One of Jack Black’s most famous roles is playing a teacher in the musical comedy film ’School of Rock’. But was his own education a success or failure?

After graduating from the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, Jack Black attended UCLA. While studying here, he joined the theatre group, The Actors’ Gang, and met Kyle Gass. Together they would go on to form Tenacious D, a successful comedy rock duo. His academic career was short-lived, however, when he dropped out of college in his sophomore year. 

So what made Jack Black leave such a prestigious university as UCLA? Read on to find out.

Why did Jack Black drop out of college?

In a commencement speech for graduating students at the Montverde Academy, Jack Black admits that he “slept through the whole…college…thing”. 

He also says it is ‘super expensive, super hard…and is a waste of time and money unless you want to be a doctor’. You can view the speech in its entirety below.

Of course this speech has a very comedic undertone. Further in his speech he even states, “Do not listen to me. I don’t know jack diddly squat about nothing”. 

Yet this is not the only time that Jack Black has spoken of college as being something that wasn’t really for him. 

He recalls in this interview with Parade Magazine that his main motivations for attending college were to further his acting career and to please his father.

“I didn’t really have a lot of [acting] prospects coming out of high school. I needed a place to make some connections. College was very important to my father. I was trying to make him happy. And I thought UCLA could lead to a career”.

Jack Black has indeed had a very successful career since leaving UCLA.

He has been nominated for two Golden Globes and achieved the ultimate Hollywood accolade, when he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

How did Jack Black become successful after quitting college?

So after only two years at UCLA, how did Jack Black go on to find such success in acting? 

His involvement with The Actors’ Gang certainly helped. Tim Robbins, one of the original founders of the performance troupe, decided to cast Jack in his first film role with a small part in the political satire ‘Bob Roberts’.

In this interview with GQ magazine, Jack recalls his feelings after attending the premiere of the movie at the Cannes Film Festival. While he was there he went to a party hosted by Robert Altman and recalls it was;

“Just a showbiz cream dream delu. I smoked a joint with Altman and some other fucking dudes. It doesn’t get much more stony glamorous. I remember thinking, This is the beginning. And then…nothing”.

In the following years he managed to pick up several other ‘bit parts’ before he was cast opposite John Cusack in the romantic comedy movie ‘High Fidelity’. In a video interview with GQ magazine which you can watch below, Jack suggests this was his “breakthrough role”. 

He also mentions that he believes he got the part because “John Cusack was a fan of my band, Tenacious D”, the band he founded with Kyle Gass at UCLA.

However, it wasn’t until the ‘School of Rock’ that Jack really hit the limelight.

He played Dewey Finn, a failed wannabe rockstar who lies his way into a job as a substitute teacher at a prestigious school. For this role Jack won not only critical acclaim, but a Golden Globe nomination. 

He describes it in the previously mentioned GQ magazine interview as “the movie I’m most proud of. That’s the one when all the planets aligned”.

Many other movies and a further Golden Globe nomination followed for his role in the movie ‘Bernie’. Tenacious D have continued to tour and perform. Jack Black has continued to find success.

Would any of this have happened if Jack Black hadn’t have gone to college, even though he dropped out in the end? To that question, there is no answer.