Denzel Washington - University of Pennsylvania

please join me in welcoming Denzel Washington thank you thank you very much um I am obviously the most unorganized everybody else has nice boxes to bring their script up in I just like kind of got it all messed up here and put it inside of a magazine so so uh in fact I don't even have it in the right order wait a minute let me get in the right order here so if it starts like flying around the stage just you know run around and grab it for me and bring it back up here for

me I'll keep going as I can uh president Gutman Provost price board chair Cohen fellow honores beautiful honores and today's graduates um I'm I'm honored and grateful for the invitation today I'm it's always been great to be on the pen campus uh I've been here before a lot of times for basketball games my son played at the pelra played on the basketball team I yeah that's right played on a basketball team coach didn't give enough playing time we'll talk about that later no but I'm really I'm I'm I'm really pleased with the progress that coach

Allen has made and uh no I do I am I really am and uh I hope him the best success in the future and and you know I always get a warm welcome when I come to Pennsylvania when I come to Philadelphia uh except on the few occasions where I wear my Yankee cap yeah that I mean what's wrong with that I can't suddenly just switch up and wear a Philly cap I mean I mean it's like taking your life in your hands around here when you wear a Yankee cap I'm telling you I met

a couple of guys and they were like hey we love you Denzel but you know you walking around with that hat on we don't care who you are so you'll be happy to see that I'm not wearing my Yankee cap today I'm wearing my Yankee socks my Yankee t-shirt my Yankee Jack shorts Yankee underwear my Yankee tow warmers but not my Yankee cat but still I'll be honest with you I'm I'm I'm a little nervous I'm I'm not used to speaking at a graduation of this magnitude it's it's a little overwhelming it's out of my

comfort zone you dress me up in Army fatigues or throw me on top of a moving train someone said Unstoppable or ask me to play Malcolm X Ruben Hurricane Carter or Alonzo from training day I can do that but a commencement speech it's it's very serious Affair and it's a very different ball game there are literally thousands and thousands of people here and for those who say well you're a movie star millions of people watch you and watch you speak all the time well that's too that that's technically true but I'm not actually in the

theater watching them watching me I think that makes sense I mean I'm not there when they call for a fidget around or pull out their iPhones or text their boyfriend or uh scratch their behinds or whatever it is they're doing in the movie theater but from up here I can see every single one of you and that makes me uncomfortable so please don't pull out your rones and your text don't text your boyfriend until after I'm done please if you have to scratch your behind I mean I understand go ahead I was thinking about this

speech what I should say I figured the best way to keep your attention would be to talk about something you know really like juicy Hollywood stuff like uh I thought I could talk about uh uh me and Russell Crow getting in arguments on a set of American Gangster or uh but I said not no no no you're a group of high-minded intellectuals you're not interested in that or maybe not I thought about uh a private moment I had uh backstage with Angelina Jolie in the dressing room uh after the Oscars but I said no I

don't think so this is an Ivy League school and I mean Angelina Jolie half naked in a dressing room who who wants to hear about that no one no one no one no one this is pen that stuff would never go over well over here maybe at Drexel but not over [Applause] here woo I'm in trouble now so I was back to square one feeling the pressure so now you're probably thinking if it was going to be this diff this much pressure why did I even accept today's invitation in the first place well you know

my son goes here that's number one that's a good reason and I always like to check to see how my money is being spent and I'm sure there's some parents out there who can relate to what I'm talking about yeah it's everybody upstairs and there were some other good reasons for me to show up sure I got an Academy Award Ward but I never had something called a magic meatball after waiting in line for half an hour at the food truck yeah yes I talk face to face with President Obama but I never talk face

to face with a guy named quer who sings bad songs over it smokes on Tuesday night I never been to BU I never been to heos yes I have played a detective who B those demons but I've never been to a school in my life where the squirrel population has Gone Bananas I mean they're breaking in the dorm rooms they're walking around campus I think I saw some carrying books on their way to class so I had to be here I had to come even though I was afraid I might make a fool of myself

in fact if you really want to know the truth I had to come exactly because I had to come exactly because I might make a fool of myself now what am I talking about here it is I found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks nothing Nelson Mandela said there is no passion to be found playing small in settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living now I'm sure in your your experiences in school and applying to college and picking your major and deciding what you want to

do with life I'm sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on make sure you got something to fall back on honey but I never understood that concept having something to fall back on if I'm going to fall I don't want to fall back on anything except my faith I want to fall forward I figure at least this way I'll see what I'm going to hit fall forward this is what I mean Reggie Jackson struck out 2600 times in his career the most in the history of baseball but you

don't hear about the strikeouts people remember the home runs fall forward Thomas Edison Ked 1,000 failed experiments did you know that I didn't know that because the 1,000 first was the light bulb fall forward every failed experiment is one step closer to success you've got to take risks and I'm sure you've probably heard that before but I want to talk to you about why that's so important I got three reasons and then you can pick up your iPhones first you will fail at some point in your life accept it you will lose you will embarrass

yourself you will suck at something there's no doubt about it and I know that's probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony but hey I'm telling you embrace it because it's inevitable and I should know in the acting business you fail all the time early on in my career I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical perfect role for me I thought except for the fact that I can't sing so I'm I'm in the wings I'm about to go on stage but the guy in front of me he's singing like like like pavaroti

he's just he's just going on and on and on and I'm just shrinking I'm getting smaller and thring so they say oh thank you very much thank you very much and we'll you'll be hearing from us so I come out with my little sheet music and it was it was uh just my imagination by the tempt that's what I came up with so I hand it to the the the accompanist and uh she looks at it and looks at me and looks out at the director and was like so I I start you know I'm

going to sing I'm like it's just my imagination once again and then coming away with me and I'm not saying anything so I'm thinking I'm getting better so I I could start getting into to it it was [Applause] just running this thank thank you thank you thank you very much Mr Washington thank you so I assumed I didn't get the job but the next part of the audition he called me back the next part of the audition is the acting part of the audition now I'm like hey okay maybe I can't sing but I know

I can act so they pair me with this guy and again I didn't know about musical theater and musical theater is Big so they can reach everyone all the way in the back of of the stadium and I'm more from a realistic uh naturalistic kind of acting where you you know you actually talk to the person next to you so I I don't know what my line was my line was well hand me the cup and his line was well I will hand you the cup my dear the cup will be there to be handed

to you I I said okay well should I give you the cup back oh yes you should give it back to me because you know that is my cup and it should be given back to me I didn't get the job but here's the thing I didn't quit I didn't fall back I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition I prayed I prayed and I prayed but I continued to fail and fail and fail but it didn't matter because you know what there's an old

saying you hang around the barber shop long enough sooner or later you're going to get a haircut so you will catch a break and I did catch a break last year here I did a play called fences on Broadway someone talked about it one the Tony a ward I and I didn't have to sing by the way but here's the kicker it was at the court theater it was at the same theater that I failed that first audition 30 years prior the the point is and I'll pick up the pace the point is every graduate

here today has the training and the talent to succeed but do you have the guts to fail here's my second point about failure if you don't fail you're not even trying I'll say it again if you don't fail you're not even trying my wife told me this great expression to get something you never had you have to do something you never did did Les Brown's a motivational speaker he made an analogy about this he says imagine you're on your deathbed and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential the ghost of the

ideas you never acted on the ghost of the talents you didn't use and they're standing around your bed angry disappointed and upset they say we we came to you because you could have brought us to life they say and now we have to go to the Grave together so I ask you today how many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes you've invest you you've invested a lot in your education and people have invested in you and let me tell you the world needs your talents man does it ever I

just got back from Africa like two days ago so if I'm rambling on it's cuz I'm jet lag I just got back from South Africa it's a beautiful country but there are places there with terrible pover poverty that need help and Africa is just the the tip of the iceberg the Middle East needs your help Japan needs your help Alabama needs your help Tennessee needs your help Louisiana needs your help Philadelphia needs your help the world the world needs a lot and we need it from you we really do we need it from you young

people I mean I'm not speaking for the rest of us up here but I know I'm getting a little grayer we need it from you the young people cuz remember this so you got to get out there you got to give it everything you got whether it's your time your your your talent your prayers or your Treasures because remember this you will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse I'll say it again you will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse you can't take it with you the Egyptians tried it and all they got was

robbed so the question is what are you going to do with what you have I'm not talking about how much you have some of you are business majors some of you are theologians nurses sociologists some of you have money some of you have p patience some of you have kindness some of you have love some of you have the gift of longsuffering whatever it is whatever your gift is what are you going to do with what you have all right now here's my last point about failure sometimes it's the best way to figure out where

you're going your life will never be a straight path I began at forom University as a Premed student I I I took a a course called the C cardiac morph I still can't say it cardiac cardiac morphogenesis I couldn't read it I couldn't say it I sure couldn't pass it so then I decided to go into pre-law then journalism and with no academic Focus my grades took off in their own Direction yeah down I was a 1.8 GPA one semester and the university very politely suggested that it might be better to take some time off

I was 20 years old I was at my lowest point and then one day and I remember the exact day March 27th 1975 I was helping my mother in her beauty shop my mother owned a beauty shop up in M Vernon and there's there was this older woman who was uh considered one of the elders in the town and I didn't know her personally but I I was looking in the mirror and every time I looked at the mirror I could see her but behind me and she was staring at me she just kept looking

at every time I looked at her she kept giving me these strange looks so she finally took the dryer off her head and said something she said something I'll never forget first of all she said somebody give me a piece of paper give me a piece of paper she said young boy I have a prophecy a spiritual prophecy she said you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people now mind you I'm 20 years old I'm flunked out of school in fact like a wise ass I'm thinking to myself maybe she's

got something in that crystal ball about me getting back into school next fall but maybe she was on to something because later that summer while working as a counselor at the YMCA Camp in Conneticut we put on a talent show for the campers and after the show another counselor came up to me and asked have you ever thought about acting you're good at that so when I got back to forom that fall I got in I changed my major once again for the last time and in the years that followed just as that woman prophesies

I have traveled the world and I have spoken to millions of people through my movies Millions who up till this day couldn't see me I who who up till this day I couldn't see while I was talking to them and they couldn't see me they could only see the movie they couldn't see the real me but I see you today and I'm encouraged by what I see and I'm strengthened by what I see and I love what I see one more page I'll shut up let me conclude with this one final point and actually the

president kind of brought it up has to do with with the movie Philadelphia she stole my material many years ago I did this movie called Philadelphia we filmed some of the scenes right here on campus Philadelphia came out in 1993 most of you were probably still in diapers some of the professors too but that cracked me up but it was a good movie Rent It On n uh what do you call it Netflix it's a good movie Rent It I get 23 cents every time you rent it please rent it true parents up there rent

rent rent it Netflix please tell your friends too it's about a man played by Tom Hanks who's fired from his Law Firm because he has AIDS he wants to sue the firm but no one's willing to represent him until a homophobic ambulance Chaser lawyer played by yours truly takes on the case in a way if you watch the movie you'll see everything I'm talking about today you'll see what I mean about taking risk or being willing to fail because taking risk is not just about going for a job it's also about knowing what you know

and what you don't know it's about being open to people and to ideas in the course of the film the character I play begins to take small steps small risks he very very very slowly begins to overcome his fears and I feel ultimately his heart becomes flooded with love and I can't think of a better message as we send you off today to not only take risks but to be open to life to accept new views and to be open to new opinions to be willing to speak at a commencement at one of the best

country Besa universities in the country even though you're scared stiff while it may be frightening it will also be rewarding because the chances you take the People You Meet the people you love the faith that you have that's what's going to Define you so members of the class of 2011 this is your mission when you leave the friendly confines of Philly never be discouraged never hold back give everything you got and when you fall throughout life and maybe even tonight after a few many glasses of champagne remember this fall forward congratulations I love you God

bless you I respect you than