Ten Celebrities Who Are Fellow Book Geeks
Mayim Bialik: You’ll say “whoa” when you learn just what a smarty and a bookworm this former Blossom star is. Attending UCLA, she has her PhD in neuroscience, writing her thesis on Prader-Willi Syndrome. While Bialik reads a wide variety of books, she is attempting to embracing her Jewish faith by reading books by Jewish authors, starting her own book club with friends. I absolutely adore her on The Big Bang Theory, I knew I adored her for a reason!
Martin Scorsese: This highly acclaimed and Oscar winning director is more than just a Hollywood powerhouse. Scorsese has his MFA from New York University, and while he spends a good deal of time reading scripts he still loves to read books as well. He has stated that history books, especially those on the ancient world, are some of his favorites.
David Duchovny: After playing the seriously geeky Agent Mulder on The X-Files, it shouldn’t be hard to picture actor David Duchovny as a bookworm. This star has his bachelor’s from Princeton and went on to Yale to get his Master’s in English Literature. This well-read leading actor names Norman Mailer, Elmore Leonard and Thomas Pynchon as some of his favorite authors.
Matt Damon: Many may not know that Matt Damon was a Harvard literature student before he made his mark on the acting world. In fact, his Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting was actually written for a class at Harvard. While Damon never graduated from Harvard, leaving to instead pursue acting, he is still a lover of all things literature, even helping to produce and star in a special celebrating Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.
Conan O’Brien: This TV funnyman has always been a lover of books, with his geeky nature being the butt of many of his self-depreciating jokes. His love of literature took him to Harvard where he majored in History and Literature, writing his thesis on literary greats William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor.
Jay Leno: Recently, Jay Leno expressed frustration in finding a new home in LA where the library hadn’t been converted into a media room, stating that the value of books isn’t always appreciated by everyone in Hollywood. This talk show host knows the value of the written word as he struggled to read at an early age due to his dyslexia. Today, however, Leno and his wife have a large collection of books and are both avid readers.
Natalie Portman: Natalie Portman isn’t just talented when it comes to acting. The brainy star also went to Harvard, majoring in psychology, while shooting movies and working as an actress at the same time. She’s also, as you would expect, a pretty serious bookworm, naming Jonathan Safran Foer and Nabokov as two of her favorite reads.
Barack Obama: This world leader didn’t get to the top without some serious reading, earning his BA at Columbia and law degree at Harvard. President Obama has been a lifelong lover of literature, naming writers like Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway as his favorites, and is regularly seen with books, heard talking about books and helping to promote literature in schools in libraries across the nation.
Jon Stewart: As the host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart is responsible for interviewing all kinds of authors from political pundits to brilliant scientists. While he might make jokes or poke fun, it’s easy to see that Stewart has a real love of reading and actually reads part or all of the books he’s discussing. Stewart is also an author himself and his work on the show has earned him a number of journalism awards.
Oprah Winfrey: Oprah has said of books, “Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.” Since her beginnings in a small town, this bookworm has gone on to become one of the wealthiest women in the world, bringing her love of books with her. Her book club has inspired millions of people around the world to read everything from new fiction to literary classics.
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