18 Successful Actors Who Never Attended College
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College: who needs it? While some performers hone their craft at drama school, there are plenty of celebrities who have proven that a college degree - or even a high school diploma - isn't necessary in order to rack up roles. All it takes is determination, boundless confidence, and a staunch belief in one's talent to survive as a struggling actor.
Not every celebrity’s road to success is paved with privilege. Famous faces like Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman dropped out of school so they could help support their families. Other performers had their own unique reasons for not ending up with a college degree - though each story is different, all of these actors emerged with amazing careers in the end.
From an aspiring juggler-turned-TV star to a rapper-turned-Oscar winner, these celebrities took a chance on their talents that paid off big time.
- 129 VOTESPhoto: Mary Poppins / Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Why She Didn’t Go: Julie Andrews was supporting herself and her family with her preternatural singing abilities since childhood. She didn’t have the luxury of going to college; instead, she set her sights on Broadway - and nabbed a life-changing role. “I think I learned in My Fair Lady everything that set me up in later years in good stead because I really learned how to preserve and take care of myself,” Andrews told the Academy of Achievement in 2004. “I was learning on my feet every single performance.”
Career Highlights: Andrews' innate talent and ability to learn on the job landed her history-making roles on Broadway at a young age, from the lead in My Fair Lady to Camelot. With an Oscar win (and 2 more nominations), 11 Emmy nominations, 14 Golden Globe noms, and countless more accolades, Andrews has more htan proven herself
Standout Performances: Of course, Andrews's legacy was cemented with her Oscar-winning turn as the title role in Mary Poppins, though her Oscar-nominated performance as Maria in The Sound of Music remains just as legendary.
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Why He Didn’t Go: Michael J. Fox may have chosen to star in Family Ties over college, but he was always serious about the future. As Fox says, he went to the “University of the Universal” - or the university of life. He told NPR in 2010, “I always felt that I came up short in the education department. But I’ve come to the conclusion that we all get an education. And somehow over the years, I managed to get one.”
Career Highlights: With 18 Emmy nominations to show for his decades-long career, Michael J. Fox is certainly one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable stars. He was arguably the defining actor of the 1980s, and Back to the Future became the highest-grossing film of 1985. Family Ties was one of the highest rated shows of 1985, too. Beyond acting, Fox's advocacy for people with Parkinson’s disease earned him the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2022.
Standout Performances: There was no bigger star in 1985 than Michael J. Fox, and his energetic performances as Marty McFly and Alex P. Keaton only solidified his legacy. Even after his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Fox continued to delight audiences on shows like Spin City and The Good Wife.
- 332 VOTESPhoto: Moulin Rouge! / 20th Century Fox
Why She Didn’t Go: When Nicole Kidman’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, Kidman worked to help support her family - and she couldn’t do so from a classroom, a place she disliked anyway. Kidman told Interview magazine in 2014, “I didn’t do so well in the academic world, so I think the only way I could express myself was through visual art - anything I could get my hands on, whether it was glassblowing, sculpture, painting, or photography.” Or acting, as became clear when Kidman took Hollywood by storm.
Career Highlights: One of Australia’s biggest stars, Nicole Kidman has an Academy Award under her belt, as well as an additional four nominations. Kidman has countless other awards nods to show for her talent, including the AFI Life Achievement Award, which certainly proves not attending college didn't hold her back.
Standout Performances: Kidman's transformative work as Virginia Woolf in The Hours won her an Oscar. She has plenty of other memorable performances, which run the gamut from the musical Moulin Rouge!, to the biopic Being the Ricardos, to the smash-hit TV series Big Little Lies.
More Nicole Kidman - 411 VOTESPhoto: The Godfather / Paramount Pictures
Why He Didn’t Go: Pacino took the phrase “school of acting” literally when he chose to be an actor instead of a student. He told The Washington Post how he had to grow up fast as a kid in a lower-income family. “I wasn’t focused on my classes. My mother had problems, and there was no money coming in.” Pacino dropped out of school at 17; he worked to support his family and eventually joined the Herbert Berghof Studio.
Career Highlights: Where would modern cinema be if Al Pacino had stayed in school? We wouldn’t have such memorable moments as his character’s “Attica!” outburst in Dog Day Afternoon or his “Hoo-ah!” exclamation in Scent of a Woman. And of course, the world would be without his history-making turn as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. He has one Oscar and nine nominations; there’s no doubt he’s achieved icon status.
Standout Performances: Aforementioned films aside, Pacino’s resume is chock-full of hits, misses, and daring roles. Glengarry Glen Ross was another Oscar-nominated performance for Pacino, as was his tense portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman. He's so prolific that it's impossible to list every one of his award-worthy performances here.
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Why He Didn’t Go: Jim Carrey’s no idiot, regardless of what the Dumb & Dumber films will have you believe. Carrey is also proof that you don’t need a college degree to be a success. “When I was about 14 or 15, my father lost his job and I actually became homeless for quite some time,” he once said during a stand-up routine. Carrey ultimately dropped out of school and worked as a janitor so he could help support his family.
Career Highlights: There are some things you can’t teach, and Jim Carrey’s rubber-like contortions, wild facial expressions, and knack for impressions are just a few examples of his inimitable talent. For all the comedic energy Carrey possesses, he’s also proven himself as a dramatic actor. He’s been nominated for seven Golden Globes and won two. Not too shabby for a high school dropout.
Standout Performances: Carrey’s transformative performances in The Mask, Ace Ventura, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas put his shape-shifting talents on display. As a dramatic actor, Carrey has conveyed heartbreak and wistfulness in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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Why He Didn’t Go: Not many parents are thrilled to hear their child say that they’re not going to college, but Will Smith’s mother took it particularly badly… because she worked for a school board in Philadelphia. So his parents gave him an ultimatum. “I had a year that I could go try to do rap music and then after that I was going to have to go to college. And within that year, we won the first Grammy ever given to a rap artist,” Smith told Jimmy Fallon in 2021. Smith probably doesn't feel any regret regarding this decision.
Career Highlights: In the ‘90s, no one was cooler than Will Smith, and his long list of accolades prove it. With two Oscar nominations and one win - plus a horde of Golden Globe nominations - his movie career has flourished alongside his music career. Who needs a college degree on your wall when you have awards on your mantle?
Standout Performances: From the moment Smith became the Fresh Prince, it was clear he was going places. He made people laugh in Men in Black, cry in The Pursuit of Happyness, and bite their nails in I Am Legend. His Oscar-winning role in King Richard confirmed his status as one of Hollywood’s last big movie stars.
More Will Smith - 731 VOTESPhoto: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl / Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Why He Didn’t Go: Depp wanted to be a rock star, so he dropped out of high school during his junior year. But it wasn’t long before he started to doubt his decision. He asked the dean of his school what to do, and the answer was surprising, to say the least. “He said, ‘I know that you have this music thing… that’s your passion, so you should go with that,’” Depp recalled to James Lipton on Inside the Actor’s Studio.
Career Highlights: Johnny Depp may be Hollywood’s best chameleon - a skill you can’t learn in a school. Although he’s never won an Oscar, he’s certainly won lifelong fans with his bizarre and colorful characters. Depp has been nominated for 10 Golden Globes (with one win for Sweeney Todd) and three Oscars.
Standout Performances: The Hollywood heartthrob started out in the classic horror flick A Nightmare on Elm Street. It's his off-kilter characters who really made him stand out, from the hair-raising Edward Scissorhands to the swashbuckling Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
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Why She Didn’t Go: As a tween, Jennifer Lawrence had a lofty goal in mind, and she was determined to achieve it - even if it meant missing homeroom. “I dropped out of middle school. I don’t technically have a GED or a diploma. I am self-educated,” she told 60 Minutes in 2018. “I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do and I didn’t want anything getting in the way of it.”
Career Highlights: Dropping out of school so early was undoubtedly a controversial decision, but it quickly worked in Lawrence's favor. By the time she was in her mid-20s, she’d earned four Oscar nominations and won one. Very few people can say they carried a huge film series on their backs without ever having gone to high school, but Jennifer Lawrence can.
Standout Performances: Lawrence can play everything from rough-and-tumble action protagonists like Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games to flawed, comedic heroines like Maddie in No Hard Feelings. Her performance as the complicated, spirited Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook earned her an Oscar.
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- 919 VOTESPhoto: Top Gun: Maverick / Paramount Pictures
Why He Didn’t Go: Tom Cruise spoke to Cameron Crowe for Interview magazine in 1986, and he told his future colleague all about his decision to follow his dreams as a young man. “I told my parents I was going to New York. I never really planned on going to college anyway. I had saved money and I was going to go to Europe and find the ‘big picture’ there.” Setting out for Europe is undoubtedly more interesting than setting out for college, anyway.
Career Highlights: Cruise seemed to have a psychic-like intuition when it came to his future success. He’s never won an Oscar, but he has four nominations, not to mention seven Golden Globe noms as well. Cruise is arguably the definitive movie star of the last 30 years thanks to his flashy performances and even more dramatic personal life.
Standout Performances: Cruise first slid onto screens in Risky Business, but it was his performance in action flick Top Gun that made him a movie star. Since then, he’s played everything from a desperate sports agent in Jerry Maguire to an agent performing death-defying stunt in the Mission: Impossible films.
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- 108 VOTESPhoto: Ghost / Paramount Pictures
Why She Didn’t Go: Before she was a member of the Brat Pack, Demi Moore was struggling to forge her own path in Hollywood. She’d dropped out of high school in order to leave her difficult home life behind. Instead of college, she attended “The school of ‘fake it till you make it,’” she told ABC News. “I was figuring it out, like, by the seat of my pants.”
Career Highlights: Demi Moore may have had a rocky childhood, but her Hollywood career was smooth-sailing. She became a teen idol in the ‘80s thanks to roles in the beloved Brat Pack films, but it wasn’t until the ‘90s that she started to rack up accolades. She earned Emmy, Golden Globe, and People Choice Award nominations and celebrated a few wins. Plus, Ghost was the highest grossing film of 1990. She’s come a long way from “faking it," and she certainly “made it” in the end.
Standout Performances: As a member of the Brat Pack, Moore made her mark in St. Elmo’s Fire, About Last Night, and One Crazy Summer. She came into her own as a leading lady in Ghost, Indecent Proposal, and G.I. Jane.
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Why She Didn’t Go: Whoopi Goldberg’s struggles with dyslexia led to her dropping out of school. “I knew I wasn’t stupid, and I knew I wasn’t dumb,” she told the Academy of Achievement in 1994. “They knew I wasn’t lazy, but what was it?” She didn’t find out that she was dyslexic until she was an adult, and by then, she’d become one of the most successful actors in Hollywood.
Career Highlights: Clearly, Goldberg’s struggles as a student didn’t translate to her acting career. With her Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award wins, Goldberg was the first Black woman to achieve the rare combination of awards known as the “EGOT.” It takes guts to achieve that kind of success in Hollywood, but judging by her determination as a child, Goldberg’s faith in her own abilities was never in doubt.
Standout Performances: Goldberg’s breakthrough came in 1985’s The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. She won the coveted golden statue five years later for her performance in Ghost. Since then, Goldberg has enjoyed a long tenure as one of the hosts of The View.
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- 1214 VOTESPhoto: The Godfather / Paramount Pictures
Why He Didn’t Go: In his memoir, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me, Marlon Brando mentions how he spent his school days trying to “tear the school apart and not get caught at it.” He was sent to military school in the hope of fixing his behavior issues, but he ended up getting expelled instead. “I hated authority and did everything I could to defeat it,” he claimed. Going to college wouldn’t have made a difference, so he studied under Stella Adler at the Acting Studio instead, where he excelled.
Career Highlights: Given his self-professed hatred of authority, Brando’s decision to skip college was probably for the best. He was able to wrangle his boundless energy into his performances, and it’s his explosive, yet sensitive, acting style that transformed the standards for every other actor in Hollywood. It’s also what led to his eight Oscar nominations (he won two).
Standout Performances: The Godfather - need we say more? Brando’s performances in On the Waterfront and The Godfather are Oscar-winning for a reason. His passionate turn as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire was one of his earliest acting credits, and it earned him an Oscar nomination. From his days as a student to his days as an actor, Brando certainly wasn’t afraid to take risks.
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Why She Didn’t Go: One of Diaz’s reasons for dropping out of high school was the bullying she experienced. “For some reason, guys liked to fight me, I don’t know why,” she said on Lopez Tonight in 2011. “Being a skinny white girl, you have to be able to defend yourself,” she reiterated to Graham Norton that same year. She was unwilling to try her hand at college life, and she obviously had the last laugh: Diaz left high school to become a model, which jump-started the rest of her career.
Career Highlights: Diaz’s years spent fending off bullies prepared her for the ultra-competitive modeling world, where she thrived at just 16 years old. But she proved soon enough that she was more than a pretty face, and she found herself in all genres of films. She’s not the most lauded actress in Hollywood, but she has four Golden Globe nominations to show for her talents, plus a host of MTV movie awards.
Standout Performances: Cameron Diaz has a knack for comedy, demonstrated in films like The Mask and There’s Something About Mary. She ended up thriving in action flicks like Charlie’s Angels and rom-coms like The Holiday. And who can forget her voice work as Princess Fiona in the Shrek films?
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Why He Didn’t Go: “I dropped out of school,” Rock says in his 1998 album Roll with the New. “I got myself a GED… as soon as you get your GED someone always has the nerve to go, ‘Now you can go to college!’ Slow down! I think it’s obvious high school was busting my a**.” All jokes aside, Rock actually did attend community college - at least, until he found success as a stand-up at a comedy club in NYC.
Career Highlights: Rock has had success as an actor, but it’s his career as a comedian that really shapes his legacy. He went from hating community college to bounding across the stage as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. With four Emmys and three Grammys to his name, Rock definitely had more success as a comedian than as a student.
Standout performances: When an entire sitcom is created about your life, then you know you’ve made it. Rock wrote and narrated for the show Everybody Hates Chris, but it was his comedy albums Bring the Pain, Roll With the New, Bigger and Blacker, and Never Scared that have made him a legend.
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Why He Didn’t Go: Seth Rogen has been open about his boredom as a student. Even as a teenager, he knew his future wouldn’t include lecture halls and textbooks. “In high school, I really just stopped caring about school. And very quickly I was like, ‘this is not going to be my path to success in life,’” Rogen told NPR in 2021. He was right: his earliest successes in Hollywood happened when he was a teenager, at the same time his peers were applying to colleges.
Career Highlights: Despite Rogen’s distaste for formal schooling, his first acting gig in the cult classic show Freaks and Geeks brought him back to the halls of high school. Still, he hardly ever plays a nerd, and the actor/writer is known for the laid-back, slacker persona he imbues into many of his characters. With four Emmy nominations and 12 MTV award noms, it’s safe to say that Rogen is no slacker in real life.
Standout Performances: Rogen has cracked us up in a number of popular films, from The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up to Superbad and This Is the End. He’s combined humor and pathos with more serious roles in The Fabelmans, Pam & Tommy, and The Disaster Artist.
- 163 VOTESPhoto: The Holiday / Sony Pictures Releasing
Why He Didn’t Go: Jude Law was only a teenager when he dropped out of school to pursue acting. “I got offered a job on TV and I left school… I think [my parents] knew that it was something I took very seriously. We agreed that if it all went wrong I would return to my education,” Law said in an interview with BAFTA Guru in 2018. Obviously, Law’s ambitions never “went wrong” - far from it.
Career Highlights: Law’s parents gave him the freedom to pursue acting, and it’s a good thing they did. If they hadn’t, we never would’ve been able to experience his pair of Oscar-nominated performances. We also wouldn’t have been able to enjoy his swoon-worthy performances on stage and screen.
Standout Performances: In addition to his widely-acclaimed turns in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain, Law made his mark in the rom-com The Holiday opposite fellow high school dropout Cameron Diaz. Despite his leading man looks, he hasn’t been afraid to choose more unusual roles in The Great Budapest Hotel and The Young Pope.
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Why She Didn’t Go: Hilary Swank lived in a trailer park as a child, and she was made to feel like an outsider among her peers because of her family’s financial situation. The decision to leave school to pursue acting helped, but now she looks back with mixed feelings. “I’m not proud to say I’m a high school dropout,” Swank told Today. “I think school is really, really important and we have an education problem in this country and it’s a shame. It’s a shame for any kid to feel hopeless about their future.”
Career Highlights: Swank may not be proud of her decision to leave school early, but if she hadn’t, there’s a chance she never would’ve earned the roles that led to her two Oscar wins. Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby were boundary-pushing films that allowed Swank to show off her depth and vulnerability. She also has a number of Golden Globe and SAG award nominations under her belt.
Standout performances: Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby are, of course, the films Swank is most known for. Her work in the romance P.S. I Love You and the drama Freedom Writers is also memorable, showing she's got range.
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Why He Didn’t Go: Early in his career, Patrick Dempsey often played high school students, but in real life, he left high school before he could graduate. College wasn’t on his mind, but a career as an entertainer was. “I left my senior year, and just caught the bug. I really loved performing, I loved being in front of people,” he told Barbara Walters in 2007. Instead of college, he joined a vaudeville troop as a juggler, a decision he said “started his career.”
Career Highlights: Can you name anyone else whose juggling skills led to a successful career as a teen heartthrob? Probably not, but it worked for Dempsey, and he has an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nominations to show for it. Plus, he’s probably as known for his complimentary Grey’s Anatomy nickname, “McDreamy,” as he is for his real name.
Standout Performances: Dempsey made for a plucky but adorable heartthrob in ‘80s flicks like Can’t Buy Me Love and Loverboy. He went from the high school underdog to leading man in Sweet Home Alabama and Enchanted. Still, he’s most remembered for playing the dreamy and brilliant Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy.
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