11. John Lithgow

We all know and love this fella from his amazing role in beloved sitcom “3rd Rock From The Sun”, where he plays an alien in the body of a wacky physics professor who tries to decipher the secrets of human race.

But what you probably don’t know is that John has a Harvard degree in history and literature.

He lived in Adams House as an undergraduate. Lithgow later served on Harvard’s Board of Overseers. Lithgow credits a performance at Harvard of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Utopia Limited” with helping him decide to become an actor.

After graduation, Lithgow won a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Lithgow also loves sitcoms. “I can’t imagine doing an hour-long dramatic series because it’s so much work. A sitcom is a wonderful gig. You work from 10 to 4 every day, it’s fun, and you get to live at home. When you end a successful sitcom, the most sensible thing to do is go back to the theater.”

He was a son of a retired actress and a father who was a theatrical producer and director. He moved often as a child while his father managed local and college theaters and Shakespeare festivals throughout the Midwest of the United States. Not until he was 16, and his father became head of the McCarter Theater in Princeton New Jersey, did the family finally settle down.

John is also an author and a musician. Hollywood definitely needs more people like him.