Mensa, the high-IQ society that requires members to score in the top 2 percent on standardized intelligence tests, counts among its global membership a handful of celebrities whose intellectual credentials tend to surprise people who associate fame primarily with looks or luck.

The list of notable Mensa members over the years reveals an eclectic mix that cuts across entertainment, sports, and public life — suggesting that the correlation between measurable intelligence and success in highly visible fields is more complicated than popular narratives about the entertainment industry typically acknowledge.

Geena Davis, the Academy Award-winning actress known for Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own, is a Mensa member and a graduate of Boston University with a degree in drama. She is also an accomplished archer who came close to qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team. Sharon Stone, whose public image has often been defined by her physical presence, holds a Mensa membership and has spoken in interviews about the gap between how she was perceived and her actual intellectual interests.

Steve Martin, before his career as a comedian and actor, studied philosophy at California State University Long Beach, where he developed the intellectual interests that inform the wit of his work. His writing, including the novel Shopgirl and his memoir Born Standing Up, reflects a mind more analytically oriented than his public persona might suggest.

Asia Carrera, a former adult film actress, is perhaps the most unexpected entry on any Mensa list — she has an IQ of 156 and was a classical pianist who performed at Carnegie Hall before her career took a dramatically different direction.

The existence of these members doesn't resolve any larger questions about intelligence and success, but it does complicate the lazy assumption that celebrity and intellect are mutually exclusive.