Its easy to think you know an actor through the characters that they play, or even to assume you know something about an actor by the sheer fact that theyre an actor. Particularly when someone is often type-cast, it can sometimes be hard to swallow when you find out something that changes how you see a big name. For instance, when a huge star like Tom Cruise became an insane scientologist, or when you find out that awesome badass action-star Vin Diesel has been an avid Dungeons and Dragons fan for 20 years, or even the knowledge that Pam and Jim arent a couple in real life (weep), can change your perspective on an actor you took for granted as their character(s). Sometimes our favourite actors rise to fame has been shaky, unintended, or even baffling, such as Danny Trejos movement from drug counselor to world-class badass. Sometimes it's comforting to know that the people we pay our hard-earned money to see on screen are actually just like us or, in Geena Davis' case, are a hundred thousand times better and cleverer than we could ever hope to be (more on that later). Whether or not you know any or all these already (and if you do, well done, ten gold stars for you) it's always nice to know something new and idiosyncratic about someone you'd have never thought.
20. Natalie Portman Is A Harvard Graduate
Lets start slowly, shall we? Natalie Portman is probably one of the more famous geniuses. Despite an (assumedly false) admission via rap on SNL that she cheated on every test whilst at Harvard (seriously, google it), we can be fairly sure that Natalie Portmans intelligence credentials are fairly legit. Portman skipped the premiere of her film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to study for her high school final exams, which clearly paid off when she got into Harvard. In 2003 Portman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and along the way co-authored two scientific journals: one about the enzymatic production of Hydrogen from sugar, and the other looking at frontal lobe activation during object permanence. (Does anyone have any idea what either of those two things are, and if theyre as mind-bendingly complicated as they sound?) Portman stated that she didnt care if college ruined her acting career, and that shed rather be smart than a movie star. Thankfully for Hollywood, and us, she was able to do both.