From Lisa Kudrow to “Weird Al” Yankovic, these stars have studied everything from biology to architecture

Many of Hollywood’s most recognizable figures have college degrees in subjects that seemingly have nothing to do with show business.

Some like Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Friends alum Lisa Kudrow graduated from university before becoming famous. Others, including NBA legend Michael Jordan, went back to school after achieving global stardom.

With expertise in subjects ranging from biology and law to astrophysics, architecture and archaeology, here are 28 celebrities whose college degrees might surprise you.

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Chris Martin

Martin formed Coldplay while studying at University College London.

After graduating with degrees in Latin and Greek, Martin and his bandmates released their debut album, Parachutes, in 2000.

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Gemma Chan

Gemma Chan earned a law degree from the University of Oxford’s Worcester College. After graduating, she deferred an offer from a law firm to pursue acting and went on to study at the Drama Centre London.

“At the beginning, the question was very much, ‘Will I be able to make a living? Will I be able to survive doing this job?’ I would do anything — bit parts, one-line parts,” she recalled to Harper’s Bazaar U.K. in July 2022.

03 of 28

J. Cole

Rapper J. Cole earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from St. John’s University in New York in 2007 and graduated magna cum laude, per Interview Magazine.

However, due to an overdue library book, Cole didn’t actually receive his diploma until April 2015, when he returned to his alma mater for a concert.

“Tonight, I guess they let me slide,” he joked at the time, per The Village Voice.

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Connie Britton

Friday Night Lights star Connie Britton graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies in 1989.

While there, the actress studied abroad in Beijing, where she roomed with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

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Dolph Lundgren

Long before he became an action hero, Dolph Lundgren earned his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, per his website.

He was then awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he planned to continue studying — until he met Grace Jones, who encouraged him to become an actor.

“It was insane when I think back,” Lundgren told the Irish Times in November 2018. “But I had this feeling that I didn’t want to be a chemical engineer. That it wasn’t going to be enough for me.”

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Lisa Kudrow

Before Friends, Kudrow planned on becoming a biologist. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Vassar College in 1985.

In May 2026, the actress explained during a panel hosted by the school that majoring in science had proven useful to her acting career, “because it’s all about finding things out.”

“It gave me some of the tools I needed, and Phoebe Buffay took me the rest of the way,” she added.

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Dexter Holland

Dexter Holland of The Offspring enrolled in the University of Southern California with the hopes of becoming a doctor someday.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences in 1988 and his master’s degree in molecular biology in 1990, per the school’s website.

Years later, Holland returned to USC to finish his dissertation and earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2017.

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Rebel Wilson

Rebel Wilson has bachelor’s degrees from the University of New South Wales in theater and law.

In May 2022, she explained that the idea to become an actress came to her during a trip to Africa.

“I took like a gap year between high school and college and I went to Africa for the year,” she said during an appearance on Today. “Got malaria really, really badly and I hallucinated that I was an actress and that I was really good.”

Wilson went on, “I come back to Australia and said, ‘Guys I’ll go to law school as well, but I think I’ve got to pursue acting too because I had the vision.’ ”

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“Weird Al” Yankovic

“Weird Al” Yankovic got his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cal Poly, but it’s not the only skill he honed in college.

While at school, the comedian also worked as a DJ for the student radio station, KCPR. He even recorded his hit parody track “My Bologna” in the bathroom across the hall from the studio, per KCLU.

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Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington had an acting scholarship to George Washington University, but she didn’t actually major in acting.

Instead, the Scandal star created her own personalized major, with a focus on anthropology, sociology and psychology, according to GW Magazine.

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Peter Weller

Robocop star Peter Weller earned his master’s degree in Roman and Renaissance art from Syracuse University and went on to get his Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2014.

In August 2023, he and his wife, Shari, donated $150,000 to UCLA to establish the Weller Family Graduate Art History Research Fund, per UCLA Humanities.

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Eddie Redmayne

Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne got his bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Cambridge and wrote his dissertation on Yves Klein and his namesake color, Klein blue.

“I’m color-blind, but I can pick out that blue anywhere,” Redmayne told W Magazine in April 2013.

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Aisha Tyler

Comedian, actor and The Talk alum Aisha Tyler has a degree in political science from Dartmouth College.

Tyler planned to study law after graduation, but ultimately chose to focus on show business.

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Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones was former Vice President Al Gore‘s roommate at Harvard University, where the actor got his bachelor’s degree in English literature.

According to Harvard, Jones wrote an honors English thesis on Flannery O’Connor and graduated cum laude.

15 of 28

Maggie Rogers

In 2016, singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers graduated from New York University with bachelor’s degrees in music engineering and English.

Six years later, she earned her master’s degree in religion and public life from Harvard Divinity School, with her 2022 album Surrender serving as part of her thesis.

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David Duchovny

David Duchovny got his bachelor’s degree in English literature from Princeton University and his master’s degree in the same subject from Yale University.

In March 2009, he told the Yale Daily News that he was originally interested in writing for TV and film, however he “wanted to know what it was like to speak the words.”

“So I started hanging around the Drama School like a stray dog and sat in on classes,” he explained.

Duchovny left Yale for L.A. in 1988, leaving his unfinished Ph.D. dissertation behind.

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Mira Sorvino

Mira Sorvino graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies in 1990. She lived in China for eight months during her studies and speaks Mandarin.

“None of this would have happened if I had just gone straight to Hollywood,” she told The Harvard Crimson in April 2002. “I’m so happy I didn’t.”

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Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell studied sports broadcasting at the University of Southern California, but he also took some acting classes while there.

“I set upon this road of going to these journalism classes,” he recalled during an interview at USC in March 2023. “But I just loved making my friends laugh.”

19 of 28

Ben McKenzie

Ben McKenzie graduated from the University of Virginia in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and foreign affairs. He got his big break just two years later as Ryan Atwood in The O.C.

Years later, he used his background in economics to write his 2023 book Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud and to make his 2026 documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money.

20 of 28

Michael Jordan

NBA legend Jordan left the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984, a year before his scheduled graduation, so that he could enter the NBA draft.

Two years later, he returned to UNC to complete his bachelor’s degree in geography.

21 of 28

Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire got her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1976.

She released her first single, “I Don’t Want to Be a One-Night Stand,” in January of that same year.

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Rowan Atkinson

Before Rowan Atkinson found international fame as Mr. Bean, he studied electrical engineering, earning his bachelor’s degree from Newcastle University and his master’s degree from the University of Oxford.

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Rooney Mara

Rooney Mara spent her freshman year of college at George Washington University before transferring to NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she created her own major. She studied psychology and nonprofits.

“I was just so uninspired in a regular classroom,” she recalled to Vogue in January 2013.

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Kumail Nanjiani

Kumail Nanjiani has bachelor’s degrees in computer science and philosophy from Grinnell College.

In October 2009, the Silicon Valley alum told the The New York Times that philosophy is “funnier than you’d think.”

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Milo Aukerman

Descendents frontman Milo Aukerman has a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of California, San Diego.

He juggled his careers in music and biochemistry until 2016, when he was laid off from his job at Dupont, per Spin.

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Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has a bachelor’s degree in metaphysics from Fordham University, where she also studied philosophy.

“I loved being around people who wondered why we were here,” she told Electronic Beats of her classmates in June 2013.

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Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie majored in economics at Tuskegee University, then known as Tuskegee Institute, where he had a tennis scholarship. When his band, the Commodores, went on tour with the Jackson 5, Richie had to withdraw from his studies.

“I returned four years later, with a No. 1 record with the Commodores, and I went back to school and finished that last year,” he told The Harvard Gazette in December 2011.

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Danica McKellar

The Wonder Years alum Danica McKellar got her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UCLA in 1998 and has written several non-fiction books about math in the years since.

“I needed to find out how I was valuable outside of [my character] Winnie Cooper,” she told Entertainment Tonight in August 2022. “Math was challenging and I did well at it.”

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