This is a partially sorted list of Columbia University's representation in various films and television programs.
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Movies making reference to Columbia and/or featuring scenes shot on the Morningside campus include:
In Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi, Peter Parker attains his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider at a laboratory at Columbia University (the lab scenes were actually filmed at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles), and later attends the school. The Marvel Comics superhero Daredevil was valedictorian of his class at Columbia Law School.[1] Willie Keith, the protagonist in Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny, is a Columbia student when he signs up for the Navy at the beginning of World War II; Wouk specifically refers to the campus, including buildings such as Furnald Hall. Law & Order prosecutor Jamie Ross (later a judge on Law & Order: Trial by Jury) attended Columbia Law. Meadow Soprano, of the television series The Sopranos, attends Columbia.[2] Michael Moscovitz, a character in the The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot, also attends Columbia University. On the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, both main characters, Will Truman and Grace Adler, played by Eric McCormack and Debra Messing, respectively, were Columbia graduates. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) from ABC's Lost graduated from Columbia University Medical Center. Jessie Spano from Saved by the Bell attended Columbia University in the show's spin-off. Jessica Darling, the protagonist of Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, and Charmed Thirds, attends Columbia. Dr. Joel Fleishman (Rob Morrow) on the television series Northern Exposure was a graduate of Columbia. Valerie Tyler in the TV show What I Like About You is a Columbia graduate, with a degree in Public Relations. Carol Seaver from the family sitcom Growing Pains (Tracey Gold) also attended the university. In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) graduated from Columbia Journalism. In the film I Think I Love My Wife, Richard Cooper (Chris Rock) held an M.B.A. degree from Columbia (An M.B.A. diploma from Columbia can be seen hanging on the wall in the character's office). Marshall Eriksen of How I Met Your Mother is a Columbia Law school graduate. Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) in the movie "The Rock" holds a BA from Columbia. In addition, the television comedy series (Seinfeld) was fictionally filmed near the Columbia campus, as the famous Seinfeld diner "Monk's" is in fact Tom's Restaurant on Broadway at 112th Street. Similarly, the pop song (Tom's Diner) by Barnard alum (Suzanne Vega) is also set in Tom's Restaurant. In Siri Hustvedt's 2008 novel, The Blindfold, the heroine is a grad student at Columbia. Mara Waters, a character in The Au Pairs, a novel by Melissa de la Cruz, decides to attend Columbia rather than Dartmouth. In Richard Powers' novel, The Time of our Singing, the family's father, David Strom, is a physicist at Columbia. As for the boys, they both attend Juilliard School. Both Doctor Eric Foreman and James Wilson (House) on the popular Fox medical drama House attended the medical school at Columbia. Professor X, of X-Men fame, completed his graduate studies at Columbia, where he received his PhD in Anthropology. In the film Panic Room, the character which Jodie Foster plays is a Columbia University student. Aqua in Cheetah Girls 3 wanted to be a prospective Columbian and she makes references to their excellent physics departments.[3] In the Bollywood movie, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Radhika Rani Mukerji is majoring in music at Columbia University when she meets Rajveer Singh Saif Ali Khan.