James Woods's IQ is widely reported as 180, but no test, date or administering body has ever been given for it. What's documented is an MIT admission and a self-reported near-perfect SAT, impressive, and a long way short of proving 180.
An army kid who lost his father at twelve
Born in Vernal, Utah, on 18 April 1947, where his father, Gail, an army intelligence officer, was stationed. The family moved to Warwick, Rhode Island, where he grew up with his mother, Martha, and younger brother, Michael.
His father died after routine surgery when James was 12. His mother later ran a preschool; he has credited her with pushing him academically. At Pilgrim High School he was a strong student with an eye on engineering, not acting.
Education: exhibit by exhibit
Each item graded on how well it's documented.
Graduated with top grades. Well documented.
The score he has given in interviews. No official score report has been published.
Admitted to MIT and studied political science, spending more and more time acting with the student theatre group Dramashop. Well documented.
Dropped out a semester short of his degree to move to New York and act. He has said he told his dean he was leaving to become an actor.
No test name, administrator, date or document has been produced. Repeated in magazine profiles and online lists.
How rare would 180 be?
Drag the score. The maths assumes a normal curve, mean 100, SD 15, the standard IQ scale. Far out in the tail, real tests stop being able to measure at all.
Still inside the range a modern adult test like the WAIS can measure directly.
The career, as end credits
His Broadway debut, soon after leaving MIT.
A cop-killer in the true-crime drama; his breakout film role.
A TV executive in David Cronenberg's body-horror classic.
Max, opposite Robert De Niro, in Sergio Leone's gangster epic.
A burnt-out photojournalist in Oliver Stone's war drama; Best Actor nomination.
A man with schizophrenia, opposite James Garner; his first Emmy.
The co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous; his second Emmy.
The hustler Lester Diamond in Martin Scorsese's film.
The white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith; Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Hades, the fast-talking villain of Disney's animated film.
Lead role as a star defence attorney turned prosecutor.
Sources
- MIT News and Technology Review alumni coverage
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards database
- Television Academy Emmy records
- Woods interviews on SAT results (various, 1980s–2010s)
- What's Your IQ editorial review of circulated figures