Celeb Ivy Leaguers

By InStyle.com
Mar 25, 2015 @ 9:41 pm
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Celeb Ivy Leaguers
Start Slideshow

1 of 17

Natalie Portman

Dominique Charriau/WireImage
In high school, Natalie Portman won a women’s in science award, was named into the National Honor Society and an Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalist which led her to early enrollment at Harvard. "I feel I'm a positive role model by not putting my education on hold." the N.Y. native once said
Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 17

Julia Stiles

Theo Wargo/WireImage
Graduating with a degree in English, this N.Y. native had worries about fitting in with her classmates at Columbia. "I was reluctant to stand out," said Julia Stiles "Two years ago, during freshman orientation, when everyone goes around and says their name and where they are from and what their favorite animal is and what they want to be when they grow up, I had no idea how to handle the idea of my profession. Should I make a joke about it and say, 'Hi, I'm Julia. I'll be majoring in English. My favorite animal is a Siberian tiger, and perhaps you've seen me is such hit movies as "Save the Last Dance" and "10 Things I Hate About You" '? I figured the joke wouldn't go over well, so I refrained from saying anything about acting. I approached the start of college in utter denial of the fact that I had been in any movies whatsoever.”

3 of 17

Ivanka Trump

Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
The blonde beauty graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania with a degree in with a bachelor's degree.
Advertisement

4 of 17

Mira Sorvino

Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic
“It can never hurt to get more of an education than less of one. You will always have more confidence, more knowledge, and more areas in which you could sort of direct yourself, the more you know about the world.” says Mira Sorvino Sorvino's parents were very strict on her education. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelors of arts in Chinese (East Asian Languages and Civilizations). Her honors thesis won the Harvard Hoopes Prize."Anti-Africanism in the People's Republic of China" reflected on the Nanjing Anti-African protests and racial conflict in China, which she spent a year researching and writing during her stay in Beijing. Sorvino was also a founding member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, Harvard's first co-ed a cappella group.

5 of 17

Amanda Peet

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
“For the life of me, I couldn't get a part (at Columbia University), so it was a good taste of what was to come. It broke me in for the real world." said Amanda Peet who was majored in history at Columbia University when her drama professor encouraged her to pursue acting as a career.

6 of 17

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
This N.Y. native graduated with a bachelors of arts in English from Columbia University. Maggie Gyllenhaal studied religion with Uma Thurman's father, Professor Robert Thurman.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 17

Dean Cain

Scott Wintrow/Getty Images
Dean Cain graduated from Princeton University with a major in history where he set NCAA football records and dated Brooke Shields. "I absolutely loved it," Cain once told the Yale Herald. "It was a wonderful experience, and participating in athletics there was a huge part of that. I actually got better grades during football season, when I had no time, because I had to bear down and work a little harder."

8 of 17

David Duchovny

Steve Granitz/WireImage
Best known for his role as Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files this N.Y. native received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and received his graduate degree in English Literature at Yale University. He stopped pursuing his doctoral studies at Yale to act.

9 of 17

Tatyana Ali

Maury Phillips/WireImage
Best known for her role as Ashley Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, this N.Y. native graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Afro-American history and government. "I found it challenging, but a lot like I expected. A lot of independent study. said Tatyana Ali “It was weird at first because I think everyone thought maybe that I thought I was some sort of diva. It took a couple weeks before anyone got the nerve to talk to me and word got around that I was normal. I used to get stopped for little interviews and starting meeting people."
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 17

Brooke Shields

Mathew Imaging/WireImage
"Princeton gave me something that can never be taken away from me. It taught me how to think." said the Lipstick Jungle beauty. "I wouldn't trade those college years for anything." She attended Princeton University and graduated with honors. Brooke Shields dated fellow student Dean Cain and both were members of Cap and Gown-an eating club.

11 of 17

Claire Danes

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
“I was told that my going to college wouldn't be good for my career. I think that's nonsense. It's good to empower yourself by cutting yourself off from this business every once in a while.” Claire Danes once said. The N.Y. native studied at Yale University pursuing a degree in psychology.

12 of 17

Liev Schreiber

Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Liev Schreiber started his college career with aspirations to be a writer but his professors encouraged him to take up acting. The C.A. native once said "If Matt Damon and Ben Affleck can do it..."
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 17

Anna Pacquin

Michael Buckner/Getty Images
This award-winning actress attended Columbia University. “I think acting is great and I really love it, but I want to see more of the world,” said Anna Paquin “I want to learn about things that I’m interested in and have different life experiences. One of the potential disadvantages to spending most of your childhood working is that you don’t really see much else.”

14 of 17

Celeb Ivy Leaguers

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

15 of 17

Jodie Foster

Junko Kimura/Getty Images
This award-winning valedictorian addressed her speech in French to her senior class at Le Lycee Francais. Jodie Foster went on to study English Literature at Yale University where she received a Bachelors of Arts and graduated magna cum laude. 12 years later she was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 17

Ed Norton

Steve Granitz/WireImage
In an interview with his alma mater Ed Norton said "(Coming to Yale) was the first time I went anywhere where people were interested in you because of your interests," said the Boston native. "The abiding thing about Yale is the people I went to school with-my closest friends today are people I befriended at Yale.” He received a B.A. in history but took many theater courses. “I had done a lot of theater prior to coming to school here, and one of the reasons I wanted to come here was that there was a lot of undergraduate theater life but I didn't want to be a theater studies major. It seemed to me that there was more to be learned by just doing it. I took everything you could take without being a major.”
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Advertisement