What you’ll learn:
- Celebrities who have contributed to science.
- Their educational backgrounds.
- What they’re doing now.
Hollywood is filled with stars who have portrayed scientists, engineers, technologists and renowned mathematicians on the silver screen since movies were being made. We’ve been entertained by geologists and astronauts vying to save the planet on multiple occasions, scientists and researchers looking to enhance the human experience, and virologists trying to prevent zombie epidemics. The number of movies with inventive protagonists designing supersuits over the last decades has turned heads and piqued movie-goers' curiosity as to whether those actors and actresses have STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) backgrounds.
As strange as that might sound, the reality is some of them actually contributed to those fields and are supported by degrees garnered from college educations, either before or after making their screen debuts. While a majority of celebrities have made monetary contributions to higher education or other notable causes, we will focus on those who added to scientific knowledge in one field or another for the benefit of others.
These are just a few celebrities who have backgrounds in STEM education. There are many more who balance both entertainment careers and education, while others have abandoned their celebrity status to focus solely on their pursuit of knowledge. It seems most had dreams of becoming movie or rock stars but stayed grounded, knowing that those limelights were longshots and began studying for what could have been entirely different lives.