12 celebrities who went to Ivy League schools
- Many celebrities attended Ivy League schools before, during, or even after they became famous.
- Meryl Streep and Lupita Nyong'o both attended the Yale School of Drama.
- Mindy Kaling and Shonda Rhimes attended Dartmouth College.
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matt Damon dropped out of Ivy-League colleges to pursue their careers in film and television.
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Although celebrities are most known for their films, TV shows, or hit songs, many actually received Ivy League educations.
The Ivy League, a group of eight universities that are considered to be the most prestigious of all US colleges, is made up of Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania,
Some celebrities attended those elite-level universities prior to pursuing careers in Hollywood, while rising to fame, or even after becoming household names
Here are 12 celebrities who went to Ivy League schools.
Natalie Portman enrolled in Harvard after establishing herself as an actress.
After working steadily in Hollywood from the age of 13, Natalie Portman pursued higher education at Harvard.
She told Variety that her father helped her realize the importance of education.
"I came from such a serious, academic family, where the only thing that was acceptable was to be very literate and educated — you become a professor or a doctor or a lawyer," Portman said.
"Not that [my dad] was saying that acting was bad, but more that he was like, 'I think you'll be more fulfilled if you have something more — like a life of the mind.'"
She graduated from Harvard in 2003, earning a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Portman later took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and had multiple papers published in scientific journals.
She's also spoken at Harvard's annual class day, inspiring students to push past their feelings of insecurity.
John Krasinski credits Brown University for his success as an actor.
"Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" star John Krasinski graduated from Brown University in 2001. In 2019, he delivered the baccalaureate address to the school's undergraduate class.
During the speech, Krasinski explained that his introduction to acting came from joining a sketch-comedy group at Brown and that the decision to do so "changed his entire life."
"It was through that group that I found my way into this community," he said. "It was through that group that I met my people and all of a sudden I was surrounded by the most inspiring peers. One of the best decisions I made in my life was just to lean all the way in."
He went on to describe his time at Brown as "the cornerstone of his life and career."
Meryl Streep attended Yale School of Drama.
After attending Vassar College, Meryl Streep pursued her master's at the Yale School of Drama. While she attending the university, Streep performed in a variety of shows alongside fellow actors such as Sigourney Weaver.
Streep received her Master of Fine Arts in 1975 and went on to received an honorary doctorate from Yale in 1983.
In 2014, Streep returned to Yale for an informal Q&A at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Throughout the talk, she looked back at her time performing at Yale and discussed the evolution of her acting career.
Emma Watson enrolled at Brown University after becoming a household name from the "Harry Potter" franchise.
Emma Watson told Rookie magazine in 2013 that her unique education as a child on the set of the "Harry Potter" films inspired her to enroll at Brown University.
"I really like the fact that it has a very open curriculum, that there aren't any requirements," she said.
"Really, I've kind of been in charge of my own education since I started out on Potter when I was 9 or 10, and I liked that I could design my own major if I wanted to, and I could take independent studies if I wanted to on subjects that weren't necessarily in the curriculum," she added.
Watson enrolled at Brown in 2009 and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in English literature. She took one year off in 2011, but the rest of her time was split studying at Brown and Oxford.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt dropped out of Columbia University to pursue acting again.
After starring on "3rd Rock From the Sun," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt enrolled at Columbia University in 2000.
"Acting was still fun, but a spark was missing," he told the New York Times. "I wanted a new challenge."
While at Columbia, he studied literature, history, and French. Ultimately, Gordon-Levitt dropped out of the university to continue pursuing film and acting.
He told students at Columbia during a college tour for his project, hitRECecord, that his decision to drop out came after he got a new editing board and found himself so involved with using it that he didn't have much time left for school.
Mindy Kaling earned her degree from Dartmouth College.
Before making a big name for herself on "The Office," Mindy Kaling earned a bachelor's degree in playwriting from Dartmouth College in 2001.
"I got so much confidence as a writer and a performer going to Dartmouth," Kaling said in an interview with The Dartmouth, the college's student newspaper.
She said the plays and sketch shows she wrote at school would sell out, making her "feel like a big shot."
In 2018, Kaling also gave the commencement speech at Dartmouth. She told the graduating class "Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something, but especially not yourself. Go conquer the world. Just remember this: Why not you? You've made it this far."
Lupita Nyong'o has a master's degree from Yale University.
After receiving her bachelor's from Hampshire College, Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o earned a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama.
While attending Yale, she appeared in a variety of stage plays at college and won the Herschel Williams Prize for her outstanding ability as an actor.
In her acceptance speech at the Oscars for her role as Patsey in "12 Years a Slave," the actress personally thanked the Yale School of Drama for training her.
David Duchovny attended both Princeton and Yale.
"The X-Files" star David Duchovny had originally planned to be a writer. He earned his bachelor's in English from Princeton followed by a master's in English literature from Yale.
He told NPR that studying writing in college is what got him into acting.
"I thought, 'Well, if I'm gonna write things that are gonna be performed by actors, then it's probably helpful for me to know something about what that's like,'" he said.
Matt Damon never graduated from Harvard University.
A member of the class of 1992, actor Matt Damon studied English at Harvard University. In fact, he wrote an early version of his Academy Award-winning film "Good Will Hunting" for a project in his Harvard English class.
Damon told the college's newspaper The Harvard Crimson in 1997, "Let me tell you, I loved Harvard … It was a huge, huge part of my life. I still have time left and I want to go back when I get a chance."
Although he never returned to finish his degree, in 2013 he received the Harvard Arts Medal, an award created to recognize excellence and demonstrated achievement in the arts.
During his acceptance speech for the Arts Medal, Damon expressed that being associated with Harvard was an honor and that he "always tried to live life in a way that honored that."
Angela Bassett has three degrees from Yale University.
Before Angela Bassett became a household name as a celebrated actress, she studied theatre at Yale University.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the prestigious university. In 2018, she earned her third degree from Yale when the college gave her an honorary doctorate degree.
Bassett posted a video of her receiving the degree on her Instagram, captioning the photo, "Hey Everybody you good? My heart is full! God blessed me REAL good! Thank you @yale for this blessed honor!"
Shonda Rhimes graduated from Dartmouth College in 1991.
TV mogul Shonda Rhimes majored in English and creative writing at Dartmouth College. She also credits the university for giving her the confidence she needed to be successful in film and television.
"One of the reasons I think I have been successful in Hollywood is because I'm always comfortable in a room full of frat guys. I've never been a shrinking violet in any room, because I went to Dartmouth," she told Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.
"Dartmouth really gave me something that I don't think I would have had otherwise. I can run with the dogs — the big dogs — because of that."
Rhimes returned to her Dartmouth roots when she gave the university's commencement speech in 2014.
John Legend attended the University of Pennsylvania.
Before earning his EGOT status, singer John Legend attended the University of Pennsylvania.
During college, he was a member-turned-director of an a capella group, as well as a member of the Sphinx and Onyx senior societies.
He earned a bachelor's degree in English with a focus on African American literature.
Since graduating in 1999, Legend continues to be an active alumnus of the university by performing concerts there, giving addresses to students, and even writing a column for The Daily Pennsylvanian, the college's newspaper.
In 2014, he delivered the university's commencement address, advising the graduating class, "You have to go all in … Open your mind and heart to love."
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