Who'da thunk?
You get so used to vacuous utterances from movie stars that it is a pleasant surprise to find one who can hold his/her own in serious intellectual discourse. One such is Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years, who is also an accomplished mathematician [read about her here]. Another is Natalie Portman [yes, Queen Amidalia, who has uttered some of the stupidest lines ever, but that's Lucas' fault, not hers]. Portman, born in Jerusalem [her real last name is Hershlag], speaks five languages, has a Harvard degree, refuses to do films that she feels do not have a positive message, doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, has been a major star since age 12, and is [according to Fareed Zakaria, who has interviewed her on the subject] a well-informed and competent expert on micro-financing in developing nations. And, on top of all that, she's a vegan and she and Britney Spears are buds.
On Portman's wonkery see this article in Newsweek International. For biographical info see here.
I am reminded that Robert Vaughan ["The Man from Uncle"] holds a Ph. D. [his dissertation was on McCarthyism in Hollywood] and that David Duchovney ["Fox Muldar"] is a Princeton ABD.
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