The point wasn't the degree. But more that she made the semifinals of the Intel Science Talent Search -- that in itself is prestigious, but at the same time (and I quote):

"She’d been in films directed by Woody Allen, Tim Burton and Luc Besson, appeared opposite Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore and I’m getting tired of typing celebrity names here. She took on the major role of Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy that rocketed her to international fame."

To be honest, I'm not sure there's any degree where the mere act of receiving it would be more impressive than the above feat.

"To be honest, I'm not sure there's any degree where the mere act of receiving it would be more impressive than the above feat."

Because being in the presence of popular people is a major accomplishment, right? Far greater an accomplishment than the defense of any original PhD thesis, right?

I can drive to the Viceroy hotel bar right now and be in the presence of a random A-list celebrity if I so choose. By your logic, that act alone sets me worlds apart from the entire body of original research being done by PhD candidates all over the world.

I will never understand the nature of being starstruck. If I want to shut down my rational faculty, I have a bottle of Glenkinchie at the ready.

No, she's not Paris Hilton. She was actually cast and did a superb job in roles with all-star directors like Luc Besson, in Leon. It's not that she happened to bump into Luc at a bar. But that she did her homework to be cast and then a great job in the role (and quite honestly I think one of top 1% of performances I've seen, period).

No one is starstruck by Woody Allen. But you're startstruck by his work.

Let me put it to you this way. I'm FAR more certain that you can get a PhD than you could ever get half the critical acclaim or box office receipts that Natalie has gotten.

Although, I'd just love to find out you are actually Will Smith and have just blown my thesis to pieces. :-)

I'm more impressed by Dolph Lundgren - an action movie actor - who has a MS in Chemistry and who was studying for a PhD when he decided to become an actor.

Not just a PhD. He had a Fullbright at MIT. You'll find his biography either incredibly inspiring or depressing.

Exactly. I have no doubt she is very intelligent and _could_ have been a scientist if she had chosen to. But until she publishes her own peer-reviewed research or gets an advanced science degree, she is "an actress with a BA in psychology", thank you. She's impressive enough w/o artificial hype.

She has published peer reviewed research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi... (her actual name is Natalie Hershlag). One of the co-authors is Jerome Kagan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kagan. Seems good enough to me. Certainly not a career scientist; very few would be with another venture making millions. But she has walked the walk. There's no hype here.

She has a Erdos-Bacon number(degrees of kevin bacon + paper co-author distance from the extremlly well published mathematician Paul Erdős) of 6.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number)

okay, perhaps you and i have different definitions of "scientist". anyway, i don't want to overdo this here, if you want to call her "scientist", fine.

i know who she is since i saw beautiful girls and of course leon and she always stood out to me as a very, very smart person, but in my book one student co-authorship does not make one a "scientist". it's more like "very good student", "on the way" or "caught the attention of a famous prof and got a head start". none of which detracts from her, btw.

but hey, i suffer my own forms of hero worship, all of which is harmless fun, which is what hollywood is here for, i suppose. ;-)

Hero worship?

My heroes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Kennedy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Powers.

People I'd place in the category of scientist based on the fact that she co-authored a paper with one of the pioneers of developmental psychology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Portman.

That's a far cry from being a hero. Please, let's be reasonable.