While growing up, we all wanted to be ‘big people’ in whatever we do. Lawyers, doctors, pilots, engineers etc. well, dreams are valid. How about talents as side hustles?
We all have the desire to get well-educated, to be stars, to realize our talents, and above all, to secure jobs in line with what we love the most. There are people who education works well for them. We also have people who talent works well for them. Then we have people with the two combinations doing them extremely well. Never let anyone underestimate you because education works well for them and not you or vice versa.
How well do you know your favorite celebrities other than what they do? That actor/actress, dancer, comedian/comedienne, musician, wrestler, footballer, golfer etc. has a degree that you are not aware of. Peachy Essay has highlighted only but a few of some of the most renowned celebrities and their degrees. Are you ready to get amazed? Let’s dive in!
- Natalie Portman- Psychology
She graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Psychology.
Portman once said that she doesn’t care if college ruins her career. She would rather be smart than a movie star. Interestingly, she turns out to be both. She once skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was busy studying for her exams in high school. Two of her papers have been published in scientific journals while still in high school.
- Mayim Bialik- Neuroscience
She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her main focus was on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome. This is a rare condition of the hypothalamus malfunctioning. Mayim turns out to be a genius as she is in The Big Bang Theory.
- John Legend- English
I will bet that most of you have listened to or watched John Legend’s soothing songs. This acclaimed musician pursued English with a concentration on African-American literature and culture at the University of Pennsylvania. During his time in college, he was a member of the choir and acapella groups, performed in talent shows and musicals, and wrote his own songs.
In a commencement address in 2014 at his Alma mater, the ‘all of me’ hit maker said he put a lot of energy into becoming a better artist, a better performer, and a better writer. In some ways, this made him a better student and a better leader.
After graduating from school, he secured a job at a consulting firm in Boston but later quit after realizing his passion was in music. In one of his inspirational speeches, he said “we were all made to love, and I’ve found that we live our best lives, we are at our most successful, not simply because we are smarter than everyone else or because we hustle harder. Not because we become millionaires more quickly. The key to success, the key to happiness, is opening your mind and your heart to love, spending your time doing things you love, and with people you love.”
- Rowan Atkinson- Electrical Engineering
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry must have come across Rowan’s comedy films. Famously known as Mr. Bean, he is one of the best silent comedians of all times. Surprisingly, Mr. Bean was developed while Rowan was studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Oxford.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger- Economics
He was regarded as the greatest bodybuilder worldwide by the time he was 31. This Mr. Olympia winner wanted a combination of brains and brawn hence in 1979, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international business and international economics from the University of Wisconsin, Superior.
While recruiting Arnold, professor Rhea S. Das said the career Arnold was looking for required some credibility, compared to his interest in the governor’s political move in California. He therefore realized that without a degree, it would be useless.
- Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson- Criminology
While growing up, most of us loved watching wrestling. I remember watching The Rock wrestle and then there would pop a warning on the screen “DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!” He was one of the best pro wrestlers globally before becoming a bona-fide action hero.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in General Studies from the University of Miami in 1995.
- Rashida Jones- Comparative Religion
Jones joined Harvard University with an intention of becoming a lawyer but later changed her mind after the O.J. Simpson trial. She wrote in an LA Magazine that the O.J. Simpson was disillusioning for her. It was the first time she realized that privilege can outdo justice sometimes. To her, it made no sense that a man could have lots of evidence piled against him and still be acquitted because he has a worthy defense team. She hated the fact that Simpson was representing justice for black people in California. This made her change her mind from law to something else.
In 1997, she graduated with a degree in comparative religion but took part in lots of theatre productions while in University, making her land her very first TV series role before she even completed college.
- Danai Gurira- Social Psychology
Gurira made a huge impression on the Black Panther after kicking ass for many years on The Walking Dead. She studied social psychology at Macalester College, Minnesota. She was really focusing on population, gender, race, and we function psychologically in a manner that affects our societal outcomes around these issues.
- Will Ferrell- Sports Information
Ferrell studied a degree in sports information from the University of Southern California in 1990. He at one time joked about the degree in a statement he made in 2017. This is what he had to say; “Yes you heard me, sports information. A degree 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 are like the Navy SEALs of USC graduates. There are very few of us, and there was a high dropout rate.”
