8 celebs who moonlight as college professors

Talk about a fun second job!

Hollywood power stretches far and wide. It’s rare to find a celebrity who hasn’t tried their hands in more than one field. There are writer-actor-producer-activists like Girls star Lena Dunham and singer-designer-entrepreneurs like Victoria Beckham.

One of the most unexpected crossover fields, however, is teaching. Today’s college students have a new factor to consider when choosing a college: the celebrities who might be teaching there! As compiled from InStyle, here are some Hollywood A-listers who have served as teachers, despite their superstar status. Happy learning!

Oprah Winfrey

PHOTO: InStyle

Back in ’99, Oprah added a title to her already overwhelming list: Professor Winfrey. The successful talk show host and businesswoman taught a course at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. It goes without saying that Winfrey’s “Dynamics of Leadership” course drew a lot of student interest. Any advice Oprah has to share, we’re more than willing to take!

Kal Penn

PHOTO: InStyle

In the spring of 2008, Harold and Kumar actor Kal Penn took on the lead role as an Ivy League professor. The actor taught two cinema studies courses at the University of Pennsylvania: a seminar on contemporary American teen films and a course titled Images of Asian Americans in the Media.

Kevin Spacey

PHOTO: InStyle

Years before he was terrorising the general public as morally bankrupt politician Frank Underwood in House of Cards, Kevin Spacey was teaching his Oscar-winning ways to drama students at Oxford University. Appointed Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at the university’s St Catherine’s College, Spacey spent a year imparting his Hollywood wisdom to the eager pupils.

Alec Baldwin

PHOTO: InStyle

In 2002, Baldwin shared everything he had learned through his decades-long acting career with students at Long Island's Southampton University

Angelina Jolie

PHOTO: InStyle

This Hollywood beauty and activist is expected to teach a course about the impact of war on women at the London School of Economics (LSE) starting this September. Testament to her true passion for the issue, the Oscar-winning Jolie – an avid human rights activist – has accepted the position without pay.

Matthew McConaughey

PHOTO: InStyle

The University of Texas alum signed on as a contributing professor for his alma mater's Advanced Producing: Script to Screen course. Time to head to Texas!

James Franco

PHOTO: InStyle

At this point, James Franco is basically the face of the celebrity-turned-college professor movement. The well-educated actor has held teaching gigs at big film schools at big universities such as New York University (NYU), University of Southern California (USC) and University College Los Angeles (UCLA).

Tyra Banks

PHOTO: FILE

Last August, news spread that supermodel and accomplished businesswoman Tyra Banks would co-teach a class on creating a personal brand at Stanford University. We like to think all her course emails will be labeled URGENT: TYRA MAIL.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.