As the school year winds down for many teens in the US, recent stories have gone viral about Black teens landing Ivy League acceptance letters. New Jersey student Ifeoma White-Thorpe and quadruplets from Liberty Township, Ohio, have all earned acceptance letters to America’s top universities.
The teens join a number of celebrities who’ve graced the halls of Ivy Leagues. From Sanaa Lathan to Hill Harper, here are 21 celebrities who’ve attended Ivy League schools.
The actor and former stockbroker graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Brian White
The television genius earned her bachelor's at Dartmouth, where she joined the Black Underground Theater Association and directed and performed various productions.
Shonda Rhimes
Morrison earned her master's at Cornell after graduting from Howard with a B.A. in English.
Toni Morrison
Nyong'o graduated with a master's from the Yale School of Drama, where she earned the Herschel Williams Prize for her acting.
Lupita Nyong'o
The BET founder earned his master's in public affairs at Princeton University.
Bob Johnson
Bryan attended Yale after graduating from the small, private Westminster School, a boarding school in Connecticut.
Joy Bryant
Lathan earned her bachelor's at the University of California, Berkley, before a graduating from Yale with a master's in drama.
Sanaa Lathan
Harper has three Ivy League degrees. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, graduated cum laude with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Harvard Law School, and received a master's in public administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Hill Harper
The recording artist earned a perfect score on his SATs, which landed him acceptance letters from Stanford, Harvard, and all four University of California campuses. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in government, focusing on macroeconomics and political science. He was selected as the Harvard Male Orator, one of four seniors to deliver orations to the graduating class.
Ryan Leslie
Jones initially planned to become a lawyer before studying philosophy and religion while at Harvard.
Rashida Jones
The actor and Emmy winner earned his bachelor's from Harvard University and later received his master's at the Yale School of Drama.
Courtney B. Vance
The Golden Globe-winning actress has a degree in African American studies from Yale. She also obtained her master's from the Yale School of Drama.
Angela Bassett
Tammie Terrell, who was also a popular singer for Motown Records, was most known for her duets with Marvin Gaye. At just 24, Terrell lost her life due to brain cancer.
Tammi Terrell
Tyler graduated from Darmouth, where she was a member of The Tabard, a co-ed fraternity. She also co-founded and sang in the a cappella group, Dartmouth Rockapellas, an all-female group of singers spreading social awareness through music.
Aisha Tyler
The Grammy-winning singer graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School at 16 as valedictorian and later pursued an education at Columbia University. She left the school to focus on music after signing with Columbia Records.
Alicia Keys
The Grammy-winning singer was offered admission to Harvard, Georgetown, and Morehouse, but decided to attend the University of Pennslyvania, where he studied English with a focus on African American literature.
John Legend
The poet and activist attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
Nikki Giovanni
Banks completed a nine-week program at Harvard Business School back in 2012, earning a certificate. She returned in 2014 for a non-degree certificate program while working on her beauty brand, Tyra Beauty.
Tyra Banks
Tracee Ellis Ross
The runner up during America's Next Top Model's third season and star of Chicago Med, DaCosta has a degree in Africana Studies and International Relations from Brown University.
Yaya DaCosta
Ali earned a degree in African-American studies and government from Harvard.
Tatyana Ali
