15 Celebs Who Delivered Iconic Graduation Speeches — from Hilary Duff to Queen Latifah

I had two commencement speeches: one in 2024 for my undergrad at Vassar College, and another in 2025 at Northwestern University for my master’s. For two consecutive summers, I sat amid thousands of bobbling heads and sweat-marinated graduation gowns, waiting for the guest speaker to bestow some tear-jerking, all-knowing wisdom upon us. A gold-plated bookend to my tenure in academia. A sacred sound site for panorama of my (very expensive) youth.

Ultimately, I was so distracted by the buzz of graduating that I barely registered the speeches. It wasn’t until many months later their words started to sink in — ones that spoke to every triumph, defeat, and perplexity students face beyond the campus gates.

Graduating class of 2026, an entire world of possibilities welcomes you with open arms. But just in case you need a little more courage and guidance in these turbulent times, I’ve rounded up 15 of the best graduation speeches to help inspire your transition into the ~ real world ~.

“Every hard choice is a brick in the path toward the life you want, but every excuse is a brick in the wall that will stand in your way.”

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady took the stage at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business for the class of 2026. Casting the audience back to a 2017 showdown against the Falcons, Brady made the case that in both sports and business, persistence has a way of rewriting what the numbers say is possible.

“There’s sometimes just no way to make it to where you want to be unless you have the courage to stand alone. You have to have the bravery to step forward by yourself and go into a lane that no one else has driven. That’s why they call it your lane, because it was made just for you. Nobody can get in your lane.” 

Hip-hop pioneer and actress Queen Latifah brought her signature fearlessness to North Carolina A&T State University. Referring to her own debut album at 18, All Hail the Queen, she encouraged the graduating class to be delusionally ambitious and to “get comfortable being afraid and doing it anyway.”

“You are not hired, no matter what you do, to fill time and space. You are hired to fill that time and space with your imagination. You listen to your tummy. Your tummy knows everything. Your mind only knows a few things. You listen to your tummy.” 

Nearly six decades after walking Emerson’s halls himself, Henry Winkler returned to celebrate his Alma Mater’s newest alumni. As a two-time Golden Globe-winning actor, famously known for playing Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in the sitcom Happy Days, this 80-year-old icon delivered a dynamic speech on intuition and empathy. 

“Redirecting your energy in one area can mean sprinting in another. The key is that I was choosing where my energy went instead of letting others choose for me. A wonderful part of giving yourself that space is you can look back and see the distance you’ve traveled.”

“Hey now, hey now, this is what dreams are made of!” For years, Lizzie McGuire‘s anthem has soundtracked graduations everywhere. And this time, the star behind it showed up in person. Singer-songwriter and actress Hilary Duff addressed Northeastern’s class of 2026 with a bubbly speech on pursuing a life of excitement and growth. 

“Through this cartoon existence I have interviewing famous people over spicy wings, I’ve come to appreciate more than ever that everyone has to start somewhere … and, at the end of the day, we’re all just people figuring it out.”

Before Sean Evans interviewed stars over hot sauce-coated chicken wings, he was sitting in the same seats as UIUC’s class of 2026. The ’08 grad and co-creator of YouTube talk show Hot Ones returned to his alma mater with one key note: embrace the heat, and take life “one wing at a time.”

“When all six are in tune, the chords they make can stop a conversation cold, carry a broken person through the worst night of their life, or make a room full of strangers feel, for three minutes, like they’ve known each other forever. If even one is off, the whole chord unravels.”

Eric Church took UNC Chapel Hill’s commencement stage with, you guessed it, a guitar in hand. The country singer, no stranger to Billboard’s upper echelons, used his stringed instrument as a motif, advocating for togetherness, community, and the courage to play your own song.

“As you leave this campus, your softness is not a liability. Your tenderness is not weakness. In a world that rewards sharp edges, I want you to be the velvet. Be the listening. Be the one who remembers that people are not problems to be solved, but stories to be understood.”

Two-time Oscar nominee, Emmy winner, and award podium frequenter Coleman Domingo returned to his Philadelphia alma mater of Temple University to address the graduating class. Known for his roles in TV shows like Fear the Walking Dead and Euphoria and films like Sing Sing and Rustin, Domingo took the stage with rather poetic punchlines, delivering an eloquent speech on resilience and compassion.

“Believe in your ability to make it anywhere. You belong in every boardroom, every mountaintop, every C-suite.” 

Broadcast journalist and NBC’s Today co-host Hoda Kotb brought unmatched energy to Fordham’s commencement. She shared with the school’s second-largest graduating class anecdotes of her early-career mess-ups, sending the Rams off with one message: just go for it, ready or not. 

“I’m not saying the goal is to renounce accomplishments, but rather to metabolize them. If you carry your victories lightly, other qualities — kindness, originality, courage, humor, and humanity — have room to emerge.” 

Late-night show host and comedian O’Brien returned to his alma mater 41 years after graduation. His keynote speech — rather talk-show-esque and sprinkled with Toy Story 5 plugs — reimagined the Ivy diploma as just an entry point to lifelong learning and community building. 

“Becoming yourself is not a branding exercise. It’s a lifelong process of paying attention. Paying attention to what moves you, to what breaks your heart, to what values you refuse to compromise, to what kind of human being you want to be when nobody is watching… You do not have to have everything figured out. I’m still figuring it out.”

In 2015, ballet dancer and author Misty Copeland became a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, making her the first Black woman to do so. In May 2026, she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Wake Forest University, where she delivered the undergraduate commencement speech. She spoke about what it “truly means to become yourself”, lead a courageous life, and a definition of success that has less to do with awards and more with peace and purpose. 

“After you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: love or fear.  Choose love and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.”

World-class actor and green character connoisseur (seriously! The Grinch, The Mask, the Riddler…) Jim Carrey addressed Maharishi’s class of 2014 with bursts of comedic energy and remarkable depth. He reflected on fear, devotion, and purpose, noting that everything we accumulate in life will wither, except for the works from love and our hearts.

“Once at a McDonald’s drive-thru, I pulled up to the takeout window, and I said, ‘You see that car behind me? I want you to tell those folks to have a great day.’ And then I drove off, imagining the joy that I had just left behind. I would have loved to have seen their faces. This is called paying it forward. You can also be kind to yourself. Splurge on a fun trip, a dinner out, or a new item of clothing. Pamper yourself. This is called paying it backward. Remember that kindness isn’t a weakness. It is a very potent strength.” 

Known to most for his roles as The Office’s Michael Scott and the Despicable Me franchise’s Gru, Carell is also a father to two Northwestern Wildcats. At Chicago’s United Center, he sent the graduating class (me included) into the “real world” with a witty note on kindness, and hollered everyone into a dance break mid-speech. 

“Our world is obsessed with labels, with binaries, with fitting everyone and everything into boxes. The truth is, you are more than one thing; you are more than many things; you are everything.”

Actress, singer, and the voice behind both Elsa’s “Let It Go” and Broadway’s Wicked Witch of the West, Idina Menzel brought gravity-defying energy to UPenn’s 2023 commencement. True to form, she sing-songed her way through the address, encouraging graduates to ad lib through challenges and find exhilaration in the repetition.

“Moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release. What I mean by that is knowing what things to keep and what things to release. You can’t carry all things, all grudges, all updates on your ex, all enviable promotions your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started. Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go. Oftentimes, the good things in your life are lighter anyway, so there’s more room for them. One toxic relationship can outweigh so many wonderful, simple joys. You get to pick what your life has time and room for. Be discerning.”

Swift gave an iconic speech for NYU’s class of 2022 upon receiving an honorary doctorate. At Manhattan’s Yankee Stadium, the 11-time Grammy winner humbly attributed her presence to her Red song, “22.” She encouraged the graduating class to experiment with cringe and mistakes, noting that “effortlessness is a myth.”

“In these unprecedented times, you must ask: How will I serve? How will I lead? So I’ve got three pieces of advice on how to answer that question: reject false choices, speak truth, and you don’t need a big title to make a big difference.” 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris returned to her undergraduate institution to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters and address the graduating class of 2017. In her speech, Harris urged graduates to reject division and use their education in service of justice, leadership, and social change.