Natalie Portman & MCU stars with impressive college degrees

Your favourite Marvel superheroes are smarter than you think.

Behind the action and fame, many Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) stars have strong academic backgrounds that often surprise fans.

Natalie Portman, known for films like Black Swan, V for Vendetta, and Jackie, also appeared in the Star Wars prequels and the Thor series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

She has always put education first, even skipping the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace to study for exams before continuing to university.

And she’s not alone. Several MCU actors studied at top universities while acting, earning degrees across different fields.

Here’s a look at where some beloved MCU actors studied and what they majored in.

TL;DR? Here’s the summary:

• This article lists MCU actors like Natalie Portman, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Hiddleston, and others with impressive college degrees
• Some balanced elite education with successful acting careers.
• Their academic backgrounds span law, psychology, arts, and science.

Natalie Portman: Harvard University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Higher education was always in Natalie Portman’s line of sight. And her Harvard degree stands as the most academically rigorous credential among her MCU co-stars.

After graduating from high school, she applied to and was admitted to Harvard University, where she studied for a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

From the get-go, it was clear that Portman was not just another actress who gained admission to an Ivy League college because of her reputation. She applied under her real last name, “Hershlag,” to protect her privacy and ensure her acceptance rested on merit alone.

Her former professor, Alan Dershowitz, says he still cites a paper she wrote that debunked a new method of lie-detector tests. She received an A+ for it, the highest grade in the class.

“She was really on the cutting edge,” Dershowitz said of Portman, adding that she later became his research assistant. “I think there were a lot of people in the class who really were taken with this new methodology. She just ripped it apart.”

Portman continued to pursue her acting at the same time, making sure to balance her studies while doing so.

“Natalie never once asked for an extension or to be excused from her responsibilities,” said Abigail A. Baird, one of Portman’s former mentors at Harvard. This often meant that she would submit papers early if she had any scheduled appearances, for example.

After graduating from Harvard and accumulating a few more successful performances, Natalie Portman went to Hebrew University in Jerusalem for six months, studying spoken Arabic, spoken Hebrew, the history of Israel, the history of Islam, and the anthropology of violence.

Tom Hiddleston: The University of Cambridge

Aside from being a talented, award-winning actor, Tom Hiddleston is a lover of language. It’s precisely why, after graduating from the prestigious Eton College, he was accepted into the University of Cambridge — specifically Pembroke College — to study classics.

There, he gained a Double First in Classics.

Like Portman, Hiddleston also pursued his acting at the same time. He threw himself into the acting community at Cambridge, participating in stage plays whilst also joining the rugby team.

He was eventually noticed by a casting director during a performance in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

Following that, Hiddleston went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which produced tremendous talents such as 2025 Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes, the late Alan Rickman, and decorated actor Kenneth Branagh.

“I enjoyed my academic studies hugely,” he wrote in a reflection on his education for TeachWire. “I sort of realise how that background is so helpful and such an advantage; an education is an extraordinary gift, and it’s funny how much I lean on it now.”

While his time in the MCU has come to a close after Avengers: Endgame and Loki, his acclaimed run as Benedick in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Much Ado About Nothing — which played Theatre Royal Drury Lane from February to April 2025 — is transferring to the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, with previews beginning October 31 and a strictly limited 10-week engagement running through January 10, 2027.

Chadwick Boseman: Howard University

The late Chadwick Boseman was — and continues to be — beloved by the world for his performance as King T’Challa in 2018’s “Black Panther”.

He broke onto the scene with a lead role in the baseball film “42” and continued to astound audiences in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Get On Up,” and “Da 5 Bloods.”

Before that, though, Boseman pursued an education at Howard University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing.

Whilst there, he led a student protest against the College of Fine Arts’ absorption into the College of Arts & Sciences, and remained an active alumni member long after graduating.

Upon the actor’s death, Howard University renamed the College of Fine Arts in honour of Boseman’s memory. It’s now the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

“Chad fought to preserve the College of Fine Arts during his matriculation at Howard and remained dedicated to the fight throughout his career,” says Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick. “His time at Howard University helped shape both the man and the artist that he became, committed to truth, integrity, and a determination to transform the world through the power of storytelling.”

In 2021, Netflix also established a US$5.4 million scholarship at Howard University in Boseman’s honour.

Gemma Chan: The University of Oxford

Unlike most Hollywood stars, “Crazy Rich Asians” actress Gemma Chan didn’t gravitate toward acting from the start. She studied law at the University of Oxford, specifically choosing Worcester College for its even male-to-female split, and after graduating, landed a job at a prestigious law firm.

Despite her relatively successful legal career, Chan was always drawn towards acting. To realise her dreams, she took night classes at the London Central School of Speech and Drama — and eventually decided to quit her job to pursue acting full-time.

“In all honesty, it was really painful,” Chan told British Vogue. “My dad was always very much like, ‘Work for something that they can’t take away from you.’ That was the mentality. Hence: get your qualifications. Hence: it was such a scary or completely inconceivable thing to pursue an unknown career in the arts.”

While Chan never did realise her career as a lawyer, she says she has certainly found her education useful as an actor.

“It is quite helpful with memorisation,” she was quoted saying. “I had to learn about 2,000 cases by heart, so I am fairly good at learning scripts quickly. On the whole, it is quite a different part of the brain: Law is very analytical, and acting is more instinctive and emotionally driven. But, it does come in handy with learning lines ― and reading my own contract.”

Chan is widely recognised for playing Sersi in Marvel’s “Eternals,” though attentive fans may recall her earlier MCU appearance as Minn-Erva in 2019’s “Captain Marvel.”

Sebastian Stan: Rutgers University

Romanian-born actor Sebastian Stan is another familiar face in the MCU, having played his iconic character, Bucky Barnes, AKA the Winter Soldier, in several instalments, including “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*.”

When young, Stan moved to New York, where his mother married Anthony Fruhauf, the headmaster of Rockland Country Day School, which Stan then attended. During his time there, he starred in several school productions such as “West Side Story,” “Harvey,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and more.

“He got his start right in my seventh-grade English class when I had the kids divide up and prepare scenes from Romeo and Juliet,” shares his teacher, Ellen Nodelman, who is presently the Director of College Guidance and Testing at Rockland. “He was very reluctant. He had never acted and wasn’t all that sure of his English pronunciation. He did it and was a smash hit as Romeo! Followed two years later by a role in the school musical, he was hooked.”

Once he decided to take acting seriously, he attended Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, and spent a year abroad studying acting at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, England.

Anthony Mackie: Juilliard School

Anthony Mackie initially had a very different career path in mind before stepping onto the stage and eventually into the Marvel spotlight.

“I wanted to be a mechanical engineer,” Mackie says in an interview for LADbible TV. “I went to engineering school at Mobil oil! I studied thermodynamics and fluid propulsion.”

His choice of engineering as a potential career wasn’t surprising, considering that his brother, Calvin Mackie, was an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans. His other brother was a lawyer.

“I knew I wasn’t smart enough to be a lawyer, so engineer was the next pick,” Mackie says. “I honestly thought engineering was all about building things and blowing things up! How could you not be excited about that?

After starring in numerous school productions, he moved to New York City to attend Juilliard School when he turned 17. But despite a booming career on the big screen, he has never forgotten his theatre roots and credits his education for his versatility as an actor.

Benedict Cumberbatch: London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA)

Before becoming Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch took the academic route into performing arts. 

“I did a lot of acting at school and university, then I went to drama school. It was quite a normal route,” he shares.

He studied drama at the University of Manchester, then went on to earn a Master of Arts in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2000. 

His breakthrough came with the BBC series Sherlock, where he played the lead, Sherlock Holmes.

Paul Rudd: University of Kansas

Before Paul Rudd started acting professionally, he first attended the University of Kansas, where he studied theatre. He even went on to continue his training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. 

The knowledge and skills he gained led to his breakout role in the 1995 classic film, Clueless. 

Over the following years, he went on to act in many movies and TV shows before entering the MCU as Ant-Man in 2015.

Lupita Nyong’o: Yale University

Lupita Nyong’o is one of the most academically accomplished stars in the MCU. 

In 2007, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film and African Studies from Hampshire College.

Instead of immediately pursuing a full-time acting career, Nyong’o decided to complete a Master of Fine Arts in Acting at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. 

The education she gained helped her score her breakout role almost immediately after graduation, when she was cast as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. She even earned an Academy Award for it.

In 2018, she joined the Marvel universe, starring as Nakia in Black Panther. 

Angela Bassett: Yale University 

Before becoming Queen Ramonda in Marvel’s Black Panther, Angela Bassett earned not one, but two degrees from Yale University. 

Bassett earned a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies in 1980 before continuing at the Yale School of Drama, where she completed a Master of Fine Arts in 1983. 

Prioritising her education, she pursued both degrees before finding success in Hollywood. Her breakthrough came with her portrayal of Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, which earned her an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win. 

Fun fact: she met her future husband, Courtney B. Vance, while they were both graduate students at Yale School of Drama.

At a glance: MCU actors with impressive college degrees

Actor	Field of study
Natalie Portman	Psychology
Tom Hiddleston	Classics
Chadwick Boseman	Fine Arts (Directing)
Gemma Chan	Law
Sebastian Stan	Acting (Mason Gross)
Anthony Mackie	Drama
Benedict Cumberbatch	Classical Acting
Paul Rudd	Theatre
Lupita Nyong’o	Fine Arts and African Studies
Angela Bassett	African American Studies and Fine Arts

Beyond these core MCU actors, the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe has also welcomed many more highly educated actors.

Disclaimer: This article was updated on July 20, 2026.