Celebs Who Are Secret Nerds
Celebrities are usually regarded as icons of all things cool—the exact opposite of a nerd. But it turns out that some of the biggest names in Hollywood nerd out over the same things as the rest of us, like comic books, Star Wars, and Dungeons and Dragons. And some famous folks have more even more bizarre obsessions.
Henry Cavill
While Henry Cavill often receives acclaim not just for his acting skills but also his impeccable good looks, the hunky actor is also one of the world's nerdiest celebrities. Cavill was well-prepared for his role as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's The Witcher, having read the books and played the games the show is based upon. And, during lockdown, he proved he was tech savvy when he built his own gaming PC.
But Cavill had some serious nerd cred well before that. If the story is to be believed, when Zack Snyder called to offer Cavill his breakthrough role in Man of Steel, Cavill didn't answer the phone—because he too busy was playing World of Warcraft.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis, who rose to fame on the TV series That 70s Show, doesn’t hold back when it comes to indulging in her nerdy interests. The actress has described herself as a recovering World of Warcraft addict, and has also gushed about Star Trek (especially The Next Generation) and the Settlers of Catan board game.
Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill has said that if he hadn’t acted in Star Wars, he would have been a superfan of the franchise anyway. But the actor who's famous for portryaing Luke Skywalker has a wide variety of nerdy interests including The Beatles, The Simpsons, and 1960s board games.
Felicia Day
She may not be a household name, but Felicia Day has an extensive acting resume—but her nerd resume is even more impressive. An online gamer herself, Day is best known for creating and starring in The Guild, an online comedy series about gamers who are connected via a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
Day also launched an online production company called Geek & Sundry, which is airs other online shows about games and gamers. She is often referred to as “the Queen of the Geeks”.
Justin Bieber
He may be a pop icon but Justin Bieber is also a pro-level cuber—yes, you read that right. Bieber can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 120 seconds, and there are several videos floating around online to back that up. This popular toy from the 1980s is notoriously difficult to solve—so much so, that even its inventor took a month to solve it.
Susan Sarandon
Acclaimed actress Susan Sarandon can't get enough of ping pong. In fact, she loves the game so much that she became an investor and co-founder of the ping pong nightclub franchise SPiN.
The franchise has nine locations across North America.
OSCAR GONZALEZ FUENTES, Shutterstock
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is very serious about her nerdy interests. She's such a fan of Harry Potter that she has a dog named Sirius Black and a 9 3/4 tattoo. She’s also a huge Pokémon fan, and has an Eevee tattoo to prove it.
Aisha Tyler
Actress and talk show host Aisha Tyler is an avid gamer and comic book collector. Since nerd culture has long been considered the realm of white men, Tyler is breaking new ground by being loud and proud about her nerdiness.
Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton started out in Hollywood as a child actor but most people know him for playing Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wheaton’s character didn't win over many fans and the actor has since become a geek icon by leaning into his unlikeable character during guest appearances on other TV shows.
Wheaton is a nerd in real life who is known for geeking out over board games.
Yvette Nicole Brown
Television actress Yvette Nicole Brown has one major nerdy obsession: The Walking Dead. Brown was such a big fan of the show that she was a frequent guest on Talking Dead, a live television aftershow on AMC that discussed episodes of the frightening TV series.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Who would have guessed that Leonardo DiCaprio has a giant toy collection? More specifically, the actor collects action figures. It's been said that he has more than 80 Star Wars figurines as well as collectibles from He-Man and Planet of the Apes.
Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Jack Quaid
Described as “Champion of the Nerds” by Esquire magazine, Jack Quaid said that it’s a “dream come true” to have grown up from a nerdy child into an actor who has starred in several nerdy films.
His own nerdy interests include gaming, comics, and movies.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Neil Young
Singer-songwriter Neil Young is an extreme model train enthusiast. To indulge in this passion, he built an outdoor model railroad which took up nearly 1,000 square feet and was made out of the natural landscape. Young was also one of the owners of the toy train company Lionel, LLC and is listed as a co-inventor on seven US patents for model trains.
Warner/Reprise, Wikimedia Commons
Nina Dobrev
Nina Dobrev is likely a topic of nerdy interest herself, thanks to her long-running role in The Vampire Diaries. But the actress geeks out over Harry Potter, even dressing up as Hermione on Halloween.
Kevin Smith
Many people credit Kevin Smith with introducing nerd culture with the mainstream. Smith has a love of Star Wars and comic books that has shown up in themes in many of his movie projects.
Stephen Colbert
Did you know this popular funnyman is one of the biggest Tolkien fans around? Colbert's knowledge of the Lord of the Rings franchise is so extensive that he can read and speak Elvish.
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks grew up watching the original Star Trek but he's fond of today's Star Trek: The Next Generation. In fact, he's such a big TNG fan that he knows all 178 episodes by name.
Dick Thomas Johnson, Wikimedia Commons
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson, known to many of today's audiences for her roles in Men in Black II and Ahsoka, loves comic books so much that she created a comic of her own: O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce.
She's also nerds out over Star Trek, and can even speak Klingon.
Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan just might be the biggest anime fan in Hollywood. He got sucked into the world of Naruto as a young teen, and his love of the manga series later spilled into his design choices for his 2019 collaboration with Coach.
Wikimedia Commons, Gage Skidmore
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie has called herself a "closet geek," and throughout the last couple decades, she's incorporated her nerdy interests in global politics, first-edition books, and antique daggers into her career.
Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway, who first garnered attention in The Princess Diaries, loves word puzzles so much that she has called herself a “Scrabble fiend". She also loves studying physics in her spare time. Don't we all?
Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Margot Robbie
When Margot Robbie was a teenager, she was so obsessed with Harry Potter that she lied to her optometrist to get glasses like the fictional wizard.
In a funny twist of fate, Robbie would go on to marry a man who had been an extra in some of the Harry Potter movies—a fact she didn’t know until after they tied the knot.
Joe Jonas
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Joe Jonas described himself as “a pretty big nerd”. He even has a G.I. Joe lunchbox to prove it!
Anna Kendrick
Anna Kendrick doesn't shy away about her nerdiness. While she has several geeky interests, she is most passionate about things relating to drama, including live theater, movies series like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and zombie flicks.
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is another celebrity who's incorporated his nerd side into his professional life. The English actor has had notable roles in some geek-worthy films, including all three of the latest Star Trek movies. Pegg takes a closer at his geek street cred in his autobiography, Nerd Do Well.
Emma Watson
Emma Watson is a massive book nerd who proudly brought two of her favorite fictional heroines to life on the screen: starring as Hermione in Harry Potter and Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Watson usually has several books on the go and is known to leave books in random places for strangers to find.
David Shankbone, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Is it really that much of a surprise that Lin-Manuel Miranda nerds out over musical theatre? After all, he did give us the highly acclaimed Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, and also has a long list of accomplishments in several other fields.
Vin Diesel
Who would have guess that Vin Diesel has been playing Dungeons and Dragons since he was a kid? In fact, he's such a dedicated fan that he penned the forward to Thirty Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons, the behind-the-scenes history of the role-playing game.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Joe Manganiello
Actor Joe Manganiello, best known for his appearance in HBO's True Blood, is another celebrity who nerds out over Dungeons and Dragons. He loves D&D so much that he turned his basement into a massive gaming room. It even has dragon heads mounted on the walls.
Donald Glover
Multi-talented Donald Glover has expressed his appreciation for how Barack Obama made it seem okay to be a Black nerd—but he's done good work on that front too! His first stand-up special had an extended bit about Black nerds. Glover’s famous list of his top 10 favorite nerdy things includes Mel Blanc, Pixar, The Smiths, and Back to the Future.
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik, who most of us know from The Big Bang Theory, is every bit as nerdy as the character she plays on that popular show.
Successfully juggling an acting career and academic studies, Bialik earned her first post-secondary degree when he was 24 years old. Seven years later, she earned her doctorate in neuroscience, while still making appearances in film and television.
Patton Oswalt
Described as a “walking supergeek encyclopedia,” actor and comedian Patton Oswalt seems to love anything and everything nerdy. His list of geeky interests includes the musical Hamilton, My Little Pony, and Mary Shelley.
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is probably best known for her role as Kelly Bundy on TV’s Married… With Children. But did you know the actress is a gamer? One of her favorite games is Guitar Hero.
Blake Anderson
The multi-talented Blake Anderson is best known for creating and starring in Comedy Central’s Workaholics. He likes to nerd out over comic books and ‘90s pop culture.
Featureflash Photo Agency, Shutterstock
Lauren Ash
Canadian actress, comedian, and musician Lauren Ash, is most famous for starring in NBC's Superstore, but she obsesses over true crime stories so much that she has a podcast called True Crime and Cocktails. Funnily enough, her other nerdy interest is the complete opposite of this dark fascination: She loves Disney and Disneyland.
Gerard Way
Best known as the lead vocalist of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way is a huge comic book nerd. His love of comic books is so great that he co-created and wrote two comic book series, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and The Umbrella Academy. The latter is now a highly praised show on Netflix.
Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar was just a teenager when she began playing the role of Winnie on The Wonder Years. Although she continues to act, she is also an incredible mathematician. She graduated with honors in mathematics from UCLA, and has written seven books about math.
Brie Larson
Multiple award-winner Brie Larson has proven she has impeccable acting skills—but few people know she also has a nerdy obsession with Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Megan Fox
Best known for her roles in action films, Megan Fox has a few different nerdy interests. Most notably, she geeks out over video games, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.
Seth Green
Seth Green, who began his acting career with Hotel New Hampshire in 1984, nerds out over action figures. Not only does Green make custom action figures, but his personal collection is so large that he has to keep it in a storage unit. He even made a whole TV show out of playing with them!
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