32 Stars Who Went to Ivy League Schools
While plenty of celebrities may have skipped higher education to pursue their craft, there are quite a few who went on to college, and some who even earned graduate degrees from various institutions. We're taking a look at some of the Hollywood hotshots who studied at Ivy League schools — that would be Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, or Yale. Some even earned multiple degrees — keep scrolling to see which.
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita got her master's degree from Yale's School of Drama.
Meryl Streep
Meryl famously attended Yale's School of Drama for her MFA in the early '70s.
Mindy Kaling
Mindy graduated from Dartmouth in 2001 with a degree in playwriting.
John Legend
John graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African American literature.
Matt Damon
Matt dropped out of Harvard in 1992 while just 12 credits shy from a BA in English.
James Franco
James attended Columbia's famed graduate writing program and brought home a graduate degree in 2010. He then went on to enroll in a PhD program for English at Yale.
Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee attended Brown University, where she starred in plays and earned a theater degree in 1994.
Julia Stiles
Julia graduated from Columbia in 2005 with a degree in literature.
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a degree in communications with a focus on theater arts. She graduated in 1996.
Liev Schreiber
Liev got his MFA from Yale's School of Drama in 1992.
Natalie Portman
Natalie took a small break from acting to pursue a degree in psychology from Harvard.
Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa earned a master's degree at the Yale School of Drama.
Jane Lynch
Jane got her MFA in theater arts from Cornell.
Shonda Rhimes
Shonda earned a BA from Dartmouth in 1991.
Anna Paquin
Anna attended Columbia for one year but dropped out to pursue acting interests.
Emma Watson
Emma attended Brown but took a leave of absence to attend Oxford and pursue acting interests. In May 2014, though, she graduated!
Connie Britton
In 1989, Connie graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Asian studies.
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal
The Gyllenhaal siblings both went to Columbia. Maggie graduated in 1999 with a degree in literature and Eastern religions, while Jake dropped out after two years to pursue acting.
Allison Williams
Allison graduated from Yale in 2010.
Angela Bassett
Angela received her BA in African American studies from Yale in 1980 and went on to get her MFA from Yale's School of Drama in 1983.
David Duchovny
David got his undergraduate degree in English from Princeton in 1982 and went on to get a master's in English from Yale in 1989. He also pursued a PhD while at Yale but quit before finishing.
Jodie Foster
In 1985, Jodie graduated with a degree in literature from Yale.
Winston Duke
Like his Black Panther costar Lupita Nyong'o, Winston also attended the Yale School of Drama.
Ellie Kemper
In 2002, Ellie graduated from Princeton with a degree in English.
Amanda Peet
Amanda graduated from Columbia in 1995.
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy graduated with a BA in English from Harvard in 1969. During his time at Harvard, he lived in the same dorm as future Vice President Al Gore.
Rashida Jones
Rashida studied religion and philosophy at Harvard before graduating in 1997.
Whitney Cummings
Whitney graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 with a degree in communications and film.
Alicia Keys
Alicia attended Columbia for one year before dropping out to focus on her music career.
Brooke Shields
In 1987, Brooke graduated with a degree in French literature from Princeton.
John Krasinski
In 2001, John graduated from Brown with a degree in playwriting.
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer attended Yale for two years before transferring to Stanford in 1990.
— Additional reporting by Maria Mercedes Lara