Amazing People: Five Super Smart Stars

Famous actors and singers seem very different from the rest of us. We might even view them as shallow and only capable of imitating other people on camera or delivering a mind-numbingly great riff that ends up inspiring air guitarists around the world. Happily, there are a surprising number of artistic types throughout history and to the present day that possess phenomenal IQs, academic degrees up the wazoo, and secret skills you'd never have guessed. Consider these:

1. Lily Jay

CREDIT: Courtesy Lily Jay

The incredible Lily Jay is a 23-year-old who's already running a successful business, has a large following of hundreds of thousands of people, performed in award winning musicals and shows like Chicago, Hairspray and Dancing With the Stars, and just recently released a new single called Renovate. If you're an up-and-coming artist, Lily is definitely a smart star to look up to!

2. Hedy Lamarr

CREDIT: The Island Now

Hedy Lamarr, the Austrian-bom American movie star who personified beauty and glamour, once said, Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." That would be easy for someone who was called the most beautiful woman in films. Burt she was not just a pretty face; she was an inventor. In 1942, she and composer George Antheil invented a signal-hopping system that was used by WWII military and would later become the basis of both military signal-jamming and modern-day cell phone technology. Hedy's work is what (sometimes) keeps your cellphone from dropping calls as you move around.

3. Dolph Lundgren

CREDIT: Arrowverse Wiki

In Rocky IV, Dolph Lundgren played the hulking Ivan Drago, who put Rocky not just on the canvas but in the hospital. While it's pretty obvious your wouldn't want to challenge him to a fight—he's a martial arts champion in real life—you also shouldn't engage him in a battle of wits. The 6'5", black belted Swede holds multiple academic degrees, including a Master's degree in chemical engineering. He also did a stint as a Swedish Amphibious Ranger and earned a Furl bright scholarship to M.I.T. Plus, he got to be the boyfriend of Grace Jones

4. Mayim Bialik

CREDIT: Kveller

Mayim Bialik plays the dowdy scientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the popular TV show "Big Bang Theory," but she is also a scientist in real life. She was studying neuroscience at UCLA in 200o when she took a break from school and went back to acting. She'd been a child star on TV's "Blossom" and her role as Amy was, and is, a huge success. Despite her workload, she managed to squeeze in some studying and completed her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2007, all while raising two sons.

5. Brian May

CREDIT: Den of Geek

Brian May is famous for being a member of the rock group Queen. Starting off by building his own electric guitar, he established himself as a virtuoso of the instrument and is the composer of "We Will Rock You," arguably the group's most popular song, if only with sports fans But he is actually Dr. Brian May— an astrophysicist. He says he originally wanted to be an astronomer but that rock star business interfered abruptly. He finally went back to get his degree, so now he's Brian May PhD, CBE, FRAS.