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Just because you’ve made millions before the age of 18 doesn’t mean you don’t need an education. Just ask Emma Watson and the Olsen twins. Despite earning a more-than respectable living before most of us have even held down a part-time job, these 10 celebrities decided they needed something to fall back on should the acting thing not work out.
1. Emma Watson recently started her first year at Brown and was worried about fitting in and being just another student. Some reports said she made her entrance at school via helicopter, which isn’t exactly incognito, but our intrepid _flossers say those were false reports. Whew!
2. James Franco has already received a degree in English from UCLA, but has spent pieces of the last couple of semesters at Columbia and NYU, working on an MFA writing program and a degree in filmmaking, respectively. But apparently he’s like every other student in that class doesn’t always hold his attention. That’s him on the left, catching a little shut-eye during a lecture.
3. The Olsen Twins enrolled at NYU about five years ago, dropping $7.3 million on four penthouses to serve as their “dorms.” It only lasted a year, though, before Mary-Kate dropped out to be more involved with their company, DualStar. It would appear that Ashley remained at NYU, although I can’t find any evidence that she graduated.
4. Natalie Portman, of course, famously went to Harvard while she was filming the Star Wars movies, saying, “I’d rather be smart than a movie star.” She graduated with a degree in psychology.
5. Julia Stiles is an Ivy Leaguer, going to Columbia University even after her success in movies such as 10 Things I Hate About You, Save the Last Dance and The Bourne Identity. She graduated in 2005 with a degree in English literature.
6. Ashley Judd started her degree at the University of Kentucky in 1986, but left in 1990 to pursue her career. She decided to finish what she started in 2007, receiving a bachelor’s degree in French. But she’s not done. Just this year, Ashley enrolled at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to get her master’s in public administration.
7. Jerry O’Connell, husband of Rebecca Romijn and best known for his roles in Jerry Maguire and Stand By Me, just attended orientation at Los Angeles’ Southwestern Law School, where he will be taking night classes to complete his law degree. “It was either that or play video games until 2 a.m.,” he said.
8. Haley Joel Osment, the adorable little kid from The Sixth Sense, isn’t so little these days. He’s currently attending the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
9. Liam Aiken is another famous face at NYU. He’s been in lots of movies, but you might know him best as Klaus from A Series of Unfortunate Events. He started school last fall, also at the Tisch School of the Arts, and is still studying there as far as I can tell.
10. Brooke Shields’ budding career was going gangbusters in 1983 – she had already starred in Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon. But she dropped it all to focus on four years of studies at Princeton from 1983 to 1987, and wrote her senior thesis on a subject pretty near and dear to her heart. It was entitled “The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien.”
I know there are plenty more – Jodie Foster’s attendance at Yale, for instance – so who else did I miss? Share in the comments!
Comments (32)
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Jake (Anakin Skywalker) Lloyd is currently attending Columbia College in Chicago.
posted by Steven on 9-10-2009 at 4:01 pm
Brian May of Queen finished his PhD. in astrophysics in 2007.
posted by Jon. on 9-10-2009 at 4:11 pm
Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper from Wonder Years) graduated summa cum laude from UCLA.
posted by Daryl on 9-10-2009 at 4:30 pm
Miam Byalik too, right? As some sort of super scientist?
posted by PiedrasPR on 9-10-2009 at 4:41 pm
Are we forgetting Shaq? He went back to LSU to receive his B.A. in general studies and then attended the University of Phoenix for his MBA. I might also point out that he is an honorary U.S. Deputy Marshall. This is all just in case his acting or music careers don’t workout after basketball.
posted by John on 9-10-2009 at 4:43 pm
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Randy in the show Home Improvement, went to Harvard (but never graduated).
posted by Suz on 9-10-2009 at 4:47 pm
Jody Foster attended Yale University and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
posted by Don on 9-10-2009 at 4:51 pm
I remember hearing about Rivers Cuomo going to Harvard to study English right after Weezer’s second album came out.
posted by Johnny Cat on 9-10-2009 at 5:08 pm
L’il Wayne?
posted by huh on 9-10-2009 at 5:12 pm
I remember reading somewhere once that Ric Flair has some kind of master’s degree, but I don’t remember which. His Wikipedia page doesn’t mention anything.
posted by Dave on 9-10-2009 at 5:21 pm
Poor Natalie Portman: she failed at her goal.
posted by Hurricane on 9-10-2009 at 5:25 pm
Dolph Lundgren has a masters degree in chemical engineering and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT.
posted by Allan on 9-10-2009 at 5:30 pm
Emma Watson did not arrive at school in a helicopter. Many students at Brown have been stating this. The only evidence that she did was one “Tweet” (what is that?) from a student that was picked up by the celebrity gossip sites.
posted by K on 9-10-2009 at 5:48 pm
G.W. Bailey (Police Academy) returned to college in 1993, attending Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos, TX. He graduated in May of 1994 with a BFA, Theatre.
posted by Stacy on 9-10-2009 at 5:55 pm
Peter Weller (Robocop, Buckaroo Banzai)not only got his Masters and is working on his PhD, but lectures at Syracuse and on the History Channel.
posted by Jay on 9-10-2009 at 6:24 pm
Danica McKellar has a math degree from UCLA and has done several books on math for bonebrains like me.
Gwyneth Paltrow did attend UC but I don’t think she graduated.
posted by Janice on 9-10-2009 at 7:08 pm
And then there’s DAN GRIMALDI, who played twins Philly and Patsy Parisi on The Sopranos. Per Wikipedia:
Despite the fact that Grimaldi is often cast in “tough-guy” roles, he is in fact highly educated. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Fordham University, a master’s degree in operations research from New York University, and a Ph.D. in data processing from the City University of New York, and teaches in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York
posted by Amy on 9-10-2009 at 7:29 pm
Mayim Bialik became a neuroscientist after Blossom.
posted by Amanda on 9-10-2009 at 7:49 pm
Yeah, Emma Watson’s publicist confirmed that she did NOT arrive at school in a helicopter. That seems like a pretty mean-spirited rumor about a girl who’s just trying to get an education.
posted by Sarafina on 9-10-2009 at 10:09 pm
Elizabeth Berkley (Saved by the Bell) also got an English BA from UCLA after giving up acting for a few years.
posted by Rick on 9-10-2009 at 10:45 pm
Martin Sheen went to university in Ireland after he finished The West Wing, but only stayed for a semester.
posted by Prada on 9-10-2009 at 11:16 pm
JustJared claimed that Emma arrived in a helicopter from a false twit he read on twitter. It’s ridiculous!
You missed: Wentworth Miller, Anna Paquin, Dean Cain, Claire Danes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
posted by Yuri on 9-11-2009 at 12:38 am
Jeninfer Connelly began studying English at Yale, and two years later transferred to Stanford University.
posted by Hospitality Management Degree on 9-11-2009 at 1:27 am
Well, this is before they were famous, but Wayne Knight (Newman from “Seinfeld”) and Alton Brown (from Food Network’s “Good Eats”) both graduated from the University of Georgia before hitting it big.
posted by Tamsyn on 9-11-2009 at 2:14 am
She did not arrive in a helicopter (Emma) come on now!
posted by Barbara on 9-11-2009 at 4:24 am
Two words: Bill Cosby.
posted by Mike D. on 9-11-2009 at 8:38 am
I went full time to night school at the University of MD, got my degree in 3.5 years (no breaks) worked full time, was married, my wife and I had two children at the time and she was going to school to be a registered nurse. I graduated with a 3.6 in Business Management and paid for college myself. I do act in my church’s Passion Play every year as Caiaphas!
posted by R Brown on 9-11-2009 at 8:57 am
This isn’t about you R Brown…it’s about celebrities. Thanks for bragging though.
posted by KayTee on 9-11-2009 at 12:48 pm
What about Spielberg? He went back to Cal State Long Beach in 2002 to finish his BA in film.
posted by Matt W. on 9-11-2009 at 12:49 pm
R Brown is a celebrity to his family. You go, R! His story impresses me more because he did it on his own, without a multi-million dollar paycheck in the bank from his latest movie, while working, while raising a family. The same way my husband did his associates, bachelor’s and masters. They are my heroes.
posted by Hyacinth on 9-11-2009 at 2:29 pm
That is most certainly not true about Emma… seriously…
She is a very nice person and is more normal than most “normal” people
posted by Little J on 9-13-2009 at 12:46 pm
Embeth Davidtz can speak English and Afrikaans.
Earning her degree (Cum Laude) in Drama & English Literature from Rhodes University.
posted by Line on 12-15-2009 at 8:49 am