Many successful people have long proved that higher education is not a prerequisite for building a career and achieving wealth. The heroes, or rather, the heroines of our today's collection, went even further, achieving worldwide fame and recognition, without even a full school certificate.
10. Nicole Kidman
The childhood of the actress can not be called cloudless: when she was in high school in Sydney, her mother fell ill with breast cancer, so the girl had to give up her studies and devote herself to caring for her.
Despite the fact that she did not have time for school, she found herself trying to make her way to the cinema: at the age of 15 she made her debut in the film "Christmas in the Forest", after which roles in the melodrama "Riding the Wind" and the series "Vietnam" followed , "Sesame Street" and others.
These projects paved the way for her in Hollywood, where she quickly managed to express herself, becoming one of the most recognizable and highly paid actresses, and in 2003, for her role in the film “Clock”, she was awarded the Academy Award.
9. Winona Ryder
The school years of this actress also did not work out: when her family moved to the town of Petaluma in California, the girl had to go to a new school, where she could not study from the very first day.
Thin and angular Winona looked like a boy, so she was beaten and her parents had to transfer her daughter to home schooling.
She was fond of reading since childhood and worked hard with tutors, therefore she grew up as a fairly educated girl (her appearance also improved significantly over the years), but she did not receive a certificate, which did not prevent her from receiving several Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe statuette.
8. Uma Thurman
No one beat Young Uma Thurman and she decided to leave school herself, as she wanted to become a model. Leaving the school bench at age 15, she eventually moved to New York, where she did not immediately succeed: trying to become a fashion model and actress, she worked as a dishwasher in her spare time from auditions and auditions.
Fortune smiled at her after the episodic role of Venus in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, where Philip Kaufman drew attention to her and called for the shooting of Henry and June. This role made her a “sex symbol for intellectuals”, and also conquered Quentin Tarantino, who finally turned Uma into a Hollywood star.
7. Hilary Swank
Hilary's parents divorced when she was 15, and her mother took her daughter to Los Angeles, trying to realize her dream of becoming an actress. In California, Swank entered South Pasadena High School, but dropped out without ever graduating.
She described her training as follows: “I felt like an outsider. I did not feel that I fit into the team. I didn’t even feel that the teachers wanted to see me there, to teach me. I just felt that I was not noticed or did not understand. "
Thanks to the support of her mother, Hilary made her film debut in 1992, and after quite quickly began to receive major roles, eventually achieving universal recognition as a dramatic actress.
6. Kristen Stewart
Another actress who dropped out due to bullying of classmates. They began to offend little Kristen after they saw her in the film “Safety of Things”.
Without becoming patient, the girl flatly refused to attend classes, so her parents had to make concessions and allow her to continue to engage exclusively in acting.
However, Kristen understood that studying is important, so over time she began to take lessons from private tutors and even received a certificate when she was 19 years old. This happened at the time of filming the third part of the Twilight Saga, just when her heroine Bella also graduated from high school.
Stewart herself said: “I understand that it’s too late, but it was important for me to get an education even that way, so I’m proud of myself, because I was able to do it with honors.”
5. Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet was born in a family of actors: both her parents starred in movies and TV shows, but could not achieve much success, so they were forced to look for jobs outside the set.
When their daughter began to ignore her studies for the sake of acting classes and theatrical circle, they did not blame her for this, hoping that she could achieve more than they did.
And so it turned out: already in 1994, she attracted attention to her role in Peter Jackson's drama "Heavenly Creatures", after which her career rapidly began to gain momentum.
4. Cameron Diaz
In childhood, the future actress and model dreamed of becoming a zoologist, keeping at home a variety of animals: snakes, cats, birds, rodents.
As a teenager, her aspirations changed, and for the sake of a modeling career, she decided to drop out of school, although she had very little time before graduation.
At the age of 16, she began to collaborate with brands such as Calvin Klein and Levi’s, starting to travel around the world and participate in shows and presentations.
She made her film debut in 1994 in the comedy The Mask with Jim Carrey, already a famous model.
It is noteworthy that she also did not receive acting education, and went to the courses only after she was approved for the role in The Mask.
3. Charlize Theron
A future Oscar winner and sex symbol for millions of men, she grew up on a farm surrounded by wildlife, where she lived until she was 13 years old until she was sent to a boarding school. She could not finish it, or rather, she did not want to.
At the age of 16, she was seriously carried away by modeling and dancing, for the sake of which she dropped out of school. Further events are an almost ready-made script for a motivating film: the first successes in dancing were overshadowed by a knee injury, after which her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, which Charlize managed to subdue, not without difficulty.
2. Demi Moore
And again, the story of a young girl who decides not to waste time on textbooks, as she is attracted by the catwalk. At 16, Demi became a model, and then came to the cinema.
According to rumors, she became an actress with the filing of her neighbor Nastasya Kinski, who advised her to go to the test.
One of her first works was a small role in the series “Main Hospital”, after which offers from directors from Hollywood began to come.
1. Cher
We will finish our selection not only with an actress, but also with a successful singer, who began her path to fame at the age of 16, leaving school and moving from the town of El Centro to Los Angeles.
Having met her future husband and producer there, she already recorded an album at the age of 19, and after another 2 years made her film debut.
Having become a true legend of music and one of the most famous singers of her generation, Cher, nevertheless, regrets that she has not graduated from school, which she spoke about several times in an interview with reporters.