19 Celebrities You Definitely Forgot Graduated From Ivy League Schools

    They came. They studied. They graduated.

    Morgan Murrell
    by Morgan Murrell

    BuzzFeed Staff

    1. John Legend

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    Ivy League School: University of Pennsylvania

    Major: English, with an emphasis on African American literature

    Fun Fact: He skipped two grades and graduated high school when he was 16 years old. He earned scholarships to Harvard, Morehouse College, and Georgetown University.

    2. Natalie Portman

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    Ivy League School: Harvard University

    Major: Psychology

    Fun Fact: She went on to take graduate courses in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later was a guest lecturer at Columbia University.

    3. Rashida Jones

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    Ivy League School: Harvard University

    Major: Religion and philosophy

    Fun Fact: She belonged to several organizations at Harvard, including Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club, Black Student Association, and the Signet Society.

    4. Mindy Kaling

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    Ivy League School: Dartmouth College

    Major: Playwriting

    Fun Fact: She started off as a Latin major, a language she's been studying since the seventh grade. Mindy also earned an Eleanor Frost Playwriting Award.

    5. Shonda Rhimes

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    Ivy League School: Dartmouth College

    Major: English and film studies

    Fun Fact: She went on to receive a Masters of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting at the University of Southern California, where she ranked at the top of her class...all while raising a family.

    6. Lupita Nyong'o

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    Ivy League School: Yale University

    Major: Acting

    Fun Fact: She earned her BA at Hampshire College and a master's degree at Yale. While at Yale, she won the prestigious Herschel Williams Prize, a prize for "acting students with outstanding abilities," during the 2011–12 academic year.

    7. John Krasinski

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    Ivy League School: Brown University

    Major: Theater Arts

    Fun Fact: Right before attending college, John taught English as a second language in Costa Rica, where he also happened to save a woman from drowning.

    8. Sanaa Lathan

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    Ivy League School: Yale University

    Major: Drama

    Fun Fact: She earned her BA at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied English and was later accepted into the Yale School of Drama program for her master's.

    9. Ryan Leslie

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    Ivy League School: Harvard University

    Major: Government, with a concentration in political science and macroeconomics

    Fun Fact: He got a perfect score on the SATs at the age of 14 and graduated from Harvard at 19 years old. Ryan was also chosen as a Harvard men's orator, an honor given to a select few seniors to deliver commencement speeches.

    10. Tracee Ellis Ross

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    Ivy League School: Brown University

    Major: Theater

    Fun Fact: She incorporated her alma mater into her hit show Black-ish, where she had her onscreen daughter Yara Shahidi take a college visit to Brown. Coincidence? I think not.

    11. Angela Bassett

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    Ivy League School: Yale University

    Major: BA in African American Studies, MFA in Drama

    Fun Fact: She studied under distinguished director Lloyd Richards who cast her in Broadway productions of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Come and Gone. Yale is also where she met her husband, Courtney B. Vance.

    12. Maggie Gyllenhaal

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    Ivy League School: Columbia University

    Major: Literature and Eastern religions

    Fun Fact: Maggie's younger brother Jake Gyllenhaal also attended Columbia University but dropped out after two years.

    13. Ellie Kemper

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    Ivy League School: Princeton University

    Major: English

    Fun Fact: She played on the field hockey team and was a part of the school's improv comedy troupe, Quipfire.

    14. Emma Watson

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    Ivy League School: Brown University

    Major: English literature

    Fun Fact: She graduated in five years, instead of four, because of her film commitments. Emma shot the final two Harry Potter movies while she was in school.

    15. Meryl Streep

    Stefania M. D'alessandro / Getty Images

    Ivy League School: Yale University

    Major: Theater

    Fun Fact: She gave herself an ulcer by working as a waitress and typist and putting on 40 stage plays in three years.

    16. Kate McKinnon

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    Ivy League School: Columbia University

    Major: Theater

    Fun Fact: She starred in numerous Varsity Show productions and also co-founded a comedy group called Tea Party.

    17. Bill Nye

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    Ivy League School: Cornell University

    Major: Mechanical engineering

    Fun Fact: His former science professor Carl Sagan (yes, the famed astronomer) inspired his love for astronomy and encouraged him to focus on that path.

    18. B.J. Novak

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    Ivy League School: Harvard University

    Major: English and Spanish literature

    Fun Fact: B.J. was apart of the Harvard Lampoon and the Hasty Pudding Club. He also went to high school with his former The Office costar John Krasinski.

    19. Winston Duke

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    Ivy League School: Yale University

    Major: Acting

    Fun Fact: Winston and Lupita Nyong'o were friends at Yale. They would later star alongside each other in box office hits like Black Panther and Us.