Sarah Jessica Parker never endured a lecture in college. In her twenties, she never chose a major, never stayed up late in a dorm room, and never attended a graduation. Nevertheless, this June, as a recently awarded honorary Doctor of Arts, she addressed the Class of 2026 at Northwestern University from a podium at Chicago’s United Center while dressed in academic robes. It’s an odd sort of full circle that illustrates how unusual her education actually was.
Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, in 1965 as one of eight children in a family that, according to her, had financial difficulties. There were times when there was no electricity, birthdays that went by in silence, and Christmases that never happened. However, her mother seemed adamant that the children would continue to be surrounded by art. She treated culture as something the family could still afford even when little else was certain, taking them to free performances at Cincinnati’s theater and ballet.
It didn’t take long for that exposure to become more formal. Parker trained under dance instructors at the University of Cincinnati’s CCM Prep program after attending the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. She has talked positively about that time, attributing her development to one teacher, David Blackburn, in ways she didn’t fully understand until much later in life. It’s the kind of remark made about educators who were more important than they realized at the time.
In pursuit of her career, the family relocated frequently, first to Cincinnati, then to Dobbs Ferry, Roosevelt Island, Manhattan, and finally Englewood, New Jersey, where she attended Dwight Morrow High School. She trained at the School of American Ballet and the New York Professional Children’s School, which is a type of school designed especially for children who spend their afternoons in rehearsal instead of playtime. School had already become something she fit around performing, not the other way around, by the time she was cast in the Broadway version of Annie.
She also spent some time in Los Angeles, where she developed a television resume while completing her secondary education at Hollywood High School. After graduating, she decided to continue acting rather than enrolling anywhere, a decision that probably seemed clear to her at seventeen. Not a college. Not even a pause. Directly into the work that would eventually become Sex and the City.
Given that she is now regarded as an academic dignitary, it is noteworthy what she did not do. She received her education from professional children’s schools in New York and an arts program in Cincinnati, but she has neither an undergraduate degree nor a law degree. However, Northwestern awarded her an honorary doctorate this year, and Harvard Law School invited her to give its Class Day speech back in 2016. Her career was almost unintentionally described as interdisciplinary, with acting, producing, publishing, and fashion all woven together without a single degree.
That has an almost comforting quality. Her education was developed more in ballet studios, rehearsal spaces, and Broadway theater wings than in classrooms. It’s difficult to ignore how frequently the individuals we eventually refer to as “doctors” never required the initial degree in order to obtain it.
