Top 10 Successful Celebrities Who Dropped Out of School

Walt Disney was always a very imaginative person dating back to his childhood years. As a teenager, he always focused on drawing rather than doing assignments, which caused him to receive negative reception from his teachers. He dropped out at the age of 16 to join the army, but was too young to enlist, so he joined the Red Cross. After leaving, he founded The Walt Disney Company, and has changed not only animation, but television, amusement parks, society, business, and the whole world, with Steamboat Willie, Snow White, Disneyland, Mary Poppins, and even tried to plan a new type of city called EPCOT. It would be really cool if EPCOT really happened, but sadly he died at the age of 65 in 1966. He received his high school diploma at 58.

When Brando was a teenager, he was a very risky dude, always getting in trouble. He got held back a year at school, and even took it too far by riding a motorcycle in the hallways of Libertyville High School, leading to his expulsion. He got sent to Shattuck Military Academy, where he did excellent in theater and education. So one day, he sneaked out of town and his school wanted to expel him, but were supported by his friends who thought it was too harsh. Brando returned back to the school the following year and decided to drop out, so he can start his famous acting career, becoming famous for A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, On the Waterfront, Sayonara, One-Eyed Jacks, The Ugly American, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, and A Dry White Season. He passed away in 2004.

Even during the time he was in high school, he was starting his rap career with rap battles. He failed Freshman year (9th grade) three times until he dropped out to get a job to help his mother pay the bills. He also had a lot of struggles dealing with a rough town, being fired, and taking care of his daughter Hailie Jade. He had made his first album Infinite in 1996 after a bunch of mixtapes with his rap group Soul Intent, usually talking about these topics. Then however, he blew off with his Slim Shady persona in his Slim Shady EP the following year. A man who worked for Interscope got Eminem's demo after a rap battle, showed it to Jimmy Iovine, and played it to Dr. Dre. He wanted Eminem immediately. After they met and finished an album The Slim Shady LP, he rose to fame and shocked rap fans as he broke the race barriers, even though there was the Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill and 3rd Bass, (and was not helped by Vanilla Ice earlier). He became a superstar with The Marshall Mathers LP ...more

When Jay-Z was a teenager, he went to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School with Busta Rhymes and The Notorious B.I.G. (deceased), and moved to New Jersey to attend Trenton Central High School. During this period, he sold crack cocaine and was shot three times. He started his rap career in 1986 thanks to his mentor Jaz-O. He slowly had more popularity in the next 10 years from Jaz-O appearances, rap battles, appearing on Big Daddy Kane and Big L's album, rapping with DMX and Ja Rule at their early career, to founding Roc-A-Fella and making his debut album Reasonable Doubt. He was later signed to Def Jam and became one of rap's greatest. He also became an entrepreneur, with owning restaurants, a tech company, media streaming service, and a line of cannabis products.

Johnny Depp dropped out at the age of 15 to pursue his career as a rockstar, joining the group Rock City Angels, in which he left to pursue a career in acting, starting with 21 Jump Street. He has starred in Cry-Baby, Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, Don Juan DeMarco, Dead Man, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, and most famously, playing Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

He spent his late teenage years in poverty, and had to drop out of school to financially support his family. After that, he did impressionist work in Toronto, appeared in Letterman, became famous In Living Color, and had widespread critical acclaim and recognition in the Hollywood industry starting with Ace Ventura.

Doing impressionist work sounds kind of a weird path after having dropped out of school (I could be wrong).

Rihanna dropped out of school at the age of 16 to sign a deal with Def Jam, in which she moved to America (she was from Barbados). Even though she wanted to graduate, she chose to pursue music instead. After a series of successful albums and tours, she chose her path to be a fashion designer, businesswoman and entrepreneur, and found the fashion house Fenty, under the luxury fashion group LVMH. She was also the first non-white woman to appear in a Dior promotional image in 2015, where she got her start in fashion.

An associate with Marlon Brando and his role for Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, he struggled with every subject except English at school, and all he wanted to do was acting and filmmaking, so he dropped out and pursued his famous career with The Godfather trilogy, Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, and Heat.

He dropped out after his senior year to pursue acting, which he joined a free local drama center. He went on to have a successful acting career with The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, The Aviator, Inception, Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby, and The Wolf of Wall Street.