For many celebrities, success came early — often at the expense of everyday experiences like attending school, enrolling in college and graduating.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion encouraged her fans to “be whoever you wanna be” upon graduating from Texas Southern University (TSU) in 2021, and reality star Kim Kardashian said at the TIME100 Summit in 2023 that becoming an attorney would be her “life’s most meaningful work.” From music icons and athletes to supermodels and actors, some stars chose to hit the books later in life after achieving fame and fortune in their respective industries.
Here are some famous faces who stepped out of the spotlight and into the classroom to pursue a college degree.
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Glen Powell
It’s a story with a twist! After enrolling in the radio-television-film program at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, actor Glen Powell put his education on hold upon completing his freshman year. The Austin, Texas, native moved to Los Angeles to focus on his film career (though he’s since moved back to be closer to his parents).
In 2024, Powell told IndieWire he was taking an unconventional route to his studies due to his shooting schedule requiring him to be overseas.
“I’m not going to be sitting in a class with other students on the regular,” the Twisters star said. “So, they’re letting me figure it out [with] distance learning. And I’m obviously going to be coming in, Zooming in for classes and whatnot, but I have to be back for the proctored exams.”
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Tamera Mowry-Housley and Tia Mowry
Tamera Mowry-Housley and Tia Mowry were just 15 when they landed the beloved ’90s sitcom Sister, Sister in 1994.
After growing up in the spotlight, the twin siblings eventually set their sights on a new chapter: college. They enrolled at Pepperdine University, juggling the demands of a hit TV series with the challenges of student life.
“Tia and I were part-time at Pepperdine University. We would go to class, do a rehearsal or shoot, and then come back to class,” Tamera told host Lewis Howes on a 2021 episode of The School of Greatness podcast. “We would do two classes every other day and then the show on Thursday and Friday.”
Tamera added, “I am happy I did; it taught me about prioritizing and that education is important. It taught me dedication and hard work, too. If you put your mind to it, you can do it. It took me seven years to graduate.”
The former Twitches stars pulled it off, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Tamera has credited her time in college with helping her prioritize the importance of education. She also met her husband, Adam Housley, while a student at the private college.
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Noah Schnapp
Noah Schnapp and his bowl haircut achieved worldwide fame at 11 when Netflix’s Stranger Things became a global hit for the streaming series. As Will Byers, audiences watched with rapt attention as the young lad was abducted into the Upside Down, falling victim to the Mind Flayer.
As the series marched along, Schnapp grew up in front of fans while balancing his career and education. In 2021, he recorded himself in a TikTok video (via X) opening an acceptance letter from the University of Pennsylvania — where he later enrolled in the prestigious Wharton School of Business.
Embracing the full experience, the actor opted to live in the dorms, as documented on TikTok.
“I wanted the real experience,” he told Teen Vogue in 2022. “I always knew from a young age I was going to finish high school, [and] I was going to go to college. It was never really a question for me, and becoming an actor didn’t really change that. So I committed to it, and I’m so happy so far.”
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Jack Gleeson
During Jack Gleeson’s star-turning role on Game of Thrones as King Joffrey Baratheon — a character often considered one of the most hated on the small screen — he studied philosophy and theology at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland between 2010 and 2015.
Uncomfortable with the fame and notoriety the role brought him, Gleeson took a break from acting in 2014 after his time on the acclaimed HBO series ended.
“The lifestyle that comes with being an actor in a successful TV show isn’t something I gravitate towards,” he told The Irish Independent in 2013 before adding, “Since going to Trinity and garnering an interest in philosophy and with Goal and my theatre company, I’ve kind of just re-evaluated what I want to do.”
However, the actor has since had a change of heart about retiring, returning to the screen in 2021’s Rebecca’s Boyfriend and 2023’s In the Lands of Saints and Sinners, as well as on TV shows such as Sex Education, The Famous Five, Safe Harbor and The Sandman.
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Christy Turlington
Supermodel Christy Turlington first conquered fashion runways and graced the covers of magazines before taking her talents to the classroom. Turlington enrolled in New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 1994 to earn her comparative religion and Eastern philosophy degree. She would later receive her master’s in public health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
The former face of Calvin Klein, who has been married to filmmaker Ed Burns since 2003, revealed why she went back to school.
“Each year, I would say ‘one more year,’ and that got old,” she told Interview magazine in 2013. “So, after one particularly grueling season at the couture shows in Paris in the summer of ’94, I decided that was it. I came home and applied to NYU, and started classes that fall. I loved my college experience.”
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Megan Thee Stallion
Despite her supersonic rise to fame — including taking home a Grammy for best new artist in 2021 — Megan (born Megan Pete) was committed to earning a degree to honor her late mother.
The “Savage” rapper graduated from TSU with a bachelor’s in health administration and streamed the commencement ceremony on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram for her fanbase, the Hotties.
“I want to get my degree because I really want my mom to be proud,” she told PEOPLE in 2020 about her mom, Holly Thomas, who died in 2019 after battling brain cancer. “She saw me going to school before she passed.”
She continued, “I want my big mama to be proud. She saw me going to school before she passed,” said Megan, whose grandmother died two weeks after Thomas. “My grandmother, that’s still alive, used to be a teacher, so she’s on my butt about finishing school. I’m doing it for me, but I’m also doing it for the women in my family who made me who I am today.”
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Stephen Curry
On May 22, 2022, Stephen Curry received his college diploma from Davidson College 13 years after first entering the NBA. The basketball star celebrated the achievement with a series of photos on Instagram, calling the degree a “dream come true.”
“Class of 2010….aka 2022, but we got it done!” Curry captioned the throwback photo. “Thanks to my whole village that helped me get across the finish line. Made the promise when I left and had to see it through.”
His team, the Golden State Warriors, also shared the news via Instagram with a doodle of Curry in his Warriors uniform, wearing his graduation cap and gown. The athlete earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.
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Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter was only 11 when she starred as the brilliant middle child Alex Dunphy on ABC’s Modern Family. After a childhood spent in front of the camera and years of homeschooling, per Teen Vogue, the actress enrolled at UCLA to explore other avenues beyond acting.
“I definitely want to continue being an actress. I love it,” Winter told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “The reason I’m going to college is because I do want knowledge in another field. College isn’t the college experience for me.”
She added, “I’m not going to be in a sorority, I’m not going to network, I’m not even really going to make my lifelong friends. I’ve had the career experience. I’ve had the experience of taking care of myself. I’m going to college because I genuinely want to learn.”
In 2019, Winter took a hiatus from her studies to find a better balance between school and her career, telling USA Today that she “overestimated what I could do at that time.”
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Kim Kardashian
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians alum first revealed her legal aspirations in a 2019 interview with Vogue.
Following in the footsteps of her late father, attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., Kim began a four-year apprenticeship with a firm in San Francisco to pursue her law degree.
“There are times when I could be frustrated and studying really late and have to get up and wonder how he did it, having four kids and must’ve been going through some of the same things that I have gone through,” Kim said during a press tour at the Television Critics Association in 2020. “So it would have been exciting to talk to him about that, and I know that he would be so, so proud.”
Though she briefly attended Pierce College in L.A., she never graduated, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, California is one of three other U.S. states that offer a path to passing the bar without attending law school by “reading the law” or apprenticing with a practicing lawyer or judge.
Studying with private tutors, the SKIMS founder revealed during a 2021 episode of KUWTK that she had failed the “baby bar” exam for a second time.
“I feel bummed like totally bummed,” she said of the disappointment. “It is what it is. I know I just have to not stress about it. There’s so many other f—— things, stressful things, going on. I just have to do better in the future.”
On her fourth try, Kim shared the news on X (formerly Twitter) that she passed the “Baby Bar” (a.k.a. the First-Year Law Student’s Examination) in 2021.
“OMFGGGG I PASSED THE BABY BAR EXAM! Looking in the mirror, I am really proud of the woman looking back today in the reflection. For anyone who doesnt know my law school journey, know this wasn’t easy or handed to me,” she wrote.
PEOPLE confirmed in March 2025 that The Kardashians star took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) in L.A., a necessary step before taking the bar and practicing law in California.
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Anthony Anderson
Weeks after his series Black-ish wrapped after eight seasons, Anthony Anderson celebrated another major milestone: graduating from Howard University in 2022.
“Words can’t begin to describe the emotional roller coaster I’m on right now. It’s literally been 30 years in the making,” the actor captioned a series of photos on Instagram from commencement day. “It’s never too late! Things happen when they’re supposed to happen!”
Anderson earned a BFA from the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts, achieving a dream that began decades ago.
The comedian previously spoke about his time at the HBCU, revealing that he initially dropped out due to financial reasons.
“I was paying for college myself, and I ran out of money after my junior year,” Anderson said during an appearance on The Tonight Show in 2018. “I’ve been speaking to the university … about creating a curriculum that I can take online and at home, and do some practical classes on campus so I can walk with my son [Nathan] in 2022.”
Though Anderson and his son didn’t ultimately share the stage, Anderson thanked his son for inspiring him to go back to school in the Instagram caption.
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Leah Remini
PEOPLE Puzzler host Leah Remini revealed on X (formerly Twitter) in 2022 that she closed the books on her first finals at New York University.
“Going to college for the first time at 51 after living most of my life in a cult and only having an 8th-grade education hasn’t been easy,” Remini wrote. “But I took my first NYU final exams this week, and I’m glad I decided to educate myself.”
“It’s never too late. It’s tough, but it’s worth it,” Remini said.
The former King of Queens star first announced her acceptance to NYU in 2021, explaining that she “desperately wanted a higher education and options in my life.”
She would later earn her associate’s degree in liberal arts in 2024, previously describing the experience as “amazing.”
“It’s been difficult when I’m working because sometimes I’ll work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then have to come home and read chapters and do a quiz when my brain is shutting down,” Remini told PEOPLE back in 2022 of juggling school and life as a wife and mother. “But I’m doing it, and I am proud of myself. With my degree, I might eventually want to go into politics, but who knows? I would like to be of some kind of public service.”
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Renée Zellweger
Oscar-winning actress Renée Zellweger revealed in an interview on Today in 2022 that she took law classes during her Hollywood hiatus from 2010 to 2016.
“I needed to step away and kind of grow as a person and learn some things that were not related to work,” the Bridget Jones franchise star said. “I mean, that’s one of my favorite things about the work, is that you have an opportunity to learn things that you wouldn’t otherwise have occasion to explore. Went to school and just, you know, took some time out and decided I wanted to maybe participate in a different way.”
When former Today co-host Hoda Kotb asked about attending school, Zellweger clarified, “I snuck into UCLA for a little while and did some public policy. International law. Interested in politics.”
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Natalie Portman
In 1999, 18-year-old Natalie Portman enrolled at Harvard University and eventually graduated with a degree in psychology.
“I don’t care if [college] ruins my career … I’d rather be smart than a movie star,” the Black Swan star told Vanity Fair in 2016, adding, “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 continued, “My dad pulled me aside when I was 25 and was like, ‘I think it’s time for you to go to law school or grad school.’ Not that he 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.’ ”
Fun fact: Portman was a senior at the university when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook; she graduated from Harvard in 2003, the same year she appeared in Cold Mountain alongside Nicole Kidman and Zellweger.
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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
After spending most of their childhood in front of the camera, Full House alums Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen retired from acting, focusing on their education and growing their fashion empire. In 2004, the famous twins graduated from L.A.’s Campbell Hall School and enrolled in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.
“Like every other senior, they had been sweating out their acceptance, and they are absolutely thrilled,” their former longtime publicist, Michael Pagnotta, told PEOPLE in 2003. “They have always taken academics very seriously. This is a major achievement for them.”
However, their time at the school was brief, as the New York Minute stars decided to leave school to “pursue personal interests.” In 2006, the duo launched their luxury brand, The Row.
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Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster started as a superstar model when she was a toddler and became the face of Coppertone sunscreen in 1965 when she was just 3 years old. The campaign’s success helped launch the filmmaker’s prolific career, leading to her first movie role at 9 in the 1972 film Napoleon and Samantha.
By the time Foster was ready for college, she had already appeared in nearly 30 films and TV movies, including Taxi Driver, which earned the actress her first Oscar nomination at age 14.
So, was there any doubt that the prodigy was Ivy League-bound?
In 1980, Foster enrolled at Yale University and earned her bachelor’s degree in literature.
“I hung out with people I thought were unique, nonconformist, substantially complex … I had my first and last bout with tequila. I did ska dances in the street, water-ballooned singing groups, philosophized and talked dirty until five in the morning,” Foster wrote in a 1982 essay for Esquire, opening up about her experience at Yale. “The control I’d had all those years was self-imposed and alienating.”
Even as she was studying at one of the most prestigious schools in the world, she made the occasional film, turning out five movies while she was a Bulldog.
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Miranda Cosgrove
Since she was first discovered in a restaurant while singing, Miranda Cosgrove’s life has been a whirlwind of events. After a bit of modeling and a few minor roles, she got her big break in the role of Summer Hathaway with the 2003 megahit School of Rock. Cosgrove would become a household name thanks to leading roles on Drake & Josh and iCarly, making her Nickelodeon’s “It Girl” of the early 2000s.
She later took a break from her nonstop schedule for a little “me time” and enrolled at UCLA in 2012. There, she studied psychology, but that wasn’t always her major.
During a 2017 interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan (now Live with Kelly and Mark), the actress revealed she originally majored in film.
“I keep switching it up,” Cosgrove said. “My dad did psychology at USC too, but he owns a dry-cleaning business, but he still says he uses it all the time.”
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America Ferrera
America Ferrera began her acting career around the same time she started her academic career at the University of Southern California — Los Angeles (USC), landing roles in 2002 in Disney’s Gotta Kick It Up! and Real Women Have Curves.
Before she was set to begin her freshman year at USC, Ferrera was offered a starring role on the ABC sitcom Ugly Betty in 2002. She took the gig, putting her education on hold and vowing to return to her studies.
She did just that in 2008, one year after earning an Emmy and Golden Globe in 2007 for her performance as Betty Suarez. The Barbie star graduated in 2013 with a degree in international relations, per USCDornsife.
In a 2018 interview with Reese Witherspoon for Hello Sunshine, Ferrera talked about her unconventional career path.
“When I came to college, I already had the incredible opportunity to act in Real Woman Have Curves, which was my first feature film,” she said. “Because I had started working as an actress, I decided not to do acting school and study something that — I didn’t realize at the time — but had always equally been so important to me, which was learning about the world around me.”
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Swizz Beatz
Hip-hop producer and artist Swizz Beatz (born Kasseem Dean) is best known for his work in the studio, creating hits for Beyoncé, DMX and Jay-Z. Yet despite his mega success and multiple Grammy wins, the entrepreneur and husband of Alicia Keys wanted to sharpen his leadership and business skills.
He turned to one of the best institutions in the country to help boost his already impressive skill set.
In 2017, the “Party Up (Up in Here)” hitmaker posted on Instagram, “Today I will become a Harvard alumni, and although I’m not getting an MBA, no one can EVER take this accomplishment away from me.”
According to Billboard, he graduated from Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program. The leadership program is designed for execs and entrepreneurs to bolster their business skills.
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Shaquille O’Neal
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal started his career at Louisiana State University (LSU) but left after three years to turn pro. He promised his parents that he would eventually graduate and made good on that promise in 2000 when he earned his bachelor’s degree from LSU after seven summers of hard work.
“I leave school, I get $40 million, I get $100 million, I get $80 million. But I’m getting calls once a week. ‘Yeah, you’re doing movies, you’re doing albums, but you promised me you’d go back to school.’ I never like to let my mom down, so I went,” O’Neal said in 2021 on an episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger podcast (via Shaq Fu Radio).
Never one to turn away from a challenge, the former Lakers star continued his education by pursuing an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate from Barry University, according to Benzinga.
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Emma Watson
After taking a break from acting, Emma Watson enrolled at Brown University in 2009 and graduated with a degree in English Literature in 2014.
Like her alter ego, Hermione, the Harry Potter star couldn’t stay away from academia for long. In 2023, she enrolled in a master’s program in creative writing at Oxford University, and in 2025, Oxford Mail reported she was pursuing her doctorate. Watson previously attended the prestigious school during the 2011-12 academic year as part of the Visiting Student Program.
The Little Women actress stated that her move away from acting was in the interest of her well-being and that, over the years, she felt that the film industry was not quite right for her anymore.
“What I found really hard was having to go out and promote something that I had no control over. Feeling like I had to be the spokesperson for something I wasn’t fully involved in was challenging,” Watson told Hello! in 2023.
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Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2011, choosing to perfect his craft in the classroom rather than on the big screen.
In 2014, he told The New Yorker, “A film like The Sixth Sense burns an image of who you are into people’s minds. In the midst of that, it can be difficult to know who you are or who you are becoming. College seemed like a manageable next step, a place where I could figure that stuff out.”
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Bridgit Mendler
Former Disney Channel star and pop singer Bridgit Mendler combined a little good luck and a lot of brains to graduate from Harvard Law School with her law degree in 2024.
Her official LinkedIn profile states that she began attending Harvard in 2021 for her Doctor of Law (J.D.) degree.
The “Hurricane” singer also has a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was pursuing a Ph.D. from the same university before going on leave.
In 2024, Mendler spoke about her academic studies in a message shared on X (formerly Twitter).
“It came to my attention that something on my LinkedIn profile is causing confusion that I want to clarify: I am 2 months away from a JD and I don’t already have a PhD,” she wrote, adding, “The PhD is something I started working towards in 2020 and I pursued it jointly with my law degree but when I moved to California last summer and decided that for family reasons we would stay on the west coast, it had to go on pause.”
The Good Luck Charlie star is the CEO and co-founder of Northwood Space, “a startup working to create a “data highway between Earth and space.”
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Mayim Bialik
Sometimes, life imitates art, and art imitates life.
After starring as the titular character on the sitcom Blossom, Mayim Bialik traded her scripts for science texts. In 2000, the Beaches star got her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with a minor in Hebrew and Jewish studies. Bialik would continue her education at the university, graduating with a doctorate in neuroscience in 2007.
However, she wasn’t quite done with acting. After a 12-year break, Bialik discovered that being a scientist might have been her dream, but it came with a few challenges.
In a 2018 interview with SiriusXM, the actress explained why she took the role of Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS series The Big Bang Theory.
“I was running out of health insurance. That’s a true story,” Bialik said. “I had my first child in grad school, and I took my doctoral hood when I was seven and a half months pregnant, and I was running out of health insurance. I had a newborn, pretty much, and a toddler — and I figured if I can just work … even a couple jobs can get you your Screen Actors Guild health insurance.”
She added, “I have never seen The Big Bang Theory. Didn’t know what it was. I was asked to audition for a guest spot, possibly a recurring role. I didn’t watch TV. I was too busy nursing humans. It was a wonderful, wonderful accident.”
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Karlie Kloss
Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss decided to spread her wings in 2015 when she opted to return to her studies and attend NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Kloss received a helping hand from alum and fellow model Turlington to get into the prestigious school.
“I was waiting for the mail to arrive every single day,” the model told Vogue in 2015. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.”
She added, “I’ll still be working full-time. I’m incredibly ambitious and have lots of goals within my career that I’m not slowing down on anytime soon.”
Since her school days, Kloss has been busy with her growing family, entrepreneurial endeavors and activism, including founding Kode with Klossy, a free coding camp for young girls.
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Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields has been a professional model since she was an infant in Ivory Soap ads. Ever since she made her film debut at 9 years old in the 1974 TV movie After the Fall, she practically grew up in the public eye, working nonstop and even appearing on the cover of PEOPLE at 13.
However, when the time came for college, The Blue Lagoon star put her career on hold in 1983 to attend Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in French literature, according to Princeton Alumni Weekly.
“The first place I ever really felt confidence was at Princeton,” Shields said during her book tour in 2025, per the alumni magazine. “This was the first place that I felt the freedom to understand my own thoughts. And I think that that’s a luxury, and that’s a gift.”
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Oprah Winfrey
While it may have been risky for Oprah Winfrey to drop out of Tennessee State University to pursue media, it paid off. The former talk show host later returned in 1986 to finish her degree in communications and performing arts.
During her commencement address at her alma mater in 2023, the media mogul commented on the irony of receiving her long-awaited degree while she was already established in her storied career.
She revealed her father, Vernon Winfrey, pushed her to go back to school, always asking her, “When you going to get that degree?”
In 1988, the Daytime Emmy winner submitted a few of her daytime shows and a paper to snag her final credit.
“So I got my degree from Tennessee State, right around the time I got my third Emmy,” Oprah said, per ABC24 Memphis.
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Ashley Judd
It may have taken 17 years, but Ashley Judd graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in French. Though she began her education in earnest, Judd left school just one course short of earning her degree to pursue a career in acting, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The Double Jeopardy actress graduated with a degree in Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2010.
In 2016, Judd revealed she was accepted into UC Berkeley’s Ph.D. program in public policy.
“I have decided to take the next step in my academic journey,” Judd told fans in a video shared on Facebook. “Sometimes, I’m really excited, sometimes I’m like, ‘What have I gotten myself into?!’ I’m very esteemed and honored that they accepted me.”
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Dylan and Cole Sprouse
Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse started in showbiz when they were young, sharing roles in 1999 films such as Big Daddy and The Astronaut’s Wife. Cole then moved on to TV with a recurring role on Friends before he and his twin brother, Dylan, landed the Disney Channel show The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which turned the duo into superstars.
After Disney, both enrolled at New York University and graduated in 2015. Known for their off-kilter humor, the twosome’s shenanigans didn’t stop just because they were graduating, as the twins admitted that they switched places during the ceremony.
“We actually received each other’s diplomas,” Cole told Teen Vogue in 2015.
Dylan added, “In fact, if you look up my graduating photo you’ll see. We just decided, you know, there’s no reason not to. No one’s going to notice.”
Since their graduation, the Sprouse siblings have pursued different paths on their career journey. Cole has continued acting, playing Jughead Jones on Riverdale and starring in the 2025 crime thriller The Rivals of Amziah King alongside Matthew McConaughey and Kurt Russell.
Dylan has secured roles here and there, but he’s also branched out into other endeavors as the co-founder of the All-Wise Meadery.
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Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue began her career in 1985 with The Karate Kid when she was 20. At the time, she was enrolled at Harvard but left before graduating to pursue her acting career.
Following her star-making turn as Ali — the love interest of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) — Shue went on to star in many films, including Adventures of Babysitting (1987), Back to the Future II (1989), Back to the Future III (1990) and Leaving Las Vegas (1995), for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress.
However, in 2000, the actress decided to finish her education and returned to complete her degree, earning a bachelor’s in political science.
“Graduating was the greatest achievement of my life so far, apart from being a mom,” Shue told The Morning Call in 2005.
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Julia Stiles
Julia Stiles was only 15 when she made her big screen debut in 1996’s I Love You, I Love You Not, and just 17 when the 1999 teen rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You went into production, per Yahoo Entertainment. However, the Save the Last Dance actress didn’t let superstardom get in the way of her education.
Stiles studied English literature at Columbia University while making films like 2002’s The Bourne Identity and hosting Saturday Night Live.
When asked how she managed to juggle it all, Stiles told Rolling Stone in 2001, “I think about that all the time, I really do. Somehow, I just do it. But college will help me as an actress because it makes me more interesting.
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Dakota Fanning
Gifted at a young age, Dakota Fanning’s first role at 7 years old earned her accolades and praise right out of the gate. For her role as Lucy in 2001’s I Am Sam, she became the youngest actress ever nominated for a SAG Award.
Fanning became an actress in high demand thanks to roles in films such as 2003’s The Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers and 2005’s War of the Worlds, opposite Tom Cruise. However, when the moment came to consider college, the Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood star decided to pause her career to focus on her education.
According to Backstage, Fanning pursued a degree from the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she majored in women’s studies, focusing on “the portrayal of women in film and culture.”
During an appearance on the Today show in 2018, Fanning said it took her a bit longer to graduate, but that “it’s something that’s important” to her.
“I know I’ll be happy when I accomplish it,” she said.
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Yara Shahidi
What’s cooler? Being accepted to Harvard University or getting Michelle Obama to write you a letter of recommendation? Well, Yara Shahidi didn’t have to choose.
The Black-ish and Grown-ish star — who played a college student on the latter series — initially deferred her acceptance to the Ivy League school for a year to work on a few projects but enrolled in Harvard in 2017. The actress entered the school’s Social Studies & African American Studies program, focusing on “Black political thought under a neocolonial landscape.”
Shahidi graduated in 2022, telling Vogue, “It’s surreal to have finally hit this major milestone. I’ve known I wanted to go to college since I was four. By 17, I knew exactly what I wanted to study, so to see that come to fruition is a goal fulfilled.”
She hosts The Optimist Project with Yara Shahidi podcast with her mother, Keri Shahidi, and is the co-founder of 7th Sun Productions.
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Claire Danes
Claire Danes made a lasting impression on most Gen-Xers with her turn as Angela Chase on the short-lived but much-beloved TV series My So-Called Life. Followed by a memorable performance as Juliet in the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, Danes quickly became an A-lister.
In 1998, the superstar attended Yale, where she briefly studied psychology. However, Danes didn’t finish her degree, opting to leave after two years.
During an interview with Howard Stern in 2018, Danes said that her time at the Ivy League “felt sufficient,” adding, “Mostly I just, like, smoked pot and played Mario Tennis with my friends.”
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Poppy Harlow
Former longtime CNN anchor Poppy Harlow stepped away from her dream job to pursue another goal: attending law school. In 2021, she announced she was stepping away from the network to further her education.
“Starting next week, I will be taking a break from being with you every morning on this show so that I can go back to school. Yes, school! I’m going to study law for a master’s degree,” Harlow said during a segment on Newsroom, per CNN. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
The journalist said her late father, intellectual property litigator James Harlow, and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired her decision to advance her legal knowledge.
Harlow went on to earn a master’s degree in studies of law from Yale Law School in 2022 after previously receiving her bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University in 2005.
In 2024, Harlow departed from CNN as the main anchor of This Morning, writing on Instagram, “I loved every moment @cnn ❤️” alongside a series of photos, including a quote from TV producer Ted Turner.
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Anna Paquin
One of the youngest Academy Award winners of all time, thanks to her performance in The Piano at age 11, Anna Paquin already had an Oscar under her belt when she enrolled at Columbia University in 2001. While at the school, the True Blood star studied English and French literature but decided to drop out to focus more on her acting career.
Paquin’s time as a student might have been short, but while at Columbia, her famous classmates included Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
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Nick Cannon
At 35, Nick Cannon decided it was time to finish his formal education and enrolled as a freshman at Howard University in 2016. The Masked Singer host shared his academic journey with fans on social media as he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology/administration of justice with a minor in African studies.
When he graduated in 2020, the multihyphenate was given a chance to speak at the virtual ceremony, during which he expressed his gratitude.
“I am always seeking new challenges and continual growth and decided to obtain my first college degree from an institution that has a proven legacy of producing great minds,” Cannon said in a video the university posted on Instagram. “I have friends, mentors and colleagues who attended Howard University. I look forward to this new journey in my life and am excited about the possibilities ahead.”
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Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks proved she was at the top of the class in 2012 when she graduated from the Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program.
“Smilin’ ear-to-ear on the Harvard Business School campus with my diploma! Tnx to my fab photographer mama for the pic!” Banks shared on Facebook.
In addition to pursuing a business degree from one of the top schools in the country, the former America’s Next Top Model host also enrolled in culinary school, but for far more personal reasons.
“I have never been one to be very excited about cooking. I put all of my energy into my work and to succeeding, so instead of cooking, I eat at restaurants all the time, order in, or defrost frozen food in my microwave. That all changed the day my son was born,” wrote Banks on Instagram in 2016 about her decision to attend the Culinary Institute of America.
Alongside a photo of herself wearing a chef’s jacket, Banks continued in the caption, “I want to be his chef. I want him to go to college and miss his MOMMY’S masterpieces.”
She later taught a class in 2017 at Stanford Business School that focused on using social and traditional media to one’s advantage, according to Forbes.
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt
When Levitt enrolled at Columbia University in 2001, he was already super-famous for his roles in 10 Things I Hate About You and on 3rd Rock from the Sun.
In 2016, the Emmy-winning actor recounted why he initially gave up acting to attend college and his return to the industry.
“I quit acting for a while because I’d always loved acting, but all my friends were, as you say, kinda going off and getting started in a way. Saying like, ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to be?’ And I wanted that. I wanted to not know what I was going to do,” Levitt said during an interview on Off Camera with Sam Jones. “That was important to me — to get to ask myself those questions and give myself that fresh start.”
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Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria began her acting career after navigating collegiate life. Before landing her first roles on daytime soaps, Eva Longoria had already earned her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Texas A&M University–Kingsville in 2003.
Longoria returned to school, receiving a master’s degree in Chicano and Chicana Studies from California State University of Northridge (CSUN) in 2013 — all while filming Desperate Housewives.
The actress and Flamin’ Hot director celebrated her achievement on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “In my cap and gown with mom and dad! I look like Harry Potter!”
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Steven Spielberg
Would you believe that USC rejected Steven Spielberg from their film school when he first applied? The E.T. (1982) director couldn’t get into the prestigious university due to his grades, so he enrolled in California State University of Long Beach (CSULB) in 1965, focusing on English. However, after impressing bigwigs at Universal with his short film Amblin’, Spielberg put his education aside in 1968 for a career in filmmaking.
He returned to CSULB in 2001, where, long after becoming a legendary director, he wrote the paper for his Natural Science 492 class that he needed to graduate. This allowed him to earn that one missing credit and thus complete his requirements for his Bachelor of Arts.
Per the Los Angeles Times, Spielberg graduated in 2002 — 37 years (and two Oscar wins later) after he first enrolled!
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Georgia May Jagger
Daughter of The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and model Jerry Hall, Georgia May Jagger was already making a name for herself as a model when she enrolled at the New York School of Visual Arts in 2010, where she studied photography.
“I didn’t want to miss out on my education to model. I can’t do just modeling,” she told Teen Vogue in 2011.
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Bryce Dallas Howard
While celebrating her graduation from NYU in 2020, actress Bryce Dallas Howard revealed she left school before graduating in 2001 because she got an Off-Broadway acting job.
“I fully intended on graduating one day,” she reportedly wrote in a note to fellow Tisch Drama graduates. “In fact, I continually deferred the following semester and the semesters after that, hoping that instead of ‘dropping out,’ I was simply taking a ‘leave of absence.’ Again, and again and again.”
However, Howard — who married her college sweetheart, Seth Gabel, in 2006 and has “two awesome kids” — stressed that she never lost her goal of getting her degree.
“I wasn’t at all intimidated by the fact I would be decades older than the majority of graduates,” said the Jurassic World franchise actress. “My husband and I did the math and realized that many babies born the year I first started NYU were probably graduating alongside me, which made me even more excited. How wild, how weird, and what a great story.”
Howard wrote on Instagram on commencement day: “I am so overcome with joy. This has been 21 years in the making.”
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James Franco
James Franco nabbed his undergraduate degree from UCLA in 2008. In 2011, he moved to N.Y.C. to attend Columbia University’s MFA writing program, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking and Brooklyn College for fiction writing — all before enrolling in Yale’s Ph.D. program.
During his commencement speech at Cornell University’s Senior Convocation in 2016, the Hey Joe (2024) star admitted he felt “trapped” as an actor, and education opened new doors for him, thus allowing him to grow as a person, per TIME.
“After going back to school, I studied all the things I was interested in with incredible people in each of those fields,” Franco said. “And now I not only act, I do, well, I do everything. Well, not really, but I do everything that I’m interested in. Well, almost everything. I probably could have said ‘no’ to that hosting the Oscars thing. But the point I’m making is that because I pursue what interests me and excites me, my life is mine to control.”
Source: People
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