People know you as somebody else – a romantic hero, a racket wielder, a rock singer – but they haven’t looked up your background and aren’t aware that you have a graduate degree and actually, you are a pro at some other walk of life. On the other hand, when you come to think of it, it’s only natural that many of our celebrities once took their education seriously, and achieved their results? Isn’t it titillating, especially if celebs’ degrees show a very different trade from the one they succeeded in? On May, 26, Benn Affleck was granted with an honorary degree from Brown University for what he’s achieved by acting and directing – he received a Doctor of Fine Arts. Which other celebrities have graduate degrees?
Dolph Lundgren, engineer to actor
The action film popular (Dolph Lundgren is remembered by Rocky IV, Masters of the Universe and as Gunnar Jensen in The Expendables) hadn’t intended to hit the stage in the first place. He was all for becoming a chemical engineer and graduated from the University of Sydney. He received a Fulbright scholarship and went to MIT – but then he was snatched and carried away by actress Grace Jones.
Peter Weller, actor to master of arts
No matter how much Peter Weller was engrossed in his Hollywood work, (Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop spring to mind at once), he made up his mind to embark on an academic career and entered Syracuse University. Back in 2004 he earned the degree of master in Roman and Renaissance art and is pushing further for a doctorate.
David Duchovny, literature to acting
There were hints throughout The X-Files and Californication that David Duchovny is no stranger to the world of letters. He did get his master’s majoring in English Literature, but fates lured him to Hollywood, and he hasn’t received his doctor’s yet. Will he?
Mayim Bialik, actress to neuroscientist
The Big Bang Theory was the very film for Bialik (Blossom), who could play a neurobiologist better than an actress who graduated from UCLA with a Ph.D. in 2008. The degree sits on her just as fittingly as her hats!
Ron Jeremy, teacher to porn star
The porn industry’s famous Hedgehog once used to earn his wad as a special-education teacher as well as substitute teacher, having done his stint at Queens College and received a master’s degree in special education. From it he bounced into the limelight with films like Boondock Saints, and Orgazmo, 54, and eventually made himself famous in various porn flicks.
Art Garfunkel, mathematician to singer
Did Art Garfunkel think, when studying art history at Columbia University, striving to get a Ph.D. and become a mathematician and/or a teacher, that he will take to the stage, become one of the iconic voices of the 70s and act in a film? Maybe he exchanged his life for something more hectic than he had set out? Or would he have succeeded in mathematics even more than in singing?
Brian May, guitarist to astrophysic
Having made his own guitar, backed up Freddie Mercury in Queen, and penned hits like We Will Rock You and Headlong, Brian May thought there was still something missing from his life – and went on to study astrophysics. His stormy music career didn’t prevent him from getting a doctorate in 2007 and obtaining a post of chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University.
Ashley Judd, actor to administrator
The Double Jeopardy leading girl also felt that her talents are good for more than acting, and all this time she was slowly plodding on her undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky. Although the progress was difficult, Ashley Judd finally made it, receiving a public administration master’s degree at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Christy Turlington, philosophy to modeling
When Christy Turlington is not on a catwalk modeling stuff for Calvin Klein and Maybelline Mascara, she is busy studying very erudite stuff like comparative religion. Her studying Eastern philosophy at New York University led to her writing the book Living Yoga: Creating a Life Practice. After graduating from NYU cum laude 20 years ago, she went on to Columbia University to major in public health and get a master’s.
Rowan Atkinson, engineering to acting
Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean is probably just as ingenious in his field as his creator is in his. This uproarious character may owe his existence to the fact that back in the 70s Atkinson attended Oxford University majoring in electrical engineering and got his master’s degree.
