Now that we know which high schools are tops and which are not, the next natural question is, exactly who went to these schools? From Angelina Jolie’s modeling days at Beverly Hills High School to Elena Kagan’s rebel streak at Hunter College High, see photos of the celebrities who attended the top 1,000 high schools.
Chicago Bears wide receiver and return specialist Devin Hester may be what ESPN called “the best return man in NFL history” but he also was brainy enough to graduate from Suncoast Community High School, which ranked at No. 9 on our list. During his high-school days, the promising football star was named a Parade and USA Today all-star, and was regarded as one of the country’s top recruits when, as a senior, he gained more than 1,000 yards as a running back and receiver. Hester graduated from Suncoast in 2002.
Ranked at No. 44 on our list, Hunter College High School boasts some illustrious alumni. Among them are Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan (class of 1977) and Sex and the City resident redhead Cynthia Nixon (class of 1984). Both ladies survived and flourished in the competitive environment at Hunter (one student recently said that not being a National Merit Scholarship Program semi-finalist is “almost something to be embarrassed about” at the school)—though Kagan did have a bit of a bad-girl side. A schoolmate of hers told The New York Times that Kagan was “the only girl she knew who smoked in high school.” As for Nixon, she has fond memories of her time at Hunter: “Everyone told us we would have really great teachers, but the thing that makes it so extraordinary is the other kids—you learn so much from them,” she has said.
In some ways Chicago’s Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (ranked at No. 123) is to thank for one of the most mind-bending movie trilogies of all time. Andy and Larry (who now goes by Lana) Wachowski graduated from the high school and went on to direct the Matrix trilogy together, as well as Speed Racer and V for Vendetta. Current first lady, Michelle Obama, also graduated as salutatorian from the school in 1981—and rocked quite the risqué prom dress.
Chiaki Tsukumo / AP Photos
The 2010 Olympic gold medalist Evan Lycasek was a figure-skating sensation and American hero at the last Winter Olympics—but, according to Lycasek himself, he’s also still a “Wildcat for life.” The alumnus of Neuqua Valley High School (ranked No. 316) returned to his alma mater shortly after winning the gold and reminisced about his high-school days. He thanked teachers and administrators for letting him be a “halfway normal kid” during his time there, and in return the school gave him their first-ever Distinguished Alumnus award—and named a parkway in his honor.
In 2007 George Hotz was a “bored” student at New Jersey’s Bergen County Academies (No. 21) who wanted to use the new, trendy iPhone but subscribed to T-Mobile, not AT&T—so he hacked it and presented to the world the first “jail-broken,” or unlocked, iPhone. The stunt earned him a congratulatory email from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, a job at Google, and a profile in The New Yorker. His hacking streak didn’t end there though—in January 2010 he also became the first person in the world to hack into the Playstation 3.
Jeff Christensen / AP Photos
Palisades Charter High School (No. 588) claims Oscar winner Jeff Bridges among its former attendees (though he went on to graduate from University High School in 1967), as well as Hollywood producer J.J. Abrams, legendary supermodel Christie Brinkley, and Just Friends star Amy Smart. Bridges has shared a yearbook shot of his handsome young self, complete with a “co-captain” letterman jacket and tough-eyed glare.
Ann Heisenfelt / AP Photos
Though his stint on this season of Dancing With the Stars was relatively short-lived, Jaleel White’s high-school days are forever immortalized in his Steve Urkel character from Family Matters. White began playing the role when he was 12, and continued until the show’s nine-year run ended in 1998. White transferred high schools several times but reportedly spent the majority of his high-school days at Marshall Fundamental, ranked No. 691 on our list.
Dan Steinberg / AP Photos
Austin Powers star Heather Graham’s interest in acting began during her days at Agoura High School (No. 517), where she was part of the class of 1988. She appeared in two episodes of Growing Pains in 1987, as well as the high-school comedy Student Exchange. A yearbook shot of an adolescent Graham can be seen here.
Beverly Hills High School’s roster of A-list alumni is probably enough to fill the guest list of an Oscars after-party. Angelina Jolie, Leighton Meester, Breckin Meyer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carrie Fisher, Betty White, Lenny Kravitz, Tori Spelling, Nicolas Cage, and Ariel Pink are just some of the famous folks who spent their adolescent years in Beverly Hills High’s halls. Don’t think that means that Angelina ever had an awkward phase though--photos of the star during her high school days prove otherwise.
Michael Sohn / AP Photos
Former U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, famed for surviving an assassination attempt early last year in a massacre that killed six people and injured 13 others, is a 1988 graduate of Tucson’s University High School (No. 26). Her former U.S. history teacher remembers the future congresswoman as a star student: “Gabrielle sat in the front row. She was inquisitive … She was a very mature person from the moment she walked in the door.”
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Photos
Bronx High School of Science (ranked at No. 50) boasts seven Nobel Prize-winning physicists among its alumni—more than any other American high school. In addition to the brainiacs nurtured at Bronx High, some Hollywood regulars also have roamed its halls. Iron Man & Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau graduated from the school in 1984, and Maggie Siff—best known for playing Jewish businesswoman Rachel Menken in Mad Men—was a member of the class of 1992.
Matt Sayles / AP Photos
Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills High School (No. 64) may not be very proud of its most famous alumnus and for good reason, too—Charles Manson is, after all, convicted of being a murderous cult leader. But there are other, sunnier spots in Walnut Hills’s alumni roster, including 1997 Nobel Prize winner Stanley B. Prusiner—who later admitted that he “found high school rather uninteresting.”
AP Photos
Southland actress Lucy Liu enjoyed her time at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School (No. 66) so much that she went back again 23 years later as a graduation guest speaker. “The school was very important to me, it was very hard to get into that school … I wasn’t the brightest student, I was struggling because I didn’t have an idea of where I was going,” the actress has said of her time as a student at Stuyvesant, where she was a member of the class of ‘86. Former senior adviser to Barack Obama David Axelrod also counts himself among Stuyvesant’s alumni ranks—he graduated in 1972.
Evan Agostini / AP Photos
