The 20 Most Educated Actors And The Degrees They Hold

Celebrities With Surprising College Degrees – The Most Educated Actors & The Degrees They Hold - Explored Planet
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Celebrities With Surprising College Degrees – The Most Educated Actors & The Degrees They Hold
Emily Izsak | Trending | 2 Mar 2026
It doesn't seem fair for one person to have beauty, fame, and fortune, while so many of us are wishing for just one! These successful stars prove that they not only have acting chops but other college degrees that they've earned, too.
What path these big stars could have ended up on, had they followed their college degree? Were you surprised to learn about these celebrities and their educational backgrounds?
Shaq Is Quite The Academic
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Shaquille O'Neal may be best known for his four NBA championship titles and for his role as a member of the 1996 gold-medal placing USA men's basketball team, but his impressive streak doesn't end there. Shaq also has an Ed.D in Human Resource Development from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.
Shaq earned his doctorate one year after retiring from the NBA. His doctoral capstone paper is titled, "The Duality of Humor and Aggression in Leadership Styles."
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Will Ferrell Is A USC Graduate
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Will Ferrell graduated from the University of Southern California in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Information. In 2017, Ferrell received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the same school.
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The sports information program actually no longer exists. Ferrell was invited to deliver the graduating class commencement speech at the university in 2017 where he said, "Yes, you heard me, sports information. A program so difficult, so arduous, that they discontinued it eight years after I left. Those of us with sports information degrees are an elite group. We’re like the Navy Seals of USC graduates. There are very few of us, and there was a high dropout rate."
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Ashley Judd Earned Her Master's In Public Administration From Harvard University
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Actress Ashley Judd won over fans of country music and then took on the big screen. During her formative years, Judd says her childhood was a bit of a mess and that she attended thirteen different schools in 12 years. Despite a lot of educational turmoil, Judd eventually landed at the University of Kentucky where she majored in French.
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Judd missed her own graduation, instead choosing to leave for the Peace Corps. Following her volunteer time, Judd decided to pursue a Master of Public Administration degree from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University.
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Sacha Baron Cohen Graduated From Cambridge
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Sacha Baron Cohen rose to fame in the '90s, breaking through to mainstream success for his creation and portrayal of Ali G, an uneducated and jungle music-obsessed character. Since then, Cohen has become a staple of the Hollywood scene, playing ridiculous characters like Borat.
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It might surprise you to know that London-born Cohen attended a private school before going to one of the most prestigious colleges in England, Christ's College in Cambridge. He graduated with an upper-second-class degree in History, while also being a part of the university's dramatic society. It's hard to imagine him being serious, isn't it?
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Ashton Kutcher Has A Bachelor's In Biochemical Engineering
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No, we aren't punking you. Ashton Kutcher may be one of the funniest people in entertainment, but that doesn't mean he's short on knowledge (people often mistake him for an airhead). The multi-talented star attended the University of Iowa where he graduated in 1996.
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He earned his degree in Biochemical Engineering, which is one of the harder majors to study. He hoped to find a cure for his brother's heart disease. Talk about a jack of all trades!
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J. Cole Has A Bachelor's In Communications
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J. Cole, the rapper that Jay-Z famously signed first to his label Roc Nation, has all the talent and smarts. J. Cole (Jermain Cole) attended St. Johns University in New York while chasing his music dreams. In his downtime, Cole would make music and do performances on the campus, all while he was the president of the BSU (Black Student Union).
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Cole graduated in 2007 summa cum laude while majoring in Communications and minoring in business. He didn't get his degree until 2015, however, because he owed some money for a missing library book.
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Danica McKellar: Mathematics
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While many of the celebrities on our list earned their college degrees and then became movie and TV stars, Danica McKellar went in the opposite direction.
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The Wonder Years star finished her incredibly popular TV show and then attended the University of California. During her time at the university, she earned a degree in Mathematics. McKellar co-authors the scientific paper titled, "Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Two Dimensions, or Z2."
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Bradley Cooper Has A Bachelor's In English
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The stud, the myth, and the legend Bradley Cooper is also very in tune with the English language. He went to Georgetown University and was very interested in the readings he was assigned in all his classes. Cooper was brought to immediate joy when GQ asked him about his first encounter with Paradise Lost .
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It sounds like he was very passionate about this degree and even admitted to crying tears while reading Romeo and Juliet in the campus library.
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Bad Religion Singer Greg Graffin Has A Ph.D. in Zoology
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Bad Religion's Greg Graffin was only 15 years old when he co-founded the SoCal punk group. While Graffin continued to support his bandmates he also earned a double major from UCLA where he studied anthropology and geology. Graffin then remained at the school for his master's degree.
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Years later, already as a bonafide rockstar, Graffin attended Cornell University where he earned his P.h.D. in Zoology. Graffin's doctorate thesis is titled "Evolution, Monism, Atheism, and the Naturalist World-View: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology."
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Supermodel Christy Turlington Has A Master's In Public Health From Columbia
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Christy Turlington rose to fame as a supermodel and now she's a fashion icon. She's also the owner of a Master's Degree in public health. Turlington rose to fame at just 17 years old when she appeared in the Duran Duran music video for the single "Notorious."
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After years atop the fashion world, Turlington turned her focus back to education, graduating cum laude from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study of NYU in 1999, where she earned a B.A. in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. Later, she would earn her Master’s Degree in Public Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She now actively uses her higher degree and celebrity to promote women's health initiatives all over the world.
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'The Rock' Double Majored
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It's a well-known fact among his fans that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson played football at the University of Miami, but did you know he graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies degree in criminolog…

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