18 stars who were troublemakers in school

These celebrities might have it all together now, but back in school, they were known for acting out and causing trouble. Some were class clowns, cracking jokes and disrupting teachers, while others were truly rebellious, getting into trouble with the law and spending time behind bars. Wonderwall.com compiled a list of 18 stars who were troublemakers in school, starting with A-list actor Mark Wahlberg. Mark had a cruel and violent streak as a teen growing up in Boston. The "Boogie Nights" star was addicted to cocaine at 13. He threw rocks and yelled racial slurs at a group of African-American kids at age 15. He dropped out of school and was arrested at 16 for attempted murder after he attacked a Vietnamese man with a wooden stick. Mark was sentenced to two years in prison and turned his life around after his release, transforming into the star we know today.

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Rapper Eminem struggled with school while growing up in a trailer park on the outskirts of Detroit. The hip-hop legend frequently skipped class and received poor grades, causing him to fail ninth grade — twice. He eventually dropped out of high school at 17 before working hard and forging a music career.

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Drew Barrymore, who achieved worldwide stardom when she was only 7 thanks to her role in "E.T.," had a very turbulent childhood. The superstar actress was a mainstay at Studio 54 as a little girl. She smoked cigarettes at 9, drank alcohol at 11, smoked pot at 12 and was snorting cocaine by the time she was 13. She went to rehab at 14 after attempting suicide. When her treatment was over, she dropped out of school and filed a petition to emancipate herself from her mother, then forged a new life living on her own as she worked to stay sober at 15.

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Denzel Washington is a college graduate who excelled academically, but he wasn't always a good student. When his parents began growing apart, the "Training Day" star started acting out and getting into fights in school. After his parents' divorce, his mother sent him to a private preparatory school to straighten him out. "I wouldn't have survived in the direction I was going," Denzel told Parade in 1999. "The guys I was hanging out with at the time, my running buddies, have now done maybe 40 years combined in the penitentiary. They were nice guys, but the streets got them."

Angelina Jolie had a turbulent upbringing. The "Maleficent" actress attended an alternative school where she became a rebellious "punk" who wore all-black clothing, went out moshing and experimented with knife play with her live-in boyfriend. She eventually dropped out of school and aspired to become a funeral director before returning and graduating at age 16. "I was the punk outsider nobody messed with. I was fearless. At 16, I graduated and moved out," Angelina told Parade in 2010.

Martin Lawrence was the classic class clown in school. He began his comedy career as a teen, acting silly and disrupting lessons. In order to stay out of trouble, he made an agreement with his teacher that he would stop acting funny during class if he was given some time to perform for his friends at the end of class.

Acting superstar Ben Affleck, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a good student in high school until best friend Matt Damon graduated. The "Justice League" actor said that after Matt began college at Harvard, he had little interest in school. "I did really well my first two years in high school and then when Matt left, I would cut class and… get into all kinds of trouble," he told ABC News.

British crooner Ed Sheeran was never interested in school and only put effort into his music classes. He consistently skipped class and did not turn in his homework, eventually leaving school altogether. "I was not stimulated by school whatsoever. In almost every lesson I thought, 'This is pointless. What am I going to do with biology or chemistry?'" Ed wrote in his biography. "I was sure that I could find a job in music. I could make tea at Island Records or be a studio hand, or I could end up being a songwriter. I didn't do homework and I remember not turning up to school for a long time. I had a lot of detentions and suspensions, which didn't go down well."

Pop sensation Justin Bieber was never motivated in school after discovering his passion for music. He went on to graduate from high school (he claims he had a 4.0 GPA) after taking online courses at St. Michael's Catholic Secondary School in Stratford, Ontario — but did so begrudgingly. "What happened was I found something I wanted to be good at. I wasn't good at school because I had no passion for it," Justin told MailOnline in 2012. "If I hadn't found music, my life would have been bad. My family are all poor, so the cycle would have continued."

British actor and comedian Russell Brand has been a prankster since his younger days. The "Get Him to the Greek" star was admitted to a speciality theater school in London in his youth but was expelled after his first year for illegal drug use and poor attendance. Russell went on to achieve stardom and later tweeted, "A-level students, good luck today- I didn't get any and still ended up with a job as a psychedelic bus driver."

Actress Jessica Chastain had a difficult childhood growing up. The "Interstellar" star said she was a loner and a misfit in high school and often skipped school to read Shakespeare in her car. "I was not a hard worker. I was a terrible student. Eventually, I got my adult diploma, but I did not graduate. And it wasn't that I just dropped out and never went back — at the end of the year I had too many absences to graduate," Jessica told Entertainment Weekly.

Johnny Depp was never very studious during his school days. At age 12, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise star was gifted a guitar by his mother and dropped out of high school to pursue music. He attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told Johnny to follow his dream of being a rock star. That dream didn't work out, but Johnny eventually found his calling in acting.

"Iron Man" star Robert Downey Jr. struggled in school, often getting into trouble for drinking alcohol, getting poor grades and skipping class. At the end of his junior year, he was told he'd have to attend summer school to graduate. Faced with additional schooling, Robert decided to drop out and pursue an acting career in New York City. "For me, you know, growing up in school was just, you know, smoking pot all the time," he told CNN. "I consider myself someone who needs to express himself creatively, and acting seems to be the most lucrative and attention-getting way of working it out right now."

Nicolas Cage says that he was the stereotypical "prankster" in school and was always acting silly. The "Ghost Rider" actor dropped out of Beverly Hills High School and eventually earned his GED. "The classic example of a child with his head in the clouds. I was often by myself. I would always be making my classmates laugh. I was the class clown, a prankster," he told the Mail on Sunday's Event magazine in 2014.

Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson was a true troublemaker while he was in school during the 1950s. Jack, who was voted "class clown" by his school's Class of 1954, said he held a record for detentions. "I was always against authority, hated being told anything by my teachers, by parents, by anyone," Jack told The Independent in 1993. "At school I created a record by being in detention every day for a whole year."

Billionaire businessman Richard Branson was never very studious. The Virgin Group founder has dyslexia and did not perform well as a student, dropping out of school at age 16 to establish his first business. On Richard's last day at school, his headmaster told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire, according to The Times. Clearly the headmaster was on to something!

Rapper Macklemore lashed out and caused trouble during his teen years at Garfield High School in Seattle. The "Thrift Shop" rapper eventually turned over a new leaf after transferring to a more stable school. "Garfield was just a wild school. The teachers had given up before they had even started," Macklemore told Complex in 2012. "Classes were hella disruptive. Nathan Hale was more tamed. I needed a school like Nathan Hale. Because [I was] being kind of the kid [who] was getting into drugs and was rebelling against whatever my teachers said or whatever my parents said, getting into fights."