17 people who prove you don't have to be a morning person to be successful

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Look up habits of successful people, and one thing comes up over and over: Successful people tend to wake up early.

But before you attempt to reprogram your sleepy brain, consider this: While, yes, early birds do get some worms, naturally late risers get some perks, too.

One Spanish study suggested that night owls who sleep in may be more intelligent than their day-bound peers, and Italian researchers found evidence that "evening types" might be also be more creative.

It may not be compatible with a standard office job, but as these 17 people prove, waking up late can definitely be compatible with success.

This is an update of a story originally written by Rachel Sugar.

Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti 'sleeps in' to 8:30 a.m.

In the grand scheme of things, 8:30 a.m. barely qualifies as "sleeping in," but in the context of business, it's virtually afternoon. 

In The Wire, Peretti — who also cofounded The Huffington Post — breaks down his incredibly civilized morning routine. "I usually sleep in to about 8:30," he explains. Then he separates out the business or sports section of The New York Times ("the only two sections my wife lets me take"), grabs New York magazine, and heads for the subway.

New Yorker writer and TED speaker Kathryn Schulz does her best work in the middle of the night

Schulz is hardly the first writer to find that she's at her most alert when everyone else is at their most asleep. Not that she's necessarily happy about it. "I sometimes think I would give anything to be a morning person," she writes in New York magazine.

Instead, her writing brain kicks in at about 10 p.m., she explains. Just after 3 a.m., she's faced with a choice. "If I put my work away and go to bed, I will fall asleep almost instantly, and can be up and functional again by nine." Or she can stay up for the rest of the night, napping for a few hours "from six to eight, or eight to ten."

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is 'not a morning person'

The mayor, who is known for his occasional tardiness, has been upfront about his ideal schedule. "I am not a morning person," he once confessed on the campaign trail. "I think we should reorient our society [to] staying up late, but I don't think that's happening right now."

While de Blasio's schedule — including his oft-discussed 9 a.m. gym sessions — is hardly unheard of, it's a far cry from the larkish routines of recent predecessors. Bloomberg was known to jog at 5 a.m., and Giuliani was in meetings with senior staff by 8 a.m.