Chapel Hill.
Definitely the most surprising of all the people on this list. Mr. Chow from The Hangover is a qualified Obstetrician, which in simple terms means that in a previous life he used to deliver babies.
Edward Norton
Education: History, Yale University
He's also pretty proficient at Japanese, having moved there to work for his Granddad's non-profit organisation who produce affordable housing, and has continued to donate to the company since. So you can't even get mad at how talented he is because he's such a nice guy.
Cindy Crawford
Education: Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University.
Even though she didn't even complete her first semester (she's way too beautiful to be an engineer anyway) she gets a mention because she was smart enough to win an academic scholarship.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Education: History, Christ College, Cambridge University.
It's amazing how many actors who play stupid characters are actually really intelligent.
Lisa Kudrow
Education: Biology, Vassar College.
She apparently was quite good in this area as well, doing a lot of studies on headaches (little bit random) with her Dad, before becoming Phoebe on Friends and and eventually earning a million dollars per episode. Can't really understand why she ever stopped studying headaches to be honest.
John Cleese
Education: Law, Downing College, Cambridge University.
He even taught Latin for a while, and for anyone who has seen the Life of Brian, he draws on this experience for the scene where his Roman Centurion character corrects Brian's Latin graffiti. And for anyone who hasn't seen it, go watch it. Now.
Dennis Bergkamp
Education: Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath.
He earned this degree while playing for Arsenal. If he didn't have a fear of flying he would arguably the perfect man.
Harry Hill
Education: Neurosurgery, University of London.
Even though I personally don't find him that funny, you can't deny how impressive his degree sounds.
Jodie Foster
Education: French Literature, Yale University.
A child actor who's fluent in French, and can also understand Spanish, Italian and German. She also apparently taught herself how to read before she was three. She just couldn't wait to get started obviously.
Brian May
Education: Maths and Physics, Imperial College London. Ph.D in Astrophysics, Imperial College London.
It took him over 30 years to complete his Ph.D thesis, but you'd probably forgive him that considering he was the guitarist for Queen, one of the biggest bands in the world during that period.
