Celebrities and Education

[JeanBean]

Today at 13:20, madefortv wrote:
Yeah, Rivers Cuomo from Weezer went to Harvard. I remember reading that he ate in the cafeteria and went to dorm parties (which is actually a little creepy, considering he has always been rumored to have a thing for young girls).

I think that Rivers Cuomo went to Harvard *after* Weezer got really big, which kind of supports my thinking that he might not have gotten in if he weren't recognizably-named applicant who was also over 18. However, he did graduate with high honors, so who knows?

Yeah, they were on hiatus. He also lived in the dorms, which I found sort of weird, but he said he really wanted to experience college life. He was in his early 30s at the time. He had started at Harvard in 1995, I think, and wanted to finish - he graduated in 2006. He had a girlfriend at the time (who was his age), not that he couldn't have been boning college chicks, too. I don't know him; he's a friend of a friend.

[Bruins07]

I always thought it was cool that Marcia Cross went to get her masters degree in Psychology in between Melrose Place and Desperate Housewives. She also did her undergrad at Julliard.

[Xerox]

Feb 7, 2011 18:03:23 GMT -4 incognito said:

As long as we're talking about celebs and education, can we talk about Willow Smith? There have been interviews where Willow has admitted that she's behind her schoolmates in certain subjects, such as math. I think that's such a shame. Willow is only 9 years old right now - if she's already behind, how the heck will she ever catch up? Yes, she's a Smith so chances are she won't ever need to use math because she'll be rich and/or have a career in showbiz...but I just think that children should have the option, at least. I mean, I'm not in a science- or math-related career, but at least I had that choice.

Thinking of the Cosby Show episode where Cockroach says he doesn't need to learn math because he's going to inherit his dad's scrap iron business and he'll have a foreman to count out the pieces of metal and an accountant to count his money and Cliff tells him that if the foreman and the accountant can count and Cockroach can't, he's going to be broke!

Speaking of athletes, one of my personal faves, Michelle Kwan, has a bachelor's in political science from Denver University and is getting her master's in international studies from Tufts University this year.

As for other famous (or semi-famous) figure skaters I can remember off the top of my head:

• Sarah Hughes - 2002 Olympic champion - graduated from Yale
  
• Emily Hughes - 2006 Olympian - currently attends Harvard
  
• Tim Goebel - 2002 Olympic bronze medalist - enrolled in college while competing, transferred and graduated from Columbia after he retired
  
• Paul Wylie - 1992 silver medalist - MBA from Harvard
  
• Debi Thomas - 1998 bronze medalist - graduated from Stanford(?), now a doctor
  
• (going way back) Dick Button - 2-time Olympic champ, now patriarch of American figure skating - graduated from Harvard Law School
  
• Alissa Czisny - just won her 2nd U.S. national title a couple of weeks ago (and appeared in the Chrysler/Detroit/Eminem Super Bowl commercial) - graduated from Bowling Green University(?)
  
• Rachael Flatt - last year's U.S. champ and 2010 Olympian - deferred admission to Stanford and reportedly will begin in the fall (and her parents are rocket scientists or something like that, so I'm guessing she'll be expected to graduate).
  

[talkbox]

I have ot admit, these women are being smart about preparing for a fame-less future.

[Deleted]

Greg Giraldo (RIP) went to Harvard Law, and practiced before becoming a comic. One of his bits was about his dad who was also a lawyer.

Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney Vance have undergrad degrees from Yale and Harvard, and MFAs from Yale.

[nowyouseeme]

Feb 10, 2011 16:16:23 GMT -4 @livingfortheweeken said:

Greg Giraldo (RIP) went to Harvard Law, and practiced before becoming a comic. One of his bits was about his dad who was also a lawyer.

And he did his undergrad at Columbia which is nothing to sneeze at!

[boxofrocks]

Feb 8, 2011 17:48:31 GMT -4 eclair said:

Stephen Colbert has an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Il, which he frequently mentions. IMDB says he also has a BA but didn't say what it was in.

Wiki says he got a degree from the School of Speech (now Communications), but I'm not sure what that means. The article implies that's where the drama major is housed. He even started as a dramatic actor!

Benjamie McKenzie of "The OC" went to UVA and has a degree in Foreign Affairs and Econ. There's a very nice up and coming drama school there, so I wonder why he didn't major in Drama. Wiki says he acted in plays while in school.

Now, for some Yalies:

Jodie Foster: went after she became famous, graduated magna cum laude (undergrad)

Sigourney Weaver, MFA drama. According to this article, apparently they told her she sucked.

Bronson Pinchot (Balki from "Perfect Strangers") got an undergrad degree, although Wiki doesn't say in what.

[Peggy Lane]

Chris Noth also has a MFA from Yale. I don't remember where he did his undergrad.

[Carolinian]

When Sigourney Weaver was at Yale one of her roomates was the 5x Tony winner costumer William Ivey Long. I attended a lecture he gave several years ago and he said one of the first show he costumed at Yale was The Frogs and both Weaver and Meryl Streep were in it. Streep also has a MFA from Yale.

[Deleted]

Matthew Fox majored in economics at Columbia.