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Never pretend to be less smart than you are — some of the biggest stars are in the world are certified geniuses, proving that you can be cool and nerdy at the same time. Just as the world’s smartest man loves celebrity gossip and pop music and sees his diverse passions as a sign of intelligence, some stars who could have pursued careers in science, tech or academia decided to go into music, movies and TV instead. Since the only thing higher than their IQs is their bank balances, we doubt they have many regrets about applying their superior brains to performing instead of science…
Lady Gaga
We all know that Gaga is a creative genius, but it turns out she’s an actual genius too with a widely-estimated IQ of 166, making her “exceptionally gifted” — and we don’t disagree! At middle school, the singer even joined a prestigious summer program for “talented youth” which only admitted kids in the top 1 percent academically.
Shakira
The average person has an IQ of 100, but Shakira is no average person: the singer confirmed in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that her IQ of 140 means she has been invited to join Mensa, the global society for people with high IQs. While the singer never went to college, she is fluent in six languages and was writing poetry from the age of four. Breasts: small and humble (to quote “Whenever, Wherever”). Brain: huge.
Natalie Portman
Since we already know Portman went to Harvard, perhaps this one is less surprising: according to Business Insider, the Oscar-winning actress’s IQ is around 140, officially the threshold for genius. Born in Israel and once married to a Frenchman, she can speak five languages (one less than Shakira though, just saying!) and has published scientific papers. This is one seriously impressive woman.
Mayim Bialik
She’s no Sheldon Cooper — the Big Bang Theory character’s fictional IQ is 187 — but she’s not too far behind her onscreen partner: the actress, who has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, was accepted by Harvard and Yale and, according to Esquire, is thought to have an IQ between 153 and 160.
Quentin Tarantino
The legendary director was a high-school dropout but it had nothing to do with his academic abilities: his IQ is listed by IMDB as around 160. In hindsight, we’re pretty glad he’s applied his genius streak to making incredible movies instead of working in a lab.
Lisa Kudrow
While her most famous character, Friends’ Phoebe Buffay, could perhaps be described as more spiritually astute than booksmart, IRL Kudrow is extremely intelligent: according to Harper’s Bazaar she has an IQ of 154 and, after graduating from Vassar College, had planned on a career in science before she broke into acting.
Matt Damon
Another dropout — this time from Harvard! Damon’s IQ is reportedly (by numerous sources including MSN) 160, putting him in the top 0.03% of the population, but he decided he wanted to pursue acting over anything more traditionally cerebral.
Kesha
“I used to really get off on math,” said the singer, who has an IQ of 140 and received an SAT score of 1500. “Like, math makes me hot. I love it. It’s kind of like solving mysteries, math problems. Sometimes when I get drunk I’ll talk to my guitar player and be like ‘give me a math problem’!”
Cindy Crawford
Supermodel looks and a genius brain? Some people truly are genetically blessed. Crawford, with a reported IQ of 154, according to Marie Claire, was her high school valedictorian and was given a scholarship to study chemical engineering and mathematics at Northwestern University, before deciding to pursue modelling. Smart move: she became the highest-paid model of the ‘90s.
Michael Jordan
Professional athletes aren’t known for their brains, but much of Jordan’s success in basketball can be put down to his IQ of, according to Sports Illustrated and Esquire, around 154. People with very high IQs have a heightened understanding of patterns, systems and strategies, something Jordan deployed to devastating effect on the court.
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