Most surpisingly smart Hollywood celebrities

Jennifer Lawrence is a dolt

Zachary Quinto was pretty good on Jeopardy

B-Coop - smart enough to fool the world into thinking he's straight

Mick Jagger is very smart but not a Hollywood celebrity So is Brian May of Queen.

Definitely not G. She still has to figure out how to get an Oscar.

Lisa Kudrow graduated with a degree in biology and worked in research concerning headaches.

Why is it surprising that Emma Watson is smart?

Brooke Shields (Princeton) Jodie Foster (Yale) Matt Damon (Harvard)

Snooki has a degree in Astrophysics from Self-Tanner University.

R7 Because she can't act.

How is JLaw smart? She comes off as an imbecile in her interviews.

Ashton Kutcher dropped out of his local state school. Is that all it takes to be "surprisingly smart"?!?!

Jake Gyllenhall isn't "surprisingly" smart. Just smart.

R11 JLAW graduated two years early from high school with high scores.

R13 He is neither surprisingly smart, nor just smart. He didn't graduate from university.

Jennifer Lawrence was freakin homeschooled in order to finish highschool. You are impressed by that and call her surprisingly smart?!

[quote]He didn't graduate from university.

Jake G did go to Columbia though, which is an elite college. Of course he was also a legacy since his Mother graduated from there.

Oh so JLaw graduated high school and that makes her smart? High scores or not R14, she is still an imbecile

R12 He was accepted to both MIT and Purdue. Currently he is working as venture capitalist. I'd say it takes some intellect to know which company to fund.

JLaw has the street smarts of a call girl. High school education at best.

Streep went to Vassar and Yale.

Lynda Carter. Beautiful and brains.

JLaw was amazing in Winter's Bone (2010)!!!

However she only finished high school since she was discovered as a very young model. She's acknowledged that she considers her lack of formal education a deficit.

R16 R17 I'd say she is smart in how she developed her career (face it or not, she's the reigning queen of Hollywood and the top bonafide movie star of her generation). She picks good projects, knows how to 'sell' herself (PR schtick or not, her relatable persona is a driving force behind her success) and how to create and maintain beneficial connections in Hollywood. I'd rather be that smart than like that forgotten chick from TBBT who is a neuroscientist and cannot even get an Emmy nod.

There are a lot of people that lack formal education but are still smart R20. JLaw is not one of them. She's an idiot

JLaw has sex for parts. Pretty Woman

R18 -- If Kutcher can fuck then he can be a venture capitalist because both involve hunching.

[quote]He was accepted to both MIT and Purdue.

Lol, He ANTICIPATED acceptances into MIT. More Hollywood bullshit.

[quote]I'd rather be that smart than like that forgotten chick from TBBT who is a neuroscientist and cannot even get an Emmy nod.

But that has nothing to do with this thread. Someone who has a PhD in neuroscience is someone that is legitimately smart and well educated.

Re: Emmas: Watson graduated from Brown but she lacks acting talent, comes off as pretentious and reserved at best, and boring and bland at worst in interviews. She is not charismatic and certainly not charming at all. Meanwhile Emma Stone didn't graduate from any university, yet seems smart and eloquent in interviews, and certainly has bucketloads of charisma and charm. Working with Allen and Crowe was a mistake but she's on a right track to score another Oscar nom and win Golden Globes which Watson will never do.

R25 If she was that smart, she would continue her career in neuroscience instead of committing herself to useless acting career where she clearly lacks good looks and skills.

[quote][R12] He was accepted to both MIT and Purdue. Currently he is working as venture capitalist. I'd say it takes some intellect to know which company to fund.

[quote][Lol, He ANTICIPATED acceptances into MIT. More Hollywood bullshit.

NOPE. Sorry. As much as we hate it, Kutcher is widely known to be a pretty smart, philanthropic and rich as hell (maybe billionaire) pretty boy.

[quote][R13] He is neither surprisingly smart, nor just smart. He didn't graduate from university.

Jake Gyllenhaal was smart enough to continue to pursue his already successful acting career. And it was Columbia University he went to, hardly an epicenter of BigFatStupidHeadism.

I think that Conan O'Brien and Jodie Foster are much more educated and intelligent than those other fellers, maybe Duchovny is a bit similar in education and intelligence, but he also had a very privileged background and of course his good looks always helped. Of course smart is something different than intelligence and education, but still.

R16 Is homeschooling easier than studying in high school? At least you won't get bullied.

Kristen Stewart

Jennifer Lawrence

Ashton Kutcher

Natalie Portman

(One of them is not like the others)

JLaw's has managers that help her make business decisions. She is a braying donkey.

[quote] think that Conan O'Brien and Jodie Foster are much more educated and intelligent than those other fellers,

Conan plays down his smarts. I think I remember him saying really smart people come across pompous and that's not good for comedy.

Natalie Herschlag, Harvard alumni.

Does anyone else notice that really smart actors (Kudrow, Kutcher) are really good at playing the dumbest characters?

Donkey

R16 Finishing high school two years early with 3.9 average is still an impressive feat, homeschooled or not.

No it's not R38. Like another poster said, a lot of people lack formal education but are still smart. JLAw is just a homeschooled imbecile

R38 Oh plueeeeese?? Impressive feat is graduating from Harvard with honors, not finishing a stupid high school!

R36, it's because they're smart enough to observe how stupid people behave. It works the same for assholes who always play sweethearts (Julia Roberts) and sweethearts who always play assholes.

Assholes know how to pretend to be sweet to get what they want, otherwise they wouldn't able to, so they're able emulate that behavior (i.e. the charming sociopath). Nice people are generally tuned into those around them and not stuck in their own world, so they see how other people behave, and they're able to replicate that.

I find it suspect when child actors get into Ivy League schools. It often has little to do with actual intelligence and more to do with the school wanting a high-profile student like that.

I don't think Jodie Foster is really as smart as people make her out to be.

I trust the rankings of people who pursued higher education institutions like that BEFORE they became famous.

R42 Ditto and this is exactly why I find reports of Emma Watson's intellect overrated .

Apparently Quentin Tarantino has IQ as high as Stephen Hawking's.

I am shocked it took so long to mention... SHARON STONE

Ellie Kemper- degree from Princeton

[quote]Apparently Quentin Tarantino has IQ as high as Stephen Hawking's.

And he dropped out of high school.

Edward Norton - went to yale with M, worked in a consulting company and learned how to speak Japanese.

James Franco??? Are you sure? Or is it just fake intellectual sounding babble?

[quote]I'd say she is smart in how she developed her career (facials or not, she's the reigning queen of Hollywood and the top bonafide movie star of her generation)

FTFY

[quote]Edward Norton - went to yale with M

Damn, M looks pretty rough for a woman in her late 40s

A lot of the Ivy grad celebrities were already famous (e.g. Foster, Shields) before they got accepted, which no doubt colored their admissions. They still had to be smart to be able to graduate, so they're far from dumb.

Cindy Crawford was valedictorian of her high school class and did a year of engineering at Northwestern before she left when her modeling career took off.

B. Cooper went to Georgetown, has a Master's and is passably fluent in French.

Personally, I think smart has nothing to do with where you went to college, which in the U.S. is generally a reflection of how affluent your parents were and where you went to high school.

R42, what even qualifies you to have an opinion? You have no idea how they select students from year to year. Do you really think it works like it did in Legally Blonde?

Come on R53, it's called Common Sense.

A high profile student raises the school's profile.

SEE ALSO: JFK Jr., Brown

Why does an Ivy League degree automatically equate to being "intelligent"? Many of these people were accepted because they were already famous (Foster, Shields) or from wealthy, well connected families (Norton).

[quote]Apparently Quentin Tarantino has IQ as high as Stephen Hawking's.

Lol. Stephen Hawking thinks IQ tests are silly bullshit and is outspoken about the fact he has no idea what his IQ is. This is one of those silly internet things.

[quote]I trust the rankings of people who pursued higher education institutions like that BEFORE they became famous.

Indeed. Getting accepted when you are famous is cheating. Someone like Edward Norton who went to an elite college when he was a normal person impresses me way more. Or Meryl who went to Vassay, or Bradley Cooper who went to Georgetown. Those are celebrities who I think their is proof they are legitimately intelligent.

[quote]Personally, I think smart has nothing to do with where you went to college, which in the U.S. is generally a reflection of how affluent your parents were and where you went to high school.

I get what you are saying, but you can't deny it is still a big factor. Elite colleges are tough to get into (as a normal person, lets say you aren't a Bush). You do have to have high standardized test scores and excellent grades, it proves that you have some real intelligence, at least book smarts.

[quote]who I think their

I'll "oh, dear" myself.

Tracee Ellie Ross went to Brown and Rashida Jones went to Harvard. Both women seem intelligent, but having wealthy and famous parents probably helped them out in getting into those schools. I remember several years back Jones said as a teenager she wanted to become a lawyer. But the OJ trial turned her off from the system.

Some of the other celebs who went to Ivy League schools before their acting careers came from wealthy or upper middle class families. Edward Norton and Ellie Kemper's families are wealthy. Kempler's Office co-stars BJ Novak, Mindy Kaling, and John Krasinski attended Ivy League schools and come from upper middle class families. Kaling attended a very prestigious private high school.

Coming from an upper middle family does not get you into top tier colleges though r58. You have to be an impressive applicant, college admissions are competitive as hell.

But yes, being in that type of environment means that your parents are more likely to have given you a good base to succeed from which helps a lot.

r59, That also means they are paying full tuition, and not looking for a scholarship.

The elite private colleges with big endowments have very generous financial aid packages for families that aren't well off actually. If you get into one they will usually be cheaper to go to than your local state school.

But for real world reasons, yes, the vast majority of students at those places are from well off families.

R61, No shit. Every I knows about those endowments. But, the majority of students pay sky high tuition.

Vanessa Bayer went to Penn. But she probably used her teen cancer sob story to get in.

Everyone knows...

Lisa Kudrow seconded.

To be honest - the Gyllenhaals had an in at Columbia through their mother AND their mom's first husband, Eric Foner, a pre-eminent historian at Columbia. But I also think they're smart on their own.

Dolph Lundgren has a degree in chemical engineering and was accepted at MIT.

Is this thread just going to be a boring listing of people's alma maters? There's more to smarts than just degrees.

R68 What criteria would you propose then? We hardly know them apart from their public persona which might be or not true. How they speak in interviews? How they are handling their career?

Geena Davis is a member of Mensa.

How come no one has mentioned me?

Connie Britton

R72 Can you elaborate? I find her sexy as hell. If she's smart, then she's my crush!

George Clooney.

R73 I don't think Connie Britton a lesbian. She has dated men and one of her past boyfriends was comedian/writer Jason Mantzoukas.

Drake

Elizabeth Banks seems well spoken and graduated from Penn

[quote]Streep went to Vassar and Yale.

Streep is a dolt. Listen to her interviews. She doesn't have a single interesting or unusual idea in her head about anything. All banal, second hand cliched views on everything.

Glenda Jackson is very smart, very bright with thoughtful opinions about politics and art. She's probably one of the brightest actors I've ever heard interviewed. She was sharp as a tack when young and she still is in her old age. Anthony Hopkins is also smart with a very wide range of hobbies, from composing and playing classical music to astronomy.

One of the guys in Queen, believe it or not, has a degree in astrophysics or some other incredibly difficult branch of physics, and has even delivered physics lectures on campuses.

Elizabeth Banks is an excellent example r77. She freakin graduated Magna Cum Laude for Penn, an incredibly intelligent person, and who would have guessed?

R79 She ditched acting for directing and producing. This alone makes her smarter than most of Hollywood actresses who still cling to hope they can make it big without being in control over the creative and business output.

Connie Britton graduated from Dartmouth and in interviews she appears to be very intelligent and kind. She did a documentary years ago about African orphans which led to her starting the process to adopt. I think her adoption of the little boy is sincere compared to some other celebrities who adopt from other countries(e.g. Charlize Theron)

Streep is smart. You just get off on attacking her.

I would not expect Beyoncé to know basic math.

[quote]Streep is smart. You just get off on attacking her.

She's not. Listen to her in interviews. Very dull, prosaic mind. Listen to someone like Glenda Jackson speak, or read some of the candid, witty quotes from her, or from someone like Bette Davis, and Streep doesn't sound half as intelligent.

Some shitheads feel the need to put down anyone who is successful. I don't know who has a high IQ or who has the best education but I know the bitter assholes around here are nothing more than zeros.

Anyone who criticizes Streep is accused of being a bitter asshole by her annoying fans. You can say whatever you like about anyone else, but the moment Streep comes up, you're expected to bow down in worship.

The claim that she's smart because she went to Vassar and Yale is idiotic. She studied acting, not biochemistry. Many of the best actors in history were self taught. Streep's acting is often over studied, academic, and bloodlessly technical - she'd probably be a better actor if she hadn't gone to Vassar and Yale.

Jennifer lawrence=Smart.Oh hell no

[quote]I would not expect Beyoncé to know basic math.

There have been blind items floating around for years saying that she can barely read.

[quote] As much as we hate it, Kutcher is widely known to be a pretty smart,

Oh what bullshit.

Link, or else you made it up.

Pamela Anderson, believe it or not.

Ashton Kutcher dropped out of the University of Iowa, where he mostly partied, so he could model. He is NOT "widely known to be pretty smart."

[quote]Vanessa Bayer went to Penn. But she probably used her teen cancer sob story to get in.

Don't worry. I'll take care of Vanessa just like I did with Gilda Radner.

Do you have any evidence?

Ah, Penn. The ugly stepchild of the Ivy League.

Danielle Panabaker (and sister Kay Panabaker)

The SNL dyke Kate McKinnon is a Columbia graduate.

Milo

Considering her image, Olivia Wilde seems relatively smart.

Ben Affleck is smarter and more articulate than you would assume at first.

Andy Richter (Conan’s sidekick) is a smarty. When he was on celebrity Jeopardy he and Conan could not stop bragging about it.

Who is surprised Conan O'Brien is smart? That's been his brand since Harvard days.

Nobody mentioned me. You cunts.