We share with you a list of the ten smartest celebrities WatchMojo could find and obtain video footage of without violating copyright laws.
Now, a list of the 10 smartest celebrities might sound like a fairly low bar, but I’ll give credit where credit is due. Most of the people on this list are pretty impressive. (Note to Alex Trebek: Let’s get some of these people on Celebrity Jeopardy.)
Without further ado:
10) Natalie Portman
The Oscar-winning actress has a degree in psychology from Harvard, which doesn’t exactly blow me away. The whole Hebrew-speaking thing is rather impressive, though. But I’m docking her points for that atrocious music video (see video below).
9) Conan O’Brien
Another Harvard alum, Conan studied history and literature at the Ivy League school and was valedictorian of his high school. Good enough for me.
8) Jodie Foster
The Oscar-winner rose to fame as a child star on the silver screen, but people often forget that Foster was a bit of a prodigy as a youngster. She was reading at age 3, can speak several European languages, and graduated cum laude from Yale.
7) Lisa Kudrow
Kudrow is famous for playing the endearing but simple Phoebe Buffay on Friends. Unlike the “Smelly Cat” singer, Kudrow reportedly has a “highly academic history.” The clip doesn’t exactly explain what that is, but we’re told she worked on her father’s medical staff and became an expert in headaches. Oh, and her brother is a neurologist. So there.
6) Rowan Atkinson
Famous in Britain as a comic actor, Rowan Atkinson is a physical comedian who has played Johnny English, the spy and Mr. Bean the blithering idiot. He also remade a French classic movie called M. Hulot’s Holiday. Atkinson has has a Master’s Degree in electrical engineering from Oxford. He also collects Aston Martins cars.
5) James Woods
Woods has kind of disappeared from Hollywood of late, perhaps because of his outspoken political views. Fortunately, the Casino star has a brain to fall back on. He reportedly scored a perfect 800 on the verbal portion of the SAT, studied at MIT, and is said to have an IQ around 180 (which places him in the top third or so of Intellectual Takeout readership).
4) Mayim Bialik
Bialik plays Sheldon Cooper’s love interest neurobiologist on the hit CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. But in real-life she has a doctorate degree in neuroscience. Not too shabby.
3) John Cleese
The Monty Python star is an established comic genius, but he apparently boasts some impressive academic credentials as well. A graduate of Cambridge, Cleese holds a degree in law. He also speaks with an English accent, which makes him sound really smart.
2) Dolph Lundgren
The man who portrayed Ivan “I Must Break You” Drago holds several degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from various academic institutions around the world. And he’s got a huge Facebook page, so somebody should share this article on Facebook and tag him so he shares it. We love you, Dolph!
1) Brian May
May, who rose to fame as the lead guitarist of Queen, earned a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007. He has since authored several books with titles like A Survey of Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. Weighty stuff.
Honorable Mentions: Ken Jeong, Ben Stein, Cindy Crawford, Geena Davis, Jon Stewart
Watch the video here:
Bonus video: we remember Wolf Blitzer on Jeopardy:
This post The 10 Smartest Celebrities was originally published on Intellectual Takeout by Jon Miltimore.