Jessica Alba: I don't want to be stay-at-home mom
He is a comedian, writer, TV host and producer, but what many people don’t know is that Conan O’Brien graduated from Harvard University in 1985, where he even wrote for a campus humor magazine. And he is not the only celebrity who went to class at some of the most prestigious universities. Check out some other stars who attended Ivy League schools.
After spending a year teaching English in Costa Rica, John Krasinski went to Brown University. Before graduating, he got an internship on ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’. John graduated in 2001 as a playwright, with honors.
Portman got a degree in psychology from Harvard and told the New York Post once that she was considering leaving showbiz to become a vet or clinical psychologist. The actress said, “I don’t care if college ruins my career. I’d rather be smart than a movie star.”
Emma Watson’s decision to attend Brown University caused quite the stir in 2009. Since then, she took a brief leave of absence to focus on her acting career, but returned to finish her degree this year.
Before winning an Academy Award and earning his spot among Hollywood’s top box-office success stories, Matt Damon took a stab at academia. The Bourne trilogy star attended Harvard University for almost four years before ultimately deciding to drop out in 1992 in favor of pursuing his acting career in Los Angeles. While a student, he studied English and participated in student theater.
Amanda Peet graduated from Columbia with a degree in history. But after taking an acting class with legendary acting coach Uta Hagen, she knew she wanted to become an actress.
Stiles earned a bachelor’s in English Literature from Columbia and even won the John Jay Award in 2010 which is given out to five alums by the Columbia College Alumni Association.
The actor attended Yale University, where he was a competitive rower and acted in university productions alongside Ron Livingston and Paul Giamatti, graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. Following graduation, Norton worked in Osaka, Japan, consulting for his grandfather’s company, Enterprise Community Partners, so he also speaks Japanese.
Paul Giamatti studied at Yale University at the same time as Edward Norton, while he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree.
Meryl Streep is widely considered one of the most distinguished actresses of all time, and she’s also impressively smart: After attending Vassar College, she continued onto the Yale School of Drama to receive a Masters of Fine Arts in 1975.
Duchovny not only graduated from Princeton with a bachelor’s in English Literature, he also went to Yale to work on a PhD though that achievement is still not finished. And he also wrote poetry that was even given an honorable mention college prize from the Academy of American Poets.
Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones also spent plenty of time at Harvard, graduating from the prestigious Cambridge, Massachusetts, university in 1997. The actress studied religion and philosophy during days as a student, but was also involved in a number of on-campus theater groups.
After graduating from UCLA with an English degree and then from NYU and Columbia with an MFA, box-office star James Franco is currently in the process of earning his doctorate at Yale. Despite his busy Hollywood schedule, education-addicted James still makes his Ivy League studies a priority.
Elizabeth Banks graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. While in school, she was active in the Greek scene, as a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. She met her husband, Max Handleman, on their first day of classes at the university.
