List of artists and entertainers with advanced degrees

See also: List of athletes with advanced degrees

This is a list of artists and entertainers with advanced degrees (PhDs and other academic degrees leading to the title of Doctor). Excluded are honorary degrees.

Research doctorate

Person	Known for	Degree	Field	Institution
Chad Allen	Actor	Psy.D.	Clinical psychology	Antioch University New England[1][2]
Robert Allan	Member of the band Glasvegas	PhD	Music	Glasgow University[3]
Milo Aukerman	Member of the band Descendents	PhD	Biology	University of California, San Diego[4]
Mayim Bialik	Actress	PhD	Neuroscience[5]	University of California, Los Angeles[6]
Michael Bishop	Member of the band Gwar	PhD	Music[7]	University of Virginia
Pietro Boselli	Model, engineer, and lecturer at UCL	PhD	Computational fluid dynamics[8]	University College London[9]
Ian Bostridge	Opera and lieder singer	DPhil	History[10]	University of Oxford
Michael Burns	Actor	DPhil	History[11]	Yale University
Bill Bruford	Member of the bands Yes, King Crimson and U.K.	PhD	Music[12]	University of Surrey
Ellen Cleghorne	Actress and comedian	PhD	Performance Studies	New York University[13]
Alan Cooper	Member of the band Sha Na Na	PhD	Religious Studies	Yale University[14]
Max Cooper	Music producer	PhD	Computational biology[15]	University of Nottingham
Bill Cosby	Actor and comedian	EdD	Education	University of Massachusetts Amherst[16]
Brian Cox	Television presenter, physicist and former member of the bands D:Ream and Dare	PhD	Particle physics	University of Manchester[17]
Don S. Davis	Actor	PhD	Theatre	Southern Illinois University Carbondale[18]
William Fawcett	Actor	PhD	Elizabethan drama[19]	University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Runhild Gammelsæter	Member of the bands Thorr's Hammer and Khlyst	PhD	Cell physiology[20]	University of Oslo
Cheddar Gorgeous (Michael John Atkins)	Drag Queen	PhD	Anthropology	University of Manchester[21]
Harold Gould	Actor	PhD	Theatre	Cornell University
Greg Graffin	Member of the band Bad Religion	PhD	Evolutionary biology[22]	Cornell University
Dan Grimaldi	Actor	PhD	Data processing	City University of New York
David Grubbs	Member of the bands Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol.	PhD	English	University of Chicago[23]
Sir Lenny Henry	Actor and comedian, co-founder of Comic Relief	PhD	Media Arts	Royal Holloway, University of London[24]
Dexter Holland	Member of the band The Offspring	PhD	Molecular biology[25]	Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Vijay Iyer	Jazz pianist and composer	PhD	Technology and the Arts[26]	University of California, Berkeley
Paul Janz	Member of the band Deliverance and a professor of systematic theology	PhD	Philosophical Theology	University of Cambridge
Brendan Kavanagh	Pianist	PhD	English	University College Cork[27]
Mark Kermode	Film critic	PhD	English Literature	University of Manchester
Akash Khurana	Actor	PhD	Social Sciences	Tata Institute of Social Sciences[28][29]
Wagner Lamounier	Former member of the band Sepultura	DSc	Applied Economics[30]	Federal University of Viçosa
Robert A. Leonard	Member of the band Sha Na Na	PhD	Linguistics	Columbia University[31]
CN Lester	Singer-songwriter	PhD	Music	University of Huddersfield[32]
Annbjørg Lien	Musician	PhD	Hardanger fiddle	University of Agder[33][34]
Ria Lina	Comedian and writer	PhD	Viral bioinformatics	University College London[35][36]
Loretta Long	Actress	PhD	Urban education	University of Massachusetts Amherst[37]
David Lowrey	Member of the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker	EdD	Education	University of Georgia[38]
Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo aka "Sammus"	Rapper	PhD	Science and Technology Studies	Cornell University[39]
Sir Brian May	Member of the band Queen	PhD	Astrophysics	Imperial College London[40][41]
Adam Met	Member of the band AJR	PhD	International Human Rights Law	University of Birmingham[42]
Naeem Mohaiemen	Filmmaker, Artist, Writer	PhD	Anthropology	Columbia University[43]
Roy Montgomery	Composer and member of the bands The Pin Group and Dadamah	PhD	Theatre and Film Studies	University of Canterbury[44]
Sterling Morrison	Member of the band The Velvet Underground	PhD	Medieval studies	University of Texas at Austin[45]
Christopher Nowinski	Professional wrestler	PhD	Behavioral Neuroscience[46]	Boston University
John O'Brien	Soccer player	PhD	Clinical psychology	Alliant International University[47]
Niall O'Flaherty	Member of the band The Sultans of Ping	PhD	History of political thought	King's College, Cambridge[48][49]
Shaquille O'Neal	Basketball player, actor, and rapper	EdD	Education	Barry University[50]
Ethan Port	Member of the band Savage Republic	PhD	Mathematics	University of Southern California
Miuccia Prada	Fashion designer and businesswoman	PhD	Political science[51]	University of Milan
Priyadarshini	Singaporean-Indian playback singer	PhD	Film music	University of Mysore[52][53]
Rahul Ram	Member of the band Indian Ocean	PhD	Environmental Toxicology	Cornell University[54]
Dilshad Said	Kurdish musician	PhD	Music history	Mozarteum University Salzburg[55][56]
Robert Schneider	Member of the band The Apples in Stereo and record producer	PhD	Mathematics	Emory University[57]
Serrini	Singer-songwriter	PhD	Literary and Cultural Studies	University of Hong Kong[58]
Sam Shepherd	Electronic music producer	PhD	Neuroscience	University College London[59]
Rose Simpson	Member of the band The Incredible String Band	PhD	German Literature	Aberystwyth University[60][61]
Dan Snaith	Canadian musician, best known by the stage name Caribou	PhD	Mathematics	Imperial College London[62]
Billy Taylor	Jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator	EdD	Music Education	University of Massachusetts Amherst[63]
Alejandro Toledo	Composer, saxophonist, and ethnomusicologist	PhD	Music performance	Goldsmiths, University of London[64]
Gregg Turner	Member of the band Angry Samoans	PhD	Mathematics	Claremont Graduate University
Jared Van Snellenberg	Actor and neuroscientist	PhD	Psychology	Columbia University
Gala Varo (Jesús Meza Arroyo)	Drag queen and television personality	PhD	Biomedicine	University of Guadalajara[65]
Robert Vaughn	Actor	PhD	Communications	University of Southern California[66][67]
Indre Viskontas	Opera singer	PhD	Cognitive neuroscience	University of California, Los Angeles[68]
Sophie Ward	Novelist and actress	PhD	English and Comparative Literature	Goldsmiths, University of London[69]
Brian Wecht	Member of the band Ninja Sex Party	PhD	Particle physics	University of California, San Diego[70]
Peter Weller	Actor	PhD	Italian Renaissance art history[71]	University of California, Los Angeles[72]
Graham Wiggins	Musician	DPhil	Solid State Physics	University of Oxford
Warren Zanes	Member of the band The Del Fuegos	PhD	Visual and Cultural Studies[73]	University of Rochester

Medical degree

In many countries, the first medical degree is the MBBS (with MD being reserved for higher doctorates), yet holders of this degree are addressed as "doctor" while practising.

Person	Known for	Degree	Field	Institution
Mohan Agashe	Bollywood actor	MBBS, MD[74]	Medicine, Psychiatry	B. J. Medical College[75]
Britt Baker	Professional wrestler	DMD	Dentistry	University of Pittsburgh[76]
Alexander Borodin	Classical composer	MD[77]	Medicine and chemistry	Medical-Surgical Academy [de; ru], St Petersburg
Edgar Buchanan	Actor	DDS	Dentistry	North Pacific College School of Dentistry[78]
Graham Chapman	Member of the British comedy group Monty Python	MBBS	Medicine	St. Bartholomew's Medical College[79][80]
Meiyang Chang	Bollywood actor, television host and singer	BDS	Dental Surgery	Vokkaligara Sangha Dental College & Hospital[81]
Michael Crichton	Novelist and screenwriter	MD	Medicine	Harvard Medical School[82]
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	Author, creator of Sherlock Holmes	MBCM, MD[83]	Medicine	University of Edinburgh Medical School[84][85]
Graeme Garden	Scottish comedian and member of The Goodies	MBBS	Medicine	King's College London[86][87]
Aditi Govitrikar	Bollywood actress	MBBS	Medicine	Grant Medical College[88]
Harry Hill	Actor and comedian	MBBS	Medicine	University of London[89][90]
Ken Jeong	Actor and comedian	MD	Medicine[91]	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill[92]
Kamran Rashid Khan	Rapper	DO	Osteopathic Medicine	Michigan State University College of Human Medicine[93][94]
Shriram Lagoo	Bollywood film and theatre actor	MBBS	Medicine	B. J. Medical College[95]
Jonathan LaPaglia	Actor	MBBS	Medicine	University of Adelaide
James Lilja	Member of the band The Offspring	MD	Medicine	University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine[96]
George Miller	Film director and screenwriter	MBBS	Medicine	University of New South Wales[90]
Sir Jonathan Miller	Actor, writer, theatre director, and humourist	MBBChir	Medicine	University of Cambridge[97]
Arko Pravo Mukherjee	Singer-songwriter and music composer	MBBS	Medicine	Burdwan Medical College.[98]
Haing S. Ngor	Actor and gynecologist	MD	Medicine	University of Toulouse
Peter Ostrum	Actor	DVM	Veterinary Medicine	Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine[99]
Sai Pallavi	Actress and dancer	MBBS	Medicine	Tbilisi State Medical University[100]
Palash Sen	Member of the band Euphoria	MBBS	Medicine	University College of Medical Sciences[101]
Pedro Juan Vázquez Bragan	Rapper and songwriter	MD	Medicine	Universidad Central del Caribe[102][103]
Daryl Wilson	Member of the band The Bollweevils	MD	Medicine	Stritch School of Medicine
Peter Wingfield	Actor	MD	Medicine	Robert Larner College of Medicine

Other professional doctorates

In some countries, the Juris Doctor is the standard professional degree required to practise law, although the holder is usually not addressed as "doctor".

Person	Known for	Degree	Field	Institution
Jackie Fox	Member of the band The Runaways	JD	Law	Harvard Law School[104]
Denny Greene	Member of the band Sha Na Na	JD	Law	Yale University[105]
Hill Harper	Actor and writer	JD	Law	Harvard Law School[106]
Staci Keanan	Actress	JD	Law	Southwestern Law School[107]
Bridgit Mendler	Actress and singer-songwriter	JD	Law	Harvard Law School[108]
Tom Rapp	Member of the band Pearls Before Swine	JD	Law	University of Pennsylvania Law School[109][110]
William Sanderson	Actor	JD	Law	Memphis State University[111]
Fred Thompson	Actor and U.S. Senator	JD	Law	Vanderbilt University[112]
Steve Young	American football player	JD	Law	Brigham Young University[113]

Incomplete or revoked doctorates

Rapper Roxanne Shante publicly claimed in the early 2000s to have received a master's and PhD in psychology from Cornell University. A 2009 investigation by Slate found no evidence she had received either degree, or a bachelor's.^[114] Shante then apologized, stating she had never received a PhD.^[115]

Person	Known for	Degree	Field	Institution	Notes
Ella Al-Shamahi	Stand-up comedian and television presenter	PhD	Anthropology	University College London	Studying as of 2021[116]
Mira Aroyo	Member of the band Ladytron	DPhil	Molecular genetics	University of Oxford	Dropped out[117]
Rowan Atkinson	Actor and comedian	PhD	Electrical Engineering	University of Oxford	Dropped out[118]
Corey Cerovsek	Classical violinist	PhD	Mathematics	Indiana University	Completed doctoral course work[119]
Alan Coren	Humourist and writer	PhD	American literature	Yale University University of California, Berkeley	Dropped out[120]
David Duchovny	Actor	PhD		Yale University	Dropped out
James Franco[121]	Actor and filmmaker	PhD	English	Yale University	Studying as of 2011
		PhD	Creative Writing and Literature	University of Houston	Accepted, did not enroll[122]
Art Garfunkel	Singer and actor, member of the band Simon & Garfunkel	PhD	Mathematics Education[123]	Teachers College, Columbia University	Dropped out[124]
Hong Jin-young	South Korean trot singer and entertainer	PhD	Business Administration	Chosun University	Revoked[125]
Ashley Judd	Actress	PhD	Public Policy	University of California, Berkeley	Studying as of 2016[126]
Bridgit Mendler	Actor and singer-songwriter	PhD	Technologies & Social Machines	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Studying as of 2020[127]
Kim Min-seok	Singer and actor	PhD	Culture and Arts	Hoseo University	Studying as of 2017[128][129]
Ben Miller	Actor	PhD	Solid state physics	University of Cambridge	Dropped out[130]
Jay Sean	Singer-songwriter	MBBS	Medicine	Queen Mary University of London	Dropped out[131]
John Sessions	Actor	PhD	English Literature	McMaster University	Dropped out[132]
Zhai Tianlin	Actor	PhD	Film Science	Beijing Film Academy	Revoked[133]
Lee Young-ae	Actress	PhD	Theater and Cinema	Hanyang University	Studying as of 2009[134][135]