Have you ever Googled an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous Greek God-looking celebrity and found out that the packaging was not only pretty, but the inside was pretty darn impressive as well? I’m talking about those celebs with brains to go with the looks, the Emma Watsons of the world.

In this first part of Beauty/Brawn and Brains, we explore the female celebrities (and one of their brothers) who impress with both the looks and the books.

Read about the male celebrities in Part 2.

BEAUTY AND BRAINS

Natalie Portman - Harvard

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The daughter of a gynecologist, it’s easy to see where this Oscar-winning actress gets her brains from! Portman passed up glamour and the spotlight for grades; she skipped the premiere of Star Wars Episode I to study for her high school final exams, and that certainly paid off. She majored in psychology at Harvard University while filming Star Wars Episode II and other movies, and graduated with her degree in 2003. Literally no one else in the world can say that they were simultaneously Senator Amidala and a Harvard student at one point in their lives. Hats off.

Emma Watson - Brown

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A lot of girls (myself included) want to be like Emma Watson, and with good reason. One-third of the Harry Potter trio and the leading female face of the most successful film franchise of all time, Watson is the perfect combination of beauty and brains. We saw her grow up onscreen and never really saw an awkward moment (the bushy haired Hogwarts First Year student didn’t count). Meanwhile, she still found the time to achieve eight A* and two A grades for her GCSEs, which was wonderfully fitting for the actress who portrayed the brainiest witch we’d ever seen. Emma Watson enrolled at Brown University in the United States, during which she spent a year studying “overseas” at Worcester College, Oxford (ironic because her “overseas” experience was in her hometown of Oxfordshire, England). In 2014, Watson graduated from Brown with a degree in English Literature.

Image source: marchmallows.wordpress.com

An interesting thing to note is that her younger brother, Alex Watson, carries the looks-and-books genes as well. He is a spitting image of his sister, which naturally makes him gorgeous but has admittedly freaked me out occasionally. Sources say that the younger Watson studies at Bristol University.

Jordana Brewster - Yale

Image source: monstersandcritics.com

What happens when you mix a Brazilian swimsuit model with an investment banker? You get an equally beautiful, equally brilliant daughter in the form of Fast and Furious star Jordana Brewster. Brewster graduated from Yale University with a BA in English. Oh, and she’s also the granddaughter of former Yale President Kingman Brewster, Jr. Some people just have “Wow!” imprinted on their DNA.

Jennifer Connelly - Yale, Stanford

I used to confuse Jordana Brewster with Jennifer Connelly because they both look alike (okay, only when they’re not side by side and I don’t fully remember what the other looks like), and they’re both Yalies. The Oscar-winning former child model studied English at Yale University for two years before transferring to Stanford University, yet another prestigious school.

Reese Witherspoon - Stanford

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Our favourite Legally Blonde gal is yet another beauty whose brainy genes are easily traceable; her father is a doctor and her mother is a professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University. Witherspoon studied for a year at Stanford University, years before she portrayed another brainy beauty, Harvard Law student Elle Woods.

Brooke Shields - Princeton

Image source: dailybeautyandfashion.com

Yes, we know nothing comes between Brooke Shields and her Calvins (that hit commercial led to 2 million pairs of Calvin Klein jeans being sold per month!), but this actress who began modelling since she was 11 months old (I know, right?) has a lot more to offer than just her famed looks. Shields graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in French literature. The public was so aware of the megastar’s presence at the Ivy League university that, on graduation day, members of her class wore a class jacket with a button that read “Yes, I went to Princeton. No, I never met her.”

Kara DioGuardi - Duke

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This singer-songwriter sported her Italian good looks on television as an American Idol judge. She’s also equipped with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University. And I believe I mentioned that she sings. And I think we all remember when she revealed her bikini bod on the stage of American Idol when she went up against that bikini-clad singer. Some people just have everything, eh?

Rosamund Pike - Oxford

This Bond Girl is an Oxford grad. She earned an Upper Second Class degree in English Literature at Wadham College, Oxford. The following year, she joined the ranks of if-looks-could-literally-kill Bond Girls by playing the icey but nonetheless hot Miranda Frost in Die Another Day.

Rachel Weisz - Cambridge

Image source: telegraph.co.uk

Like Rosamund Pike, Rachel Weisz has a degree in English from Oxbridge. But unlike the Bond Girl, Weisz went to what the Oxford-educated Pike would call “the other place”. Trinity Hall, Cambridge is the alma mater of this Oscar-winning and Mummy-chasing actress.