British comic actor Mr. Bean neglected his engineering degree to focus on acting

Rowan Atkinson was raised as an Anglican and attended Durham Choristers School, a preparatory school, before enrolling in St Bees School. Rodney, Rowan, and their elder brother Rupert grew raised in Consett and attended Durham Choristers with future Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He was accepted to Newcastle University after getting high results in science A levels, where he earned a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 1975, he resumed his studies at The Queen’s Institution, Oxford, for an MSc in Electrical Engineering, the same college where his father graduated in 1935 and where Atkinson was named an Honorary Fellow in 2006.

The use of self-tuning control was the subject of his MSc thesis, which was published in 1978.

Before giving his whole commitment to acting, Atkinson briefly pursued a doctorate. He had already written and performed sketches for shows in Oxford by the Etceteras – and for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), where he met writer Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate throughout his career. He first gained national attention in The Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 1976.