Flexing his cerebral cortex
All that and brains too
With Honors
Oscar Shmoscar. These celebs are packing impressive degrees beneath that glitzy exterior, so put away your cameras and get out your iOs.
Meryl Streep —
M.F.A from Yale U.
School of Drama
B. A. in literature from Yale U.
Jodie Foster
Glenn Close —
classics
B.A. in theater and speech from William & Mary College
Emma Thompson — Degree in literature from Cambridge U.
Tommy Lee Jones — B.A. in English from Harvard U.
Degree in theater from New York U.; political science major at George Washington U.
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner —
B.A. in marketing from
California State U.,
Fullerton
STAR-STUDDED STUDENTS
Arnold Schwarzenegger
B.A. in business from U.
of Wisconsin, Superior
Kimberly Williams Degree in performance studies from Northwestern U.
Mira Sorvino —
B.A. in Chinese studies
from Harvard U.
Chris O'Donnell —
B.S. in marketing from
Boston College
BY GERI SAHN
U. OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST
AND COLLEEN RUSH
ASSISTANT EDITOR
WHAT'S FAMOUS, USUALLY INTEL ligent and in college with no student loans? The luckiest person alive? No, silly, it's celebrity students! You've seen em on TV, but now you'll see the different, deeper side of the few, the proud, the educated mini-legion of student stars.
Gimme a major
He's not an airhead, but he played one on TV. He's known for that trademark "Whoa!" He's Joey Lawrence, and he's more than a buff actor with a string of sitcoms like Gimme A Break and Blossom under his belt. He's a student.
No really. He is.
Lawrence, a sophomore at the U. of Southern California, is balancing his time between working on his new sitcom Brotherly Love and studying as a full-time student.
Although he hasn't declared a major yet, Lawrence is dabbling in a range of subjects, including a few film and television courses.
"I really liked my Shakespeare lit class," Lawrence says, "But my psychology class was the worst and most complicated. I'm not sure if I'm really going to use it after I graduate."
Lawrence may be a household name for the teeny-bopper crowd, but he says his fame doesn't make it difficult to be a regular student.
"Fortunately, now I'm older and that fan thing is over," he says. "The students in my class are cool. There's no competition, and sometimes they ask me questions because a lot of what we are learning is second nature to me."
But being a celebrity student has its downside. Lawrence learned a little classroom etiquette the hard way when he went on The Tonight Show and mentioned the name of a tough professor he had. During the next class session, the professor stopped the lecture and asked Lawrence — in front of the 300-plus crowd — to refrain from mentioning him on national TV in the future. Whoa.
His name might not spark recognition, but his résumé is far from blank. Appearing in Joe Pesi's The Super and Eddie Murphy's Boomerang, and currently starring in the sitcom The Parent Hood, Kenny Blank is living the dual life of celebrity and student.
As a freshman film major — and future filmmaker hopeful — Blank takes two classes a semester at USC and says that balancing work and school is quite a chore.
The collegiate 'hood
"I like [my classes], but going to school — I mean physically getting there — is a problem," Blank says.
Hollywood goes Yale?
Fill in the Blank
Since Blank doesn't live on campus, he spends little time there. But when he is there, Blank says he tries to make his presence low key — even though the audience that would recognize him is on the elementary — not college — level.
Blank says the general audience would think he was a geek because he enjoys spending his extra time working. Besides acting, Blank is a keyboard player, drummer, guitarist, composer and singer.
"I'm a workaholic," he says, "Instead of socializing, I like to write a piece of music or work on the computer. My social life is the show."
Scholastic matters
He may be associated with the squeaky, clumsy, dweeby kid next door on Family Matters, but if you see Jaleel White strutting around campus at UCLA, don't ask him to do an Urkel impression.
"If I'm on a date and the woman asks me to [imitate Urkel] and say, 'Did I do that?' the date is over," says the film and television major.
Although his career prevents him from taking on a full-time schedule and he's considered a freshman, White is taking two classes a quarter at UCLA and slowly but surely building on his second year at the school.
College has been the best time of his life so far, he says, but unlike Urkel, White seems to find classes an afterthought.
"I took an anthropology course — learning about the evolution of humans — which is garbage," he says. "My other class, a jazz class, well, you could get some good sleep in there."
White lives in an apartment off-campus by himself, but when he's on campus, he says people frequently recognize him.
"People usually don't approach me. They're there to study," White says. "But there was one guy who wanted to shake my hand while we were standing at the urinals."
White spends most of his extra time playing and watching basketball. As a member of the UCLA booster club, he never misses a game. And White's love for sports, particularly basketball, has influenced his career.
"I'm working on a screenplay about basketball from a dramatic standpoint," he says.
Sure. We can see it now. Urkel Meets the Globetrotters.
Role call
She's been an orphan, a brainy teen, a wrongly accused juvenile delinquent, a schoolteacher and a Polish-Catholic heroine, but Kellie Martin has decided to take on the one role she's dreamed of since freshman year in high school: that of a Yalie.
Martin, best known as Becca from the ABC series Life Goes On, is a freshman art history major at Yale U. She says her role as student is one of the toughest she's faced yet. The transition from on-the-set high school tutors to the daily classroom grind hasn't been easy.
"I don't even pretend to know what I'm doing here," she says. "I try my hardest, and I really feel like I have to struggle to keep my head above water."
Modesty runs deep in the TV veteran — she seems more amazed with her fellow Yalies than with her own résumé.
"I'm in awe of everyone I meet here. There are kids here who just blow my mind," she says.
But the actress turned collegian seems to be coping just fine. She credits her parents with keeping her down-to-earth and preparing her for life outside the Hollywood spotlight.
Martin insists that being a TV celebrity doesn't give her special privileges or attention on campus.
"I've never had a person at Yale go ballistic about meeting me," Martin says. "Here, it's really just as simple as someone saying, 'That's cool. You're on TV.'"
And life goes on...
Geri Sahn is a superstar in her mom's eyes, thank you very much. Colleen Rush's only claim to fame is standing in line behind Penelope Miller at the grocery store.
Joey Lawrence photo — Courtesy of NBC Media Relations Kellie Martin — Courtesy of Feren Communications Kenny Blank — Courtesy of Warner Brothers Network
14 U. Magazine May 1996
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