---
title: 16 Famous Celebrities Who Went to Community College
description: Community Colleges often get a bad rep, but many successful (and even famous) people have enjoyed the many benefits of attending a community college. Check out this list of 16 famous celebrities who went to community college ...
---

[The Hocking College Experience ](https://blog.hocking.edu)

# [16 Famous Celebrities Who Went to Community College](https://blog.hocking.edu/famous-celebrities-who-attended-community-college)

 Written by [Tim Brunicardi](https://blog.hocking.edu/author/tim-brunicardi) | Aug 29, 2018 6:38:00 PM

Community Colleges often get a bad rep, but many successful (and even famous) people have enjoyed the many benefits of attending a community college.

Check out this list of famous people who decided Community College was a great option for their situations.

## Queen Latifah

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/7ala7))

*American Rapper, Songwriter, Singer, Actress, and Producer*

**School:** [**Borough of Manhattan Community College**](https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/j2ee/)

**Major**: Broadcasting

**Net Worth**: $60 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Latifah gained mainstream success and acclaim with her performance in the film "Chicago" and has since been in movies such as, "Girls Trip," "22 Jump Street," and "Joyful Noise."

**About Going to College**: "You couldn’t live in my house and not go to college." - Queen Latifah

## Albert Pujols

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/EGbza))

*Dominican-American Professional Baseball Player*

**School:** **[Maple Woods Community College](https://www.mcckc.edu/maplewoods)**

****Major****: Unknown

**Net Worth: **$110 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Current first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB).

**About Recognizing Your Own Greatness:** "You know your talent. You know if you work hard, your hard work is going to pay off one day." - Albert Pujols

## Guy Fieri

 

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/4C3Bx))

*American Restaurateur, Author, Game Show Host, and an Emmy Award Winning Television Personality*

**School:** **[American River College](http://www.arc.losrios.edu)**, **[College of the Redwoods](https://www.redwoods.edu/)**

****Major****: **[Hospitality Management](https://www.hocking.edu/culinary-arts-hotel-and-restaurant-management)**

**Net Worth**: $8.5 million

**Most Well-Known For**: He co-owns three restaurants in California and is the host of Food Network's, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."

**About Starting College Early**: "When I was a sophomore in high school, I made a deal with my parents: If I went to the junior college in our town and took French and got a B or better, they would let me go to France... So I took French in junior college during my lunch break while I was in high school. My mom would drive me. I was only 15. Then at 16-and-a-half years old, I got on a plane, flew to Paris... I came back and that was it. I didn't even go back to high school, I went straight to college." - Guy Fieri

## Halle Berry

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/1ENTK))

*American Actress*

**School:** [**Cuyahoga Community College**](https://www.tri-c.edu/)

****Major****: Journalism

**Net Worth**: $80 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Played the role of Storm in the "X-Men" series.

About Picking Your Major: "...One of my teachers said, 'I think you should be an actor. I think you've got some talent.' And I thought 'Well, I don't really want to be an actor. I want to be a journalist. I'm gonna go to college and I'm gonna be a journalist. I like to write.'" - Halle Berry

## Clint Eastwood

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/KA7ha))

American Actor, Filmmaker, Musician, and Political Figure

**School:** [**Los Angeles City College**](https://www.lacitycollege.edu/)

****Major****: Unknown

**Net Worth**: $375 million

**Most Well-Known For:** Directed and acted in "Million Dollar Baby" and "Gran Torino."

**About Using Your Brain**: "God gave you a brain. Do the best you can with it. And you don't have to be Einstein, but Einstein was mentally tough. He believed what he believed. And he worked out things. And he argued with people who disagreed with him. " - Clint Eastwood

## Aaron Rodgers

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/C1YQd))

*American Football Quarterback*

**School:** [**Butte College**](http://butte.edu)

**Major**: Undeclared

**Net Worth**: $30 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Current quarterback for the Green Bay Packers

**In a Letter to His 17-Year-Old Self**: "Having to go the junior college route will be humbling. I'm better than this, you'll think. Heck, even Mom won't think Butte College is a good idea at first ... [But] here's the thing: You're gonna gain so much confidence at Butte ... And you will realize your NFL potential after being coached by an incredible QB mind in coach Jeff Tedford. Listen and take notes." - Aaron Rodgers 

## Walt Disney

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/2f6NW))

*American Entrepreneur, Animator, Voice Actor and Film Producer*

**School:** [**Metropolitan Junior College**](https://www.mcckc.edu/)

**Major**: English

**Net** Worth: $5 billion

**Most Well-Known For**: He co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which became one of the best-known motion picture production companies in the world thanks to their innovative animation and the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.

**About Pursuing Your Dreams**: "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

## Morgan Freeman

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/8e2_l))

*American Actor, Producer, and Narrator.*

**School**: [**Los Angeles City College**](https://www.lacitycollege.edu/)

**Major**: Unknown

**Net Worth**: $150 million

**Most Well-Known For:** His iconic deep voice, his roles in "Million Dollar Baby," "The Dark Knight" triology, and "The Shawshank Redemption."

**About His Talented Teacher:** "I went to school to learn how to be an actor... I had a voice and diction instructor who was very good at his job." - Morgan Freeman

## Arnold Schwarzenegger

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/65Bnf))

*Austrian-American Actor, Filmmaker, Businessman, Investor, Author, Philanthropist, Activist, Politician, and Former Professional Bodybuilder and Powerlifter*

**School:** [**Santa Monica College**](http://www.smc.edu/)

**Major**: English --- although he later obtained a B.A. in International Fitness Marketing & Business Administration

**Net Worth**: $300 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Former governor of California, and "The Terminator" series.

**About Getting Inspired**: "I had so much fun in that  [ESL] class, and we had so much help from that teacher, that I was so inspired." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

## Amy Tan

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/0UOMS))

*American Best-Selling Author*

**School:** [**San Jose City College**](http://www.sjcc.edu)

**Major**: English -- later she got a B.A. in English and Linguistis, followed by her M.A. in Linguistics

**Net Worth**: $900,000

**Most Well-Known For**: "The Joy Luck Club" and other works

**About Choosing Your Destiny**: "... Theoretically you can choose your destiny. And you can enter a pathway that will lead you to your different destiny. One of those being education. So your destiny—you may have been born poor and among people who didn't have a college education, but that's not your fate." - Amy Tan

## Tom Hanks

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/3u39a))

*American Actor and Filmmaker*

**School:** [**Chabot College**](http://www.chabotcollege.edu/)

**Major**: Theatre

**Net Worth**: $350 million

**Most Well-Known For**: "Toy Story", "Forrest Gump", and "Saving Private Ryan".

**About How College Changed Him**: "I drove past the campus a few years ago with one of my kids and summed up my two years there this way: 'That place made me what I am today'" - Tom Hanks

## Steve Jobs

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/vhDb3))

*American Entrepreneur and Business Magnate*

**School:** [**De Anza College**](http://www.deanza.edu/)

**Major**: Undeclared

**Net Worth: ** $10.2 billion

**Most Well-Known For**: Pioneer for the personal computer revolution, and co-creator of the Macintosh iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the first Apple stores.

**About Life Choices**: "I believe life is an intelligent thing: that things aren't random." - Steve Jobs

## George Lucas

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/_V606))

*American Filmmaker and Entrepreneur*

**School:** [**Modesto Junior College**](https://www.mjc.edu/)

**Major**: **[Film](https://www.hocking.edu/film-and-video-production)**

**Net Worth**: $5.2 billion

**Most Well-Known For**: Creator of "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" series

**About Deciding on College**: "I didn't like school... but right before I graduated I got into a really bad car accident... I decided to take education more seriously and go to a community college." - George Lucas

## EILEEN COLLINS

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/gjT54))

*Former NASA Astronaut and United States Air Force Colonel*

**School:** [**Corning Community College**](https://www.corning-cc.edu/)

**Major**: Math --- later she got a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics, and a M.S. in Operations Research.

**Net Worth**: $1.9 million

**Most Well-Known For:** First female shuttle commander who commanded the historic STS-114 "Return to Flight" mission, the first after the Columbia tragedy.

**About Choosing a Major**: "My father wanted me to be an accountant. Maybe he wanted me to do his income taxes for him, I don't know. But I went on in math and science at a community college, and then my last two years in college I majored in math. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, specifically what type of career field I was going to go into, I just knew that I wanted to, pursue that interest." - Eileen Collins

## Eddie Murphy

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/VR14U))

*American Comedian, Actor, Writer, Singer, and Producer*

**School:** [**Nassau Community College**](https://www.ncc.edu/)

**Major**: Unknown

**Net Worth**: $85 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time, and was an actor in "Coming to America," and "Vampire in Brooklyn."

**About Confidence**: "I've always had confidence. It came because I have lots of initiative. I wanted to make something of myself." - Eddie Murphy

## Billy Crystal

([**Click Here to Tweet This Image**](https://ctt.ec/ucae5))

*American Actor, Writer, Producer, Director, Comedian, and Television Host*

**School:** [**Nassau Community College**](https://www.ncc.edu/)

**Major**: [**Film**](https://www.hocking.edu/film-and-video-production) and Television Director

**Net Worth**: $45 million

**Most Well-Known For**: Acted in "When Harry Met Sally," "City Slickers," and provided the voice for Mike Wazowski in the "Monsters, Inc." series.

**About Success**: "Your success is in your point of view. It's your life that you're talking about; it's your observations. That's the best lesson that I ever had." - Billy Crystal

[View full post](https://blog.hocking.edu/famous-celebrities-who-attended-community-college)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Tim Brunicardi"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2018-08-29T18:53:03.001Z",
  "datePublished" : "2018-08-29T18:38:00Z",
  "headline" : "16 Famous Celebrities Who Went to Community College",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 425,
    "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2446169/Images/Stock%20images/photographer-964013_640.jpg",
    "width" : 640
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.hocking.edu/famous-celebrities-who-attended-community-college",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60.0,
      "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2446169/Logos/ColorLogo_1.png",
      "width" : 90.909096
    },
    "name" : "The Hocking College Experience"
  }
}
```