The IQ or intelligence quotient of an individual is measured by a highly contentious process that calculates the intelligence of someone gathered from a series of standardized tests.
The American Psychological Association has shown that the system demonstrates predictive consistency - indicating that if someone takes the exam at an early age, the score seems to remain consistent over the years until they get old.
When it comes to celebrities, most people assume that they are not smart or highly intelligent, just because they are actors, musicians, or socialites. Obviously people like that are stereotypes, because the 10 celebrities listed below do not only possess a pretty face but are probably smarter than all of us collectively.
The current definition of generic IQ test scores shows that approximately two-thirds of all test-takers achieve scores from 85 to 115. Only 5% of the population scores above an IQ of 125.
So generally anything above 130, which is about the average IQ of a medical doctor, is considered exceptional. Above that, a person is considered to be at the genius level. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, for example, has an IQ of 160.
Here are the top 10 of the 'brainiest' and hottest Hollywood celebrities:
1. Matt Damon - 160
Matt Damon's IQ is as high as 160 according to reports, which puts him in the same group as Tarantino and Hawking. The actor wrote an early version of the script of Good Will Hunting while attending Harvard University. Although he never finished his course at Harvard to pursue acting, he later collaborated with Ben Affleck to finish the draft for Good Will Hunting, and they later won the film's Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
2. Ashton Kutcher - 160
Ashton Kutcher may have been playing our favorite airhead on "That '70s Show" but he has a registered IQ of 160, the same as Stephen Hawking. He studied at the University of Iowa with a major in biochemical engineering, however, he later stopped to become a professional model.
3. Lisa Kudrow - 154
We all love Lisa Kudrow as the ditzy Phoebe Buffay on Friends back in the days, but she clearly fooled us all because she is super smart in real life having an IQ of 154. She graduated from Vassar College, and she worked with her father for 8 years trying to become an actress. She also earned a research credit on a study on the comparative likelihood of left-handed people to develop cluster headaches.
4. Sharon Stone - 154
Never tell anyone that Sharon Stone is just a pretty face. She has a registered IQ of 154 according to her biography on the official website Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She attended the said university as an academic scholar when she was only 15 years old.
5. David Duchovny - 147
The X-Files hottie David Duchovny has an IQ of 147. He graduated from Princeton University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. He received an honorable mention for the Academy of American Poets. He got his MFA ion English from Yale University and went on to begin a PhD.
6. Natalie Portman - 140
Portman's beauty also comes with a brainy IQ of 140. She was also very dedicated with her education that she skipped the premiere of her film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace just to study for her high school finals. Already with an A.B. degree in psychology from Harvard University, she also pursued graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is also fluent in over five different languages.
7. Shakira - 140
Shakira is one of the brightest women in the music industry best known for her belly dancing and song writing. She speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Catalan, and Arabic. In 2007, she took up a course in History of Western Civilization at the UCLA and her IQ is reported to be 140.
8. Madonna - 140
Madonna has an IQ of 140 and was known for her strangely high grades and weird behavior in school during her younger years. She's been able to make her career thrive over four decades reinventing her image and making pop music that has topped the charts.
9. Nicole Kidman - 132
Nicole Kidman has an IQ of 132. With a clinical psychologist father and a nursing instructor mother, she studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and graduated with honors. She performed at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney with actress friend Naomi Watts.
10. James Franco - 130
James Franco may have a string of stoner and dumb-funny movies, but he is actually some sort of genius. It's been reported that his IQ is 130, and he graduated from UCLA, Columbia University, NYU, Brooklyn College, and Warren Wilson College with different courses respectively. He took 62 credits in one semester at UCLA, largely exceeding the normal limit of 19. He is also a PhD student at Yale University.
