Hollywood's Secret Brainiacs

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Hollywood's Secret Brainiacs

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LUCY LIU
Alma Mater: University of Michigan
Major: Chinese Languages and Cultures
Did She Graduate? Yes. She earned her B.A. in 1990
After one year at New York University, Liu transferred to the University of Michigan, where she discovered her love of acting during her senior year. Liu, a member of Chi Omega, landed the lead in the school's production of Alice in Wonderland.

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SOPHIA BUSH
Alma Mater: University of Southern California
Major: Journalism
Did She Graduate? No. Bush left school after landing One Tree Hill
The popular coed was crowned the Tournament of Roses Parade Queen in 2000, and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma before she dropped out to play Brooke on One Tree Hill. "I'd love to go back and graduate," she has said. "I would love one day to write a book

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MATTHEW FOX
Alma Mater: Columbia University
Major: Economics
Did He Graduate? Yes, he earned his B.A. in 1989
Back in school, the Lost actor was a football star, playing in the landmark match that ended the Lions' 44-game losing streak. This past May, Fox received a standing ovation after he delivered the keynote address at "Class Day," telling students, "Live for your own passion."

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MERYL STREEP
Alma Maters: Vassar College and Yale University
Major: Drama
Did She Graduate? Yes. She earned her B.A. from Vassar in 1971, and later received her M.F.A. from Yale
"By my sophomore year my standards of personal hygiene had slipped a bit," Streep joked in a 1983 commencement speech. "This was 1969, after all." All kidding aside, Streep has credited Vassar with turning her into a confident, smart woman. "Vassar made me think," she said. "I felt like I had a personality and a brain."

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JERRY SEINFELD
Alma Mater: Queens College
Majors: Theater and Communications
Did He Graduate? Yes. He earned his B.A. in 1976 (and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994)
The comic has joked that his best memory of college was the time he found a parking spot near campus, and it was at the New York school that he realized his life's ambition to pursue standup. He's since established the Seinfeld scholarship to help N.Y.C. public high school graduates (like himself) attend the universities of their choice.

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WENTWORTH MILLER
Alma Mater: Princeton University
Major: English
Did He Graduate? Yes. He earned his B.A. in 1995
Prison Break mastermind – and a sweet baritone? Miller performed with the Princeton a cappella group the Tigertones. "He was our secret weapon," fellow crooner Yungbin Kim told The Daily Princetonian. He was also controversial, publishing a cartoon in the school paper that some deemed "racist." (His depiction of an African-American professor as "newly purchased" – an academic term referring to a newly hired professor – was viewed as a reference to slavery.)

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LISA KUDROW
Alma Mater: Vassar College
Major: Biology
Did She Graduate? Yes. She earned her B.A. in 1985
A far cry from her flaky Friends alter ego, Phoebe, Kudrow was a serious competitor on the school's tennis team and a hands-on lab partner: "In college I castrated 21 rats," she has said. "I got pretty good at it!" In fact, Kudrow planned on a career in medical research before her brother's friend, comic Jon Lovitz, convinced her to try comedy.

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BROOKE SHIELDS
Alma Mater: Princeton University
Major: French Literature
Did She Graduate? Yes. She earned her B.A. in 1987
Her admission to Princeton angered many students who thought she was just an actress getting a free ride (and prompted several editorials in the school paper). But her classmates finally took her seriously when she aced a psychology exam during her freshman year. "Three got A's, and I was one of them. They post grades at Princeton, so everyone saw it, and it gave me credibility," she told PEOPLE. "After that everyone wanted my notes."

Posted 9/3/07 11:34 AM