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Geek stars: The secret (nerdy) life of celebrities
Who says all the big stars are brainless?
Angela Gunn
October 25, 2007 (Computerworld) - We at Computerworld would be the last
to say that science and technology aren't creative pursuits. Still, when
most people say, "Oh, she's very creative," they're probably not talking
about the subject's ability to perform higher math or engineer a network.
Such people might be amazed to learn of the remarkable number of actors,
directors, musicians and other celebrities who nurture an inner geek.
We've done some digging and came up with a list of geek stars -
celebrities who work at traditional artistic pursuits to make their way in
the world, but have been known to kick back with a little astrophysics or
microbiology in their spare time. Some of these headliners do exude a
distinct nerdy spark, but others in our list will undoubtedly surprise you.
NerdTube: Geek television actors
M*A*S*H's Alan Alda is well loved for his efforts to educate the general
public about science and its joys, but Hawkeye may not have been the
biggest geek at the 4077th - Larry Linville (Major Burns) studied
aeronautical engineering at the University of Colorado (giving it up when
he realized he was colorblind) and is said to have built and flown his own
gliders.
Some geek TV stars are best known for roles that don't stray too far from
type. Star Trek: The Next Generation vet, author and pioneering blogger
Wil Wheaton has allegedly said that in his teenage years, "I was such a
geek that if I could go back in time, I would kick my own ass."
Numb3rs' geek-friendly FBI agent Dylan Bruno (Colby) has a degree in
environmental engineering from MIT. Heroes' every-nerd Masi Oka
double-majored in math and computer science at Brown University and after
graduation went to work at George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, where
as recently as last November, he was still putting in a couple of days a
week.
And what is there to say about Cornell University mechanical engineering
grad, former Boeing employee, patent-holder, comedian and TV host Bill Nye
other than "Science rules!"?
Other TV celebrities' geekish ways may surprise you. Soap opera heartthrob
Drake Hogestyn (John Black/Roman Brady, Days of Our Lives) graduated from
the University of South Florida with a double major in microbiology and
applied sciences. John Astin (the original Addams Family patriarch)
studied math, not theater, at Johns Hopkins University, though he's
currently a professor in the latter department. And Lisa Kudrow (spacey
Phoebe on Friends) has a biology degree from Vassar College.
In the "it's not TV it's HBO" department, Ally Walker, who currently stars
in the racy Tell Me You Love Me, studied biology and chemistry at
University of California, Santa Cruz, and was employed on a genetic
engineering project until a Hollywood producer spotted her in a
restaurant. Meanwhile, Dan Grimaldi (Patsy Parisi, The Sopranos) has a
Bachelor of Arts degree in math, a master's in operations research and a
Ph.D. in data processing. He teaches in the math and computer sciences
department at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn.
But if one is keeping an honor roll of such things - and we are - there's
a duo that takes the laurel for geek tendencies where one least expects to
find them. Were they feeding those child stars of '80s sitcoms something
special at the craft table? How else can one explain not one, but two
excellent geeks emerging from the era - Danica McKellar (Winnie, The
Wonder Years) and Mayim Bialik (Blossom on, well, Blossom). Bialik is
currently a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at UCLA; McKellar started UCLA
as a film major but clicked with calculus and has since co-authored both a
statistical mechanics paper that led to getting her name on a theorem (the
Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem) and a new book for middle schoolers, Math
Doesn't Suck.
Of course, some actors are equally well known for their work in the
movies. Bridging the gap between television and film we have Rowan
Atkinson, equally geek-beloved as Mr. Bean and Blackadder. Atkinson has a
master's in electrical engineering from Queen's College, Oxford, which
will lead us in a moment to a disturbing nest of engineering majors that
fled for Hollywood. But first ...
Lights, camera, geeks
As we said, actors cross over all the time between television and the
movies. Two geek-friendly sitcom stars of the late '70s and early '80s
successfully recycled their careers into film superstardom, starting with
Tom Hanks, whose passion for the space program brought us From the Earth
to the Moon and Apollo 13. Hanks is also on the board of governors of the
National Space Society and has said he'd have liked to have gone into the
astronaut program but "didn't have the math."
Robin Williams, meanwhile, is a hardcore gamer (he named his daughter
Zelda, for Pete's sake!) and has a reputation as a serious gadget hound.
He's spoken informally at a number of fun tech firms, including a keynote
at Google Inc.
Hanks and Williams are, of course, both multiple Oscar winners. Other
actors with both gold statuettes and tech chops include Jack Lemmon
(Mister Roberts, Save the Tiger), who majored in War Services Sciences (a
subdivision of the physics department) at Harvard University, and
supporting player par excellence Walter Brennan (The Westerner, Kentucky,
Come and Get It), who majored in engineering at the Rindge School of
Technical Arts in Cambridge, Mass.
Our three-person honor roll includes an additional Oscar winner, along
with a Fulbright awardee and a self-educated player who almost definitely
makes it possible for you to be reading this very article. First up is
Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow, the upcoming Iron Man), who has a chemical
engineering degree from Pratt University and has declared his intention to
eventually go back to school for a doctorate in physics.
Action star and fellow chemical engineering degree-holder Dolph Lundgren
(Rocky IV, The Punisher), meanwhile, was attending grad school at MIT on a
Fulbright when he decided to drop out and try the acting thing. Finally,
beauty queen Hedy Lamarr (Ecstasy, Samson and Delilah) owns us all for her
pioneering work on spread spectrum technology, which makes both Ethernet
and your cell phone tick.
Direct to the engineering department
What is it about directors and engineering degrees? All but one of the
directors we found in our search had either an engineering degree or
extensive study in the field ... or, in one case, the kind of real-world
experience that cannot be denied.
Alfred Hitchcock studied art at the University of London, but he also put
in time in the School of Engineering and Navigation at St. Ignatius
College in London, eventually working as a draftsman. The master of
suspense studied mechanics, electricity, acoustics and navigation.
California's nerd troops include Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life),
about whom fellow director Mack Sennett noted, "Capra had a degree in
[chemical] engineering from the California Institute of Technology, but he
had so much sheer ability that he was able to conceal it," and Terry
Gilliam (Monty Python, Brazil) who dabbled in the Occidental College
physics department before, he claims, concluding that political science
had fewer graduation requirements.
Up the coast, one wonders if the efficiencies taught in Stanford
University's industrial engineering program enabled Roger Corman to bring
in movies such as Little Shop of Horrors and The Raven famously fast,
cheap and under control. Back in New York, master-of-all-genres Howard
Hawks (His Girl Friday, To Have and Have Not, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,
Rio Bravo and the original Scarface) gained a mechanical engineering
degree from Cornell after early studies at Throop Polytechnic Institute
(better known as Caltech) and worked for a while as an aircraft designer
and aviator.
What's that? You say you've heard of another Howard with a flair for both
directing and aviation? But, of course, our directorial honor roll choice
is Howard Hughes, whose film credits as a director include The Outlaw and
Hell's Angels. Hughes merely audited math and engineering courses at
Caltech and dropped out of Rice University, but anyone who designs and
builds giant wooden aircraft for fun (and acquires an airline along the
way) is simply more geek than you are.
Geeks scale the musical heights
There's an innate geek appeal in music, where everyone has to at least be
able to count to four. (Insert your own drummer joke here.) Entire
categories of music, such as nerdcore and minimalist, are heavily
populated by techish types. Other singers and musicians may surprise you
with their tech chops.
Some of the leading lights in this category will be no surprise at all,
especially to those who enjoy a good synthesizer riff. Moog pioneer Wendy
Carlos is an astronomy buff - a coronaphile, specifically - recognized for
her remarkable eclipse photos. She double-majored in music and physics at
Brown.
"Rockit" jazzman Herbie Hancock double-majored in music and electrical
engineering at Grinnell College. Erstwhile Thompson Twins ("Hold Me Now")
lead Michael White became that most blessed of creatures: a top-notch
science writer and novelist, spending time in addition as a science
lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College in Oxford.
And Thomas Dolby went from New Wave pop fun (and one perfect album) to
both pioneering the ringtone market and acting as musical director for the
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference.
It's not all plinky synths and asymmetric haircuts, though: Huey Lewis
also majored in engineering before dropping out of Cornell. It's not
entirely about the '80s, either (though again, clearly something about the
youth of the slacker generation made us geektastic).
Backing up to the '70s, we find Tom Scholz, lead musician for Boston
("More Than a Feeling"), with a mechanical engineering master's from MIT;
he worked as a product design engineer at Polaroid Corp. while developing
the musical tech he needed to produce the band's particular sound and
holds a couple of dozen patents so far. And '60s folk rock icon Art
Garfunkel has a master's in math from Columbia University.
Stretching way back to the early years of recorded music, superstar
singer, comedian and Broadway pioneer Bert Williams ("Nobody") was on his
way to Stanford to begin a civil engineering major when he decided to drop
out and join a minstrel show. (Not the first time San Francisco has
distracted a would-be nerd.)
Moving forward in time, '90s alternative rock god and current "forget the
record labels" online hero Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was in pursuit
of a computer engineering degree from Pennsylvania's Allegheny College
before moving to Cleveland to start a series of bands. The ineffably
nerdical "Weird Al" Yankovic was actually an architecture major, but his
body of work ("It's All About The Pentiums," baby) speaks for itself, as
does NSYNC star Lance Bass' spirited pursuit of his cosmonaut
certification.
Our honor roll is in tune with three remarkable nerds. Todd Rundgren
("Hello It's Me") is legendary for developing the Utopia Graphics System,
one of the very first paint programs, and has remained profoundly engaged
with technology throughout his recording and producing career. Queen
guitarist Brian May is slated to receive his Ph.D. in astrophysics from
Imperial College in London in May 2008 after completing his oral defense
in August; he is also a successful popular science writer.
Finally, song parodist and Dr. Demento favorite Tom Lehrer left show
business to focus on mathematics; he has a bachelor's and a master's in
math from Harvard and is reputed to occasionally burst into song during
lectures for his students at UC Santa Cruz.
ery occasionally, geeks slip into celebrity where you least expect them.
It's no surprise that the ranks of science fiction writers are full of
nerdy types, but Sandra Tsing Loh (physics, Caltech) and Norman Mailer
(engineering studies, Harvard) are doing just fine on the more mainstream
bookshelves, respectively.
The late Kurt Vonnegut was, of course, passionately concerned with
technology and its discontents; he started his college career at Cornell
in biochemistry and switched to mechanical engineering at the "invitation"
of the U.S. Army, which sent him to the Carnegie Institute of Technology
(now Carnegie Mellon University) and the University of Tennessee before
shipping him to Europe for World War II.
And our free-form entry to the honor roll? Talk show host Montel Williams
has an engineering degree from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and
served as a special duty intelligence officer specializing in cryptology,
making him a rare security-focused celebrity geek.
Hey, what about...?
We had to draw the line somewhere, and your favorite geek(ish) celeb may
have fallen on the other side of it. For instance, Prince and David Bowie
were both early Net adopters, but one suspects neither was so much geeking
as using technology they borrowed from the spaceships that brought them to
our world.
Likewise, Natalie Portman - beloved of geek fanboys worldwide since long
before her Star Wars turns - is an accomplished psychology student with
two published papers under her belt, but psych isn't strictly a science or
tech pursuit. (Waaahbulances will please park in the designated Comments
section.)
A number of big name stars have taken seriously their
celebrity-spokesperson role for various diseases and medical conditions,
including the late Christopher Reeve (spinal cord injury, stem cell
research), Michael J. Fox (Parkinson's disease), Elizabeth Taylor and
self-described nerd Sharon Stone (AIDS/HIV), and the late Danny Thomas
(cancer research; Thomas founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in
Memphis). Such folks have educated themselves and kept abreast of
developments - an honorable near-geek choice, but not quite what we were
looking for in this article.
Red Sox ace pitcher Curt Schilling is a notorious EverQuest and Advanced
Squad Leader junkie who has gone so far as to found his very own MMORPG
firm and blog, but without more sports stars on our list, he was simply
too much of an outlier. (We must admit, though, that the prospect of the
man picking up a bat and beating the stuffing out of a defective QuesTec
umpire-monitoring machine does provide an argument that Schilling is a
technology Everyman ... or at least that he has exactly the same moments
of frustration the rest of us do with our work gear.)
Finally, a few celebrities are geeky, but not as geeky as their
reputations. Will Smith, for instance, is known to be a thorough math and
chess nerd, but the rumor that he turned down MIT to pursue his Fresh
Prince rap career is only that - a rumor. The late Frank Zappa has an
asteroid, various animal species and a bacterium gene named after him, but
despite a keen interest in the mathematics of music he was mainly
self-taught.
Actress, blogger and environmentalist Daryl Hannah exhibits a distinctly
geekish personality, but even her role as Blade Runner's Pris doesn't
quite bump her to the top of the list. Neither does fellow
environmentalist Ed Begley Jr.'s stint as Greenbean on the original
Battlestar Galactica. And Dilbert creator Scott Adams? He worked closely
with engineers and the like at Crocker National Bank and Pacific Bell, but
his appreciation for nerddom is mainly observational - he's an MBA with an
undergraduate degree in economics.
So, how'd we do? Did we miss a favorite? Tell us in the Comments section.
Angela Gunn is Computerworld's Security Channel editor.
