Celebrity overachievers

Danica McKellar: Actress and mathematician. We know her best as Winnie Cooper, the dark-haired love of Fred Savage’s life on TV’s “The Wonder Years.” People who study physics probably know her as Winnie Cooper, but they might also know her as coauthor of a scientific paper that proves a theorem that has come to be known as the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.  (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)

Shirley Temple Black: Child star and ambassador. For the first part of her life she was a singing, tapping curly-haired cutie — world famous and beloved by all. Then she married Charles Alden Black, tacked the “Black” onto her last name and got interested in politics. In 1969 she was appointed a delegate to the United Nations by President Nixon, and she later served as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana and then Czechoslovakia.  (Vince Bucci AFP/Getty Images)

Paul Newman: Actor and salad dressing tycoon. To the youngest members of our society, Paul Newman is best known as the salad dressing guy. He started the Newman’s Own brand of food in the 1980s. At first it was just salad dressings, but has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa and dog food. Newman donates all the proceeds from the business to charity and coauthored a book, “Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good,” about his adventures in retail.  (Scott Gries / Getty Images)

Joel Silver: Producer and first Ultimate Frisbee player. Sure, Joel Silver has an impressive string of producing credits to his name — “Die Hard,” “48 Hrs.,” “Weird Science” and “The Matrix.” But his major accomplishment? Inventing the sport of Ultimate Frisbee while in high school. Game over.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

Jamie Lee Curtis: Actor and diaper innovator. In 1986 Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, Christopher Guest, adopted a child, and one year later she patented a diaper that has a little sealable pocket for wet wipes built into the outside. The patent calls it an “infant garment.” Someone else called it the Swipe Dipe.  (Vince Bucci / Getty Images)