Most intelligent broadway actor

[RaisedOnMusicals]

John Lithgow is brilliant. He went to Princeton High School.

[CurtainPullDowner]

If you judge an Actor's intelligence on recent choice of roles, The Pone and The Raul are idiots.

I think the MENSA Girl wins.
And Sigorney Weaver too.

[egnarotsew]

I think Bebe and John Lithgow are both smart but fact that they went to Princeton high school means nothing. It's just the public high school in that district.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

I was being sarcastic about PHS, my alma mater. And I went to school with Lithgow, and he is indeed exceptionally smart. Bebe, who I' do not know personally, is the daughter of a Ph. D mathematician, so I would be surprised if she didn't have some real smarts.

[Back Row]

Aaron Tveit

[SNAFU]

I have had the wonderful opportunity to attend a party of a mutual friend with Lithgow. Had a very long discussion with him. He is indeed very very intelligent.

[Gothampc]

Shia LaBeouf -- for obvious reasons.

[MagicalMusical]

I think Bernadette Peters has at least said a very intelligent quote, "You gotta be original, because if you're not, then what do they need you for?" She's gotta be bright.

[Ed_Mottershead]

No one has mentioned that Lithgow graduated from Harvard.

[Jane2]

"Patti has stated that she never even passed her Algebra one class in high school."

What does that have to do with being intelligent?

[aaronb]

My money's on Mark Rylance.

[Neverandy]

Nick Wyman-countless Broadway shows and current president of Equity, is very very smart. I think he got a 1600 on his SAT's

[henrikegerman]

Jeff Daniels and Kerry Washington

[Emma White]

Bernadette Peters on what she would be doing with her life if she wasn't a performer: "I took an aptitude test. I scored too low in English and my math was zero. They said I really couldn't do anything else." (from People magazine)

[It's a fine life!]

Both Antonio Banderas and Mary Stuart Masterson are very smart. Angela Lansbury comes across as very intelligent and articulate. I am a big Murder She Wrote fan and her extensive involvement in that whole project would require enormous intelligence and intuition.

[AC126748]

Peter Weller (best known as RoboCop, but starred off-Broadway in THE WOODS and FRANK'S HOME) holds an earned PhD in art history/renaissance studies from UCLA and an MA in the same subject from Syracuse. David Duchovney did work towards a PhD in English Lit at Yale. Ashley Judd has an Master's in public policy from the JFK School at Harvard. I'm sure there are many others who have BAs, MAs, or even PhDs from respected universities in non-performance subjects. (I don't mean to cast dispersions on anyone's level of intelligence or degree, but an MFA in acting or voice is a performance degree, and not necessarily a marker of someone's intelligence/mental capacity)

[darquegk]

Wallace Shawn is decidedly up at the highest echelon of intelligence among Broadway performers.

[FlyingHighRunningLow]

It depends what you mean by "intelligent" as there are many definitions, one of the most universally used being "the ability to react in a situation by responding appropriately" so intelligence isn't necessarily how well someone does in school.

[It's a fine life!]

^^^AGREE^^^

[TFMH18]

Steve Kazee. He's a self-professed nerd so it's no surprise. And not only is he smart but he's also political, and unlike many a "politic-celeb, he actually knows what the F he's talking about. Love that man

[It's a fine life!]

I've heard he has a real dark side. Like depression. Quite often those who struggle with such disorders are quite intelligent. Maybe it comes from such severe personal analysis.

[random person 112]

"What does that have to do with being intelligent?"

It's a freshman high school class. Not brain surgery. She also mentions skipping most of her classes. So when it comes to book smarts I would doubt the Pone would be your gal. I'm sure she has extensive knowledge of music, acting, and theater politics but if she can't do a simple X= equation my opinion of her intelligence is naturally low.

[givesmevoice]

She also mentions skipping most of her classes.

Isn't that more indicative of laziness/disinterest than intelligence?

I took a data analysis class in graduate school and was SHOCKED at the number of people in my class who couldn't remember fairly basic algebraic procedures, and I'm pretty sure most of them were quite intelligent.

[Gothampc]

"Bernadette Peters on what she would be doing with her life if she wasn't a performer: "I took an aptitude test. I scored too low in English and my math was zero."

But math and music are intertwined. You have to have some math ability to understand music.

[Jane2]

I'm sorry Random Person, but the most intelligent person on the face of the earth can fail school subjects. It doesn't reflect a low intelligence level if one fails math. Has nothing to do with it.

[Jane2]

I think the discrepancy in this thread is due to some of the posters believing that book smarts means intelligence. They are two separate issues.

I'd like to also mention in case some of our posters don't know, there are absolutely insane people in institutions who are highly intelligent. My own sister who was mentally ill, had a genius IQ score.