List of famous people who majored in drama, including photos when available. This list of famous drama majors is ordered loosely by relevance, meaning the most well-known people will be towards the top. The names of the colleges or universities that these prominent drama majors attended are displayed next to each person's name- you can also see other bits of information such as what year the person was born and what kind of degree they received. If you're looking for a particular celebrity who majored in drama you can use the "filter" bar to search for a specific name.
The list you're viewing is made up of many different people, including Jennifer Garner and Kristen Bell.
This list answers the questions, "Which celebrities were drama majors?" and "What are the names of popular people who studied drama?"
Share this list of respected drama majors by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. Some of these people might not necessarily be actors or athletes, but they're certainly all renowned in their own line of work.
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and film producer. A recipient of critical acclaim and numerous accolades and awards, Jackson is the actor whose films have made the highest total gross revenue.
He came to prominence in the early 1990s with films such as Goodfellas (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino including Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). He is a highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 150 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), The Negotiator (1998), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its sequel, XXX (2002), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kong: Skull Island (2017) and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005).
With Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury. He has subsequently played Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), as well as in the television series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Jackson has provided his voice to several animated films, television series and video games, including the roles of Lucius Best / Frozone in Pixar Animation Studios' films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018), Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Whiplash in Turbo (2013), Afro Samurai in the anime television series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).
Jackson is married to LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe.
Jackson is ranked as the highest all-time box office star with over $7 billion total US box office gross, an average of $89.6 million per film. The worldwide box office total of his films (excluding cameo appearances) is over $16.7 billion. He became the top-grossing actor in October 2011, surpassing Frank Welker.
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (1997–2006) and for creating the acclaimed comedy series 30 Rock (2006–2013) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019). Fey is also known for her work in film, with starring roles in Baby Mama (2008), Date Night (2010), Megamind (2010), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), Sisters (2015), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016), and Wine Country (2019).
Fey broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She then joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment and, later, for her satirical portrayal of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in subsequent guest appearances. In 2004, she co-starred in and wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, which was adapted from the 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes. After leaving SNL in 2006, Fey created the television series 30 Rock for Broadway Video, a sitcom loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey starred as Liz Lemon, the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2011, she released her memoir, Bossypants, which topped The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks and garnered her a Grammy Award nomination. In 2015, she co-created the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Fey created the musical adaptation Mean Girls, which premiered on Broadway in 2018, and earned her a Tony Award nomination.
Fey has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and seven Writers Guild of America Awards. In 2008, the Associated Press gave Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year award for her Sarah Palin impression on SNL. In 2010, Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the award.
Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American actress. Following a supporting role in Pearl Harbor (2001), Garner gained recognition for her performance as CIA officer Sydney Bristow in the ABC spy-action thriller Alias, which aired from 2001 to 2006. For her work on the series, she won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
While working on Alias, Garner made a cameo appearance in Catch Me If You Can (2002), followed by giving a praised leading performance in the romantic comedy film 13 Going on 30 (2004). Garner has appeared in supporting as well as lead roles, including the superhero films Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005), the comedy-drama Juno (2007), and the fantasy-comedy The Invention of Lying (2009). In the 2010s, she appeared in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010), the fantasy drama The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012), the biographic drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013), the family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014), the drama Miracles from Heaven (2016), the romantic comedy-drama Love, Simon (2018), and the action thriller Peppermint (2018).
Garner works frequently as an activist for early childhood education and is a board member of Save the Children. She is also an advocate for anti-paparazzi campaigns among children of celebrities. Garner had a five-year relationship with Scott Foley from 1998 to 2003, during which they married. Garner married actor Ben Affleck in 2005; they separated in 2015 and divorced in 2018. Garner and Affleck have three children together.
Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.
Pegg came to public prominence in Britain as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, directed by Edgar Wright. He went on to co-write and star in the Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013). He and Nick Frost wrote and starred in the sci-fi film Paul (2011). Pegg portrays Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible film series (2006–present) and played Montgomery Scott in Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016), co-writing the latter.
Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. She began her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and starred in the Broadway revival of The Crucible the following year. In 2004, she appeared in the action thriller film Spartan and received critical praise for her performance in the television drama film Gracie's Choice.
Bell garnered critical acclaim for her first major role as the title character in the teen noir drama television series Veronica Mars (2004–07). For her performance, she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. She reprised the eponymous role in the 2014 film continuation and the 2019 revival series. During her time on Veronica Mars, Bell starred as Mary Lane in the musical film Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005), a reprise of the role she had played in the New York musical upon which the film was based. From 2007 to 2008, Bell starred as Elle Bishop in the science fiction drama series Heroes. From 2007 to 2012, she voiced the titular narrator in the teen drama series Gossip Girl.
In 2008, she had her breakout film role as the title character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She has since appeared in a number of comedy films, including Couples Retreat (2009), When in Rome (2010), You Again (2010), The Boss (2016), Bad Moms (2016), and A Bad Moms Christmas (2017). Bell garnered further recognition for voicing Princess Anna in the Disney animated fantasy films Frozen (2013) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the short films Frozen Fever (2015) and Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017), and the upcoming Frozen 2 (2019).
From 2012 to 2016, Bell starred as Jeannie van der Hooven, the female lead on the Showtime comedy series House of Lies. Since 2016, she has starred in the lead role of Eleanor Shellstrop on the acclaimed NBC comedy series The Good Place, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress and activist. After graduating from a four-year theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film Perfect Pie (2002), for which she received a Genie Award nomination, the comedy film My Name Is Tanino (2002), and the comedy series Slings and Arrows, for which she won a Gemini Award.
In 2002, she made her Hollywood film debut in the comedy The Hot Chick. McAdams rose to fame in 2004 with the comedy Mean Girls and the romantic drama The Notebook. In 2005, she starred in the romantic comedy Wedding Crashers, the psychological thriller Red Eye, and the comedy-drama The Family Stone. She was hailed by the media as Hollywood's new "it girl", and received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Rising Star.
After a two-year break, McAdams starred in two limited-release films in 2008, the film noir Married Life and the road trip drama The Lucky Ones. She returned to prominence in 2009, by appearing in the political thriller State of Play, the science-fiction romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife, and the mystery action-adventure film Sherlock Holmes. In 2010, McAdams appeared in her first star vehicle, the comedy Morning Glory. She then had starring roles in the films Midnight in Paris (2011), The Vow (2012), and About Time (2013). In 2015, her highest profile roles were in the second season of the HBO crime drama True Detective, and as journalist Sacha Pfeiffer in the drama Spotlight. For the latter, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2016, she played Christine Palmer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Doctor Strange. In 2018, she starred in the comedy Game Night and the romantic drama Disobedience.
