Celeb-Spotting: Quaker Edition!

Author: Leigh Ann P.

Although I have never actually encountered a living, breathing celebrity, I have probably spent years of my life studying them, reading about how they’re just like me! in US Weekly, and filling my tiny, mushy brain with pointless facts that no normal person would ever, ever need.  The only scenario in which this information is useful is when Jeopardy! is on, and I will definitely know the question to the answer, “The Miss Missouri sister of this Gossip Girl actor is married to the Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo.”  (Question: Who is Chace Crawford?).

If I wanted to really challenge you, I could have made that answer: “The Miss Missouri sister of this Gossip Girl actor is married to the former boyfriend of the sister of the estranged wife of the bassist for a band named after a comic book character within the cartoon The Simpsons.”  This is a reference to the connection between Chace Crawford, Candice Crawford, Tony Romo, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, Pete Wentz, and Fallout Boy, as well as an indicator that I have supremely missed my calling as some sort of psycho celebrity expert.  Do those exist in professional settings?

This is why I get so excited at the prospect of any further connection to celebrities in the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon that is my life.  Since I started working here at Penn, I am merely two degrees away from the lovely 30 Rock actress Elizabeth Banks, C’96, and I cannot tell you how excited that makes me.  The one degree between us recently revealed to me that “Liz” Banks is “wicked ticklish.”  WHAT.  How does he know???  New York Magazine has a great feature on her that reveals that she met her husband on their first day of freshman year at Penn.  Cute!  I mean, shoot.  I just forgot the last bit of AP Calculus I had in my head now that I know that fact.

I spent some time on everyone’s favorite – and probably often inaccurate, but always entertaining – online encyclopedia to discover more Penn Alumni celebs.  Let’s look at a few highlights and learn a little bit about their time as students at Penn, shall we?

Candice Bergen

Candice was a member of the now-dormant Penn chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority (never dormant in this blogger’s heart, sister!).  And before she was Queen of CBS prime time, at Penn Candice was elected Miss University and Homecoming Queen!

Tory Burch

Tory was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and majored in art history at Penn.  She is a gifted and successful designer and for a current generation of young fashionistas, her initial logo is as recognizable as Coco Chanel’s.

Andrea Mitchell

While at Penn, Andrea majored in English and was the director of WXPN.  I know when she’s reporting on a story for The Today Show, I can count on her to deliver serious and hard-hitting news about issues that affect us all.  And then a story will follow featuring Matt Lauer interviewing a 4-year-old who had her lemonade business privileges revoked by the Des Moines police department, which is a story I welcome with equally open arms.

Maury Povich

What notable Penn alum list would be complete without Maury?  I.  Love.  Maury.  There are plenty of reasons to love Maury, including but not limited to the fact that he recently donated a very generous $1 million to the Kelly Writers House.  You ARE the donor!  I guess I couldn’t find any information about his time as a student, but if you’re that curious, you can try this helpful website.

Melissa Rivers

Apparently Melissa was a founding member of the Tabard Society, an off-campus secret society for women.  I wonder if Wikipedia can tell us any more secrets about this secret society!

In related news, did you ever notice how clicking around on Wikipedia will always – eventually – lead you to Henry VIII‘s page?  Or am I the only one to whom this happens?  Let us know about the crazy places you’ve ended up on Wiki in the comments section!

I might be famous one day. Were you nice to me?