Most people know Cole Sprouse from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, far fewer know what he studied after it ended. He graduated from NYU's Gallatin School with a degree combining archaeology and geographic information systems. His senior thesis reportedly involved analyzing archaeological data through mapping software, not exactly a sitcom skill. He took a years-long break from acting specifically to finish the degree. | © CW Network
Brooke Shields got into Princeton in 1983 while already a working actress with films behind her. She majored in French literature and wrote her senior thesis on Louis Malle, the director of her own 1978 film Pretty Baby. Studying the person who built your career is an odd kind of homework. Her degree came out cum laude. | © Universal Pictures
Christy Turlington spent the 1990s as one of the highest paid faces in fashion, then went back to a classroom. She graduated cum laude from NYU with a degree in comparative religion and Eastern philosophy. Years later she added a Master's in Public Health from Columbia, research she channeled into maternal health advocacy. Modeling paid the bills, but it clearly wasn't the whole plan. | © Miramax Films
A Master's in Chicano Studies is not where you'd expect to find the star of Desperate Housewives. Eva Longoria earned hers from California State University, Northridge, after already building a television career. Her thesis focused on the experiences of Mexican American women in the Los Angeles area. She's returned to academic and advocacy work around Latino representation ever since. | © The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon / YouTube
London School of Economics does not usually produce frontmen. Mick Jagger enrolled there in 1961 to study finance and accounting, a detail that clashes hard with the Rolling Stones' later reputation. He dropped out after a year once the band's touring schedule took over his life. LSE still claims him as an alum, degree or not. | © Rolling Stones / YouTube
New College, Oxford gave Hugh Grant an honors degree in English Literature, and he was good enough at it to get offered a postgraduate scholarship in Art History. He turned it down. Acting won out instead, starting with small British films in the 1980s before Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994 made him a name. Oxford's loss worked out fine for everyone else. | © Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Biology was Lisa Kudrow's actual major at Vassar College, not some fallback she picked for easy credit. She spent time doing real headache research alongside her father, Lee Kudrow, who studied migraines professionally. That science background sat untouched for years while she worked comedy clubs before landing Friends in 1994. Phoebe Buffay never once brought up the biology degree. | © Warner Bros. Television
A law degree from the University of Glasgow was supposed to set Gerard Butler up for a legal career, and for a while it did. He worked as a trainee lawyer and was reportedly let go just days before qualifying. Acting became the backup plan almost by accident after that. Few people get fired their way into a Hollywood career. | © STX Entertainment
Chemical engineering sounds like an odd detour until you learn Dolph Lundgren earned a master's in it from the University of Sydney. He also picked up a Fulbright Scholarship to study at MIT, which he deferred to pursue acting. Rocky's Ivan Drago from Rocky IV in 1985 was waiting on the other side of that decision. MIT kept his spot, but Hollywood took the actual man. | © MGM
An Ed.D. in Human Resource Development came to Shaquille O'Neal from Barry University in 2012, long after his NBA career had already made him a household name. He'd already finished a bachelor's and an MBA before that, stacking degrees the way he once stacked championships. Four titles, three Finals MVPs, and a doctorate, all under one name. Few athletes bother finishing the trilogy. | © The Late Late Show with James Corden / YouTube
Before Mr. Bean ever stumbled through a single scene, Rowan Atkinson was buried in circuits and signal theory. He holds a Master's in Electrical Engineering from The Queen's College, Oxford. Comedy at Oxford was technically the side project, something he did between coursework. The engineering mind never really left his physical comedy either, it's all timing and precision. | © Gramercy Pictures
1995 is when Ken Jeong finished medical school and became a licensed physician. He practiced internal medicine in California for years, stand-up comedy running alongside it as a hobby. The two careers overlapped for a while before acting took over full time. Doctor Ken wasn't just a sitcom title, it was closer to a memoir. | © WIRED / YouTube
Guitarist first, astrophysicist second, or maybe it was always the other way around for Brian May. He left his Ph.D. research at Imperial College London in 1970 to tour with Queen. Decades later he went back and finished it, earning his doctorate in Astrophysics in 2007. His thesis covered dust clouds in the solar system, a subject as distant from "Bohemian Rhapsody" as it gets. | © Radio X / YouTube
Blossom's lab coat wasn't just a costume for Mayim Bialik. She earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCLA, finishing her dissertation on Prader-Willi syndrome. The research came during a years-long break from acting, not after it. Hollywood got its scientist back, but the degree was never the fallback plan. | © Warner Bros. Television
Natalie Portman spent her Harvard years under her real name, Natalie Hershlag, away from the movie credits. She graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology, having already starred in Léon: The Professional and Star Wars: Episode I. Professors reportedly didn't treat her any differently than other students, which was apparently the point. She even co-authored a published neuroscience paper as an undergraduate. | © Sony Pictures Releasing
Behind the fame, plenty of stars quietly earned degrees in fields you’d never guess. Some studied science, some studied law, and a few graduated with honors. Here are 15 celebrities with surprising college degrees.
