Keanu Reeves:
Apparently, you can become “the one” even without a robust set of grades. Reeves moved around often as a teenager, attending four different high schools in just five years, including Etobicoke School of the Arts, from which he was expelled from at the age of 16.
“It was a very small school and I guess I didn’t fit in. I had conflicts and run-ins with the staff. The principal and I didn’t see eye to eye,” Reeves said. “I was one of those ‘Why?’ kids — I asked too many questions about everything. I couldn’t stop even if it got me into trouble.”
Personally, Reeves always seems like he has his head screwed on straight based on his rampant philanthropy and his nice-guy reputation off-camera, but who knows. Just don’t fuck with his dog, that’s all I’m saying for sure.
Peter Jackson:
At only 16, Peter Jackson dropped out of high school to work full time in photography for a local newspaper. But the budding filmmaker was very ambitious, self-teaching himself how to shoot and edit film while working on his own personal projects.
Cameron Diaz:
Diaz ditched the books in high school, at the age of 16, in order to pursue a career in modeling at Elite Modelling Management. Basically, if you are incredibly gorgeous or a ridiculously gifted athlete, the books are maybe not as important as they are to the rest of us folks.
Winston Churchill:
Once the Prime Minister, and without question one of the greatest leaders in recent history, Churchill had the lowest entrance score to his private school. Despite excelling at English and history, he apparently got terrible marks at just about everything else.
“…I had hardly ever been asked to learn anything which seemed of the slightest use or interest, or allowed to play any game which was amusing. In retrospect, those years form not only the least agreeable, but also the only barren and unhappy period of my life.”
Translation: “Piss off, school! I’ve got more important matters to attend like running a country through one of the great wars of all time!”
Richard Branson:
Branson never paid much attention in school, rather you could say he had his head in the clouds — boom, nailed it. In addition, Branson was dyslexic and performed subpar by academic standards in school. The future billionaire dropped out of school at 16 to start his first business — a magazine called “Student.”
According to The Telegraph, his former headmaster, Robert Drayson, told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. Technically he was wrong on both accounts, but far closer to the latter.
Nicolas Cage:
The real priceless commodity in the film ‘National Treasure,’ Cage dropped out of Beverly Hills High School at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career, and within a year he landed his first television gig in ‘Best of Times.’ It probably didn’t hurt that his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola, but that’s neither here nor there.
Simon Cowell:
Cowell left school with just one O level — the equivalent of GCSEs (which stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education that is an internationally recognized qualification by Commonwealth countries with education systems similar to the UK education system) — and he dropped out at just 16.
After moving from the mailroom at his father’s company EMI Music Publishing, he was eventually promoted to a talent scout, and later left to form E&S Music with his boss Ellis Rich.
Benedict Cumberbatch:
After initially crushing his GCSE’s, his Cumberbatch-ness become distracted and complacent. According to him, “I did sort of blow my GCSEs out of the water. I couldn’t believe it and neither could my teachers,” he told The Metro. “And then there was a lot of pressure on me to achieve an Oxbridge level of brilliance at A-levels. But then adolescence came late and I discovered girls, pot, and all sorts of other things, so I got a bit lazy. That stagnated my growth a bit as far as being academic.”
So college…basically college happened to Benedict. Can you really blame him that?
Jeremy Clarkson:
In his own words, the ever-mischievious on-air personality stated, “If your A-level results aren’t joyous, take comfort from the fact I got a C and two Us. And I have a Mercedes Benz.”
The famed co-host of ‘Top Gear’ has been doing things his way and breaking every rule in the success handbook ever since.
Drew Barrymore:
Always considered one of America’s sweethearts, Drew had a checkered childhood and serious bouts with substance abuse and authority. While in rehab, at 13 years old, according to The Guardian, she decided not to carry on with education when she came out and has since never finished her schooling. I doubt her current back account has much issue with this fact.
Mark Wahlberg:
Mark not only dropped out of school at 13, but he also turned to selling drugs and stealing cars, just to name a few run-ins with the law. At 17 he was actually arrested for assault during a period Wahlberg has since deemed to be the darkest of his life. Thankfully, by the ’90s mark became a devout Irish Catholic and turned his life around. And from singing in ‘Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’, to modeling for Calvin Klein, to being a blockbuster actor, Wahlburg has completely overhauled his once troubled life.
Ryan Gosling:
The beautiful heartthrob, (yes, I said it and I’m a happily married man) Gosling struggled mightily in high school. At the age of 17 he dropped out of high school (Lester B. Pearson High School in Ontario) and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. But frankly, if I was half as handsome I probably would’ve done the same thing myself. Dammit, just look at those adorable blue eyes. Alright, moving on!
Jim Carrey:
Growing up poor in Ontario, Canada, Carrey and his siblings worked as janitors to help the family make ends meet. However, after Carrey’s mom fell ill, the aspiring actor, with a strong case of ADD, decided to drop out of school to help care for her.
Later Carrey and his family relocated to Toronto, where Jim began performing stand-up on the comedy circuit.
Quentin Tarantino:
That’s correct, one of the great writers and cinematic visionaries in movie history never graduated high school (dropping out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Calif. at 16)
Perhaps not a student of all things, he became an expert in everything film and in his own words stated, “When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘no, I went to films.’” And the rest is history.
Jon Stewart:
Stewart admitted freely in a commencement address to his former alma mater that he wasn’t a good student. “You could say that my one saving grace was academics, where I excelled. But I did not.” Jon went on to crack wise at his own expense by telling everyone how he lacked focus in college, but that his lack of grades had absolutely nothing to do with his ascent to becoming one of the most trusted men in America as the host of ‘The Daily Show.’
Thomas Edison:
Amazingly, even one of the most innovative minds in history, responsible for crafting countless new inventions had his struggles in class. Apparently, throughout his schooling his teachers thought he was a stupid, annoying student that asked too many questions. After much criticism from his school, his mom eventually homeschooled him because teachers were so frustrated.
IDIOTS!! Go invent a lightbulb yourself, teach!!
Tom Cruise:
The iconic A-list actor recently discussed his own battles with dyslexia when he was younger, “I graduated high school in 1980 but didn’t even go to my graduation. I was a functional illiterate. I loved learning, I wanted to learn, but I knew I had failed in the system.”
Say what you will about Tom’s personal life, the man has been at the top of the acting game for over 30 years now.
Via BusinessInsider 1 & 2, Smosh, & EliteDaily
