# Seemingly "Ignorant" Celebrities With Advanced Degrees **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751 "2005-02-07T03:29:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@rowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowe)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/41 "2005-02-07T20:17:35Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Asia Carrera, the quintisential Asian porn star, graduated at the top of her class in high school (may have been valedictorian,) and attended Princeotn on a scholarship until she dropped out to pursue her career. She is a member of Mensa, and a huge computer and gaming nerd. > [@Sam Stone](#): > > She was also a child prodigy on piano, and played Carnegie Hall at a young age. A child prodigy on the piano…an adult prodigy on the organ. Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/42 "2005-02-07T21:37:52Z")
A few months ago, I remember reading that David Lee Roth was taking classes to get an EMT license. Letterman and Leno made jokes about it. Don’t know if he finished the course or not. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/43 "2005-02-07T21:50:16Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A few months ago, I remember reading that David Lee Roth was taking classes to get an EMT license. Letterman and Leno made jokes about it. Don’t know if he finished the course or not. Paramedic. Big difference. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/44 "2005-02-07T22:18:32Z")
More tellingly about Arnold: he was a multi-millionaire _before_ becoming a movie star. And it wasn’t from being a bodybuilding champion either (in those days, the winner of the Mr. Olympia title received $5,000): he and fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbo would buy old properties and fix them up. > [@N9IWP](#): > > The Governator graduated from University of Wisconsin-Superior with a major in international marketing of fitness and business administration. [1979] I think it was a correspondance-type deal. (insert joke about harsh northern Wisconsin climate) > > Brian > [@Diceman](#): > > Ooooh, there’s a good one. Besides being the Governator, Arnold is a successful businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/45 "2005-02-07T23:10:10Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Last time I checked, about six years ago, Dexter Holland from the Offspring was working on his PhD in BioChem from Caltech. That one blew me away and I wonder why things like this are never mentioned. I think a famous band leader having a PhD is a great thing but nobody else seems to even know about that stuff. His PhD is in microbiology though. [http://members.aol.com/delirium4u/offspring/band.htm](http://members.aol.com/delirium4u/offspring/band.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/46 "2005-02-07T23:19:37Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Kutcher studied biochemical engineering, not chemical engineering. I don’t know if there is a major difference but i’d assume the biochemical eng. stuff is more pharmacology and physiology oriented while chemical eng. is more industry oriented. I don’t know if it matters, but there you go. From what I recall, he was interested in going into medical research when his brother was diagnosed with cancer or something to that effect. Katey Sagal who played ditzy housewife Peg Bundy on _Married…With Children_ is actually very intelligent, an acomplished singer and songwriter. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/47 "2005-02-07T23:40:14Z")
I can’t find a cite for this, but I recall hearing that Dan Rowan (of “Laugh-In”) was a physicist, and that after World War 2, Edward Teller asked him to work on the team designing the hydrogen bomb. Rowan supposedly decided he’d prefer show business. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/48 "2005-02-07T23:45:25Z")
> [@rowe](#): > > A child prodigy on the piano…an adult prodigy on the organ. Interesting! SOoooo glad I didn’t have anything in my mouth when I read that. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/49 "2005-02-07T23:54:21Z")
I am fairly certain that Tom Morello, former guitar player for Rage Against the Machine now playing for AudioSlave, graduated from Harvard with honors. I am also fairly certain that I read recently that over 93% of all Harvard graduates now graduate with honors. Let me find some background on that one before anyone tries to bite my rotting, hairy head off. Rancid ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/50 "2005-02-08T00:37:08Z")
> [@StephenG](#): > > Mick Jagger graduated from the London School of Economics, which is one of the premier (top four in the world, says the link) academic institutions in the world. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_School_of_Economics) Funny, that. I’ve been watching episodes of \*Yes, Minister \* and _Yes, Prime Minister_ where the minister in question, James Hacker, was routinely mocked for \*only \* going to the LSE by those of the Oxford and Cambridge stripe. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/51 "2005-02-08T00:54:37Z")
Greg Graffin, the singer from Bad Religion is about to finish his PhD in evolutionary biology. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/52 "2005-02-08T01:03:49Z")
Kris Kristofferson was a [Rhodes Scholar and tenure-track professor at West Point.](http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0763035.html) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/53 "2005-02-08T01:31:50Z")
I don’t know if anyone thinks of her as “ignorant”, but **Natalie Portman** is very very bright, attending harvard and having participated in the Westinghouse national science talent search in her younger days. And **Danica McKellar** , from **The Wonder Years** , coauthored a mathematics paper while at (I think) UCLA. Ahh, brainy beautiful brunettes… ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/54 "2005-02-08T01:35:02Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > I am also fairly certain that I read recently that over 93% of all Harvard graduates now graduate with honors. Well, things may have gone further in the last ten years, but when in '94, they made a big deal over the fact that 85% were grduating with honors, the most in the school’s history. So while I don’t know my exact ranking, I can be sure that I was in the bottom 15%. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/55 "2005-02-08T01:57:01Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > And **Danica McKellar** , from **The Wonder Years** , coauthored a mathematics paper while at (I think) UCLA. > **[Danica McKellar - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005211/bio)** > > Together with her younger sister, Crystal McKellar, she began acting at a young age in her mother's dance studio. In 1982 the family moved to Los ... Had a 1998 paper published in Britain’s “Journal of Physics A: Mathematics & General” with UCLA professor Lincoln Chayes and student Brandy Winn which provided a mathematical proof for a theorem dealing with magnetism in two dimensions. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/56 "2005-02-08T03:43:17Z")
Whoopi Goldberg has a P.H.d in Literature, but I’m sure it comes in handy on the Hollywood Squares. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/57 "2005-02-08T03:47:22Z")
No, she does not. (P.S. It’s spelled Ph.D.) ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/58 "2005-02-08T03:48:10Z")
Not sure what he is/was majoring in or if he’s graduated yet, but the lead singer of Weezer (I wanna say… Rivers Cuomo? Is that his name? Too lazy to look up…) was in the same history class at Harvard last fall as a girl I went to high school with. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/59 "2005-02-08T04:00:54Z")
Well, having a master’s degree doesn’t make one an intellectual, but… famed wrestler George “the Animal” Steele has a master’s degree. His real name is Jim Myers, and he got both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Michigan State. After graduation, he was a biology teacher and football coach at a high school in the suburbs of Detroit. He started wrestling in the summers, on the East Coast, to make extra money. At the time, wrestling was a regional sport (that is, there were Southern, Midwestern, Southwester and Northeastern circuits), so a guy who wrestled in the Northeast wouldn’t be seen on TV in Michigan. So, for quite some time, his students and players had no idea about his moonlighting gig. Myers says that, once in a blue moon, some kid would bring in a wrestling magazine and joke that he looked a lot like the Animal- but for the most part, he was able to give a sarcastic, “I look like HIM? Oh, thanks a lot,” and laugh it off. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751/60 "2005-02-08T04:02:46Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > No, she does not. (P.S. It’s spelled Ph.D.) from [here](http://talentdevelop.com/gtcelebs.html) It says she has her p.H.d from New York University in Literature [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-ignorant-celebrities-with-advanced-degrees/288751.md?page=4)