Hollywood is a fickle industry, and not everyone makes it — especially when they're not coming from an already-established industry family. So it makes sense that these 15 celebrity moms wanted to have backup plans just in case. So they all went to college, just like many of us, and got degrees in a variety of subjects.
There are a number of celeb mamas deemed the "most educated", at least in the traditional sense. Some of them always knew they wanted to be actors, so they majored in theater or playwriting, but others majored in subjects like biology, sociology, and international relations, stumbling into acting as kind of a secondary life plan that became their full-time gig.
Not only are these celeb moms great at their jobs and raising their kids, but they're also super smart. Talk about #MomGoals.
Natalie Portman
Ellie Kemper
Ellie Kemper, star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Office, went to two prestigious colleges. In 2002, she graduated from Princeton with a degree in English. Then, she went to the University of Oxford for a graduate degree in English literature. Basically, no one knows English better than Ellie at this point.
Rashida Jones
Kemper's Office costar Rashida Jones — who was also on Parks and Rec — is an alumna of Harvard, just like Natalie Portman. She graduated in 1997 with a degree in comparative religion. That year, she also had her very first professional acting role in the TV miniseries The Last Don. Soon, she dropped that degree and hit Hollywood full-time.
Mindy Kaling
The cast of The Office sure was an educated one. Writer and actor Mindy Kaling is another celebrity who got a college degree before becoming a full-time member of the film and TV industry. She's also one of the few who actually ended up going into a field close to what she majored in. Mindy graduated from Dartmouth in 2001 with a degree in playwriting.
Carrie Underwood
Carrie didn't drop everything else in her life when she won American Idol. No, she went on to finish her mass communications/journalism degree at Northeastern University, graduating magna cum laude in 2006. Carrie ended up not really needing that degree to go on to have her successful singing career, but it's still supercool that she completed it.
Mayim Bialik
The Big Bang Theory star is kind of a big deal, because she has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. Basically, Mayim is just as smart — if not smarter — than her BBT character. Even as she continues to act, Mayim is also dedicated to developing learning programs to help teach kids about science.
Kourtney Kardashian
As the oldest Kardashian child, Kourtney didn't have the luxury that Kendall and Kylie Jenner had, knowing that they were going to be just fine career- and money-wise — even without going to college. Kourtney had to actually prepare for a regular future, so she went to the University of Arizona, majoring in theater arts and graduating in 2002. What she does for a living now is actually not too far off from what she got her degree in!
