4 Famous People You Never Knew Were Huge Nerds
Celebrities are just like us ... except for the wealth, the fame, the good looks, the talent, and the fact that they'll probably be remembered long after someone paves over our pauper's grave to build a Taco Bell. But otherwise, they're regular human beings with hobbies and passions ... some of which are total nerd bait.
Slash Is A Gigantic Dinosaur Nerd
Whatever you think of Slash -- the guitarist / aspiring magician of Guns N' Roses -- you probably wouldn't expect that he's really, really into dinosaurs. For starters, he has millions of dollars' worth of dinosaur artwork, which is apparently not only a real genre, but one that you can spend millions of dollars on.
Despite dressing like a Hot Topic brought to life by a careless witch's curse, Slash knows his stuff. He has several paleontologist buddies, keeps current with the major dinosaur museums, and is able to make intelligent, convincing arguments about niche subjects in the field. We like to imagine some stuffy high-society gathering attended by portly fellows in tweed jackets carrying on at great length, when one of them is gently corrected about the mating habits of the diplodocus, turns to find the source of the interjection, and sees Slash standing there.
When Jamie Lee Curtis told an interviewer that she played Street Fighter, she didn't merely mean that she used it to kill time in the makeup chair. She and her family went to EVO (a fighting game tournament/convention) 2015, where Curtis cosplayed as Vega because the mask would let her surreptitiously nerd out to her heart's content. And also because she can rock the hell out of a Vega mask.
Curtis has even donated some of her movie memorabilia (like her dress from True Lies) to raise money for gaming-related initiatives. She also attended BlizzCon dressed as an orc, and once went to a live League Of Legends championship -- a sentence so dorky that we're worried the other sentences here will beat it up.
Claudia Schiffer Is Obsessed With Insects
Actor, designer, and model Claudia Schiffer's obsession with insects is a half step down from that of an aspiring supervillain who wants to capture Spider-Man and make him the pinnacle of her collection. It all began with a childhood fascination with spiders, and today Schiffer's home is full of insect books, drawings, paintings, and displays.
We're told that "a colossal work of art, composed of a legion of insect bodies, takes center stage in Schiffer's living room." But strangely, no pictures of this colossus are available ... possibly because all of the photographers have been ensnared in her bottle traps until they agree to summon their "suspiciously good friend" Spider-Man.
Michael B. Jordan Loves Anime
Michael B. Jordan may be one pesky B away from the most famous basketball star in history, but he's had a pretty impressive career of his own, from The Wire to Black Panther to Gears Of War 4. And when he's not busy acting, he's hard at work on an even more demanding career: not being embarrassed by anime.
Jordan's interest in anime has gone beyond "cute press junket story" and well into obsession territory. His Twitter feed is a constant stream of anime references and commentary, he wants to go to Tokyo to be one of those tourists, and his Killmonger outfit from Black Panther intentionally bears a passing resemblance to Vegeta's armor from Dragon Ball Z.
And if you're currently snorting, pushing your glasses up your nose, and sighing, "Oh, I get it, he only likes mainstream anime for casuals. Let me know when he's got an educated opinion on Serial Experiments Lain and Makoto Shinkai," Jordan insists that he makes easy references for the benefit of his many fans who are uneducated in anime. You can read up on the man and judge for yourself whether or not that's true ... right after we're done giving you the most well-deserved wedgie in history.
Mark is on Twitter and has a book.
Psst. Catch up on your Naruto and you might actually have something in common with the dude.
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For more, check out 8 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Geeks and 6 Dorky Hobbies That Shatter Your Image Of Famous People.
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