MUNCIE, IN — Actor Hugh Jackman on Saturday, May 2, urged Ball State University’s latest graduates to listen to their “inner voices” when making decisions about their future.
Jackman was back in Muncie on Saturday to deliver the commencement address at Ball State University’s spring commencement ceremony. The “Wolverine” star also received an honorary doctor of arts degree from BSU President Geoffrey S. Mearns.
Jackman’s significant other, Broadway star Sutton Foster, is a faculty member in Ball State’s theater and dance department. She was in attendance at Saturday’s ceremony.
Jackman spent four days in Muncie with Foster in September, interacting with Ball State students and local residents in several settings.
He returned to town in November, when he hosted a showing of his latest film, “Song Sung Blue” at a local movie theater.
At Saturday’s commencement ceremony, Jackman thanked Mearns —who he fondly and repeatedly referred to as “Mearnsie” — for the invitation to address the graduates.
The Tony Award-winning actor said he had received earlier invitations to deliver commencement addresses, but had turned them down “because I never felt ready.”
Jackman said he accepted the Ball State president’s invitation when he “finally realized I would never reach that point where I know everything.”
Jackman said no one has all the answers, not the graduates’ parents,”not even Mearnsie.”
He encouraged the graduates — and a crowd estimated at 7,500 people gathered for the ceremony on the university’s Fine Arts Terrace — to go with their instincts when making important decisions.
He recalled making such a decision when, in his final semester in pursuit of a communications degree at a university in his native Australia, a theater class he had taken only to earn credits set him on the path to a career as an entertainer.
“If we are listening, if we open our hearts, that voice inside is trying to show us something a little more magical, a little more mysterious, surprising,” he said. “If it scares you, it’s probably a good sign. If it excites you, a very good sign.
“And if you weren’t sure you were going to make a dime doing it, but you still wanted to pursue it, an amazing sign.”
Jackman also said mistakes along the way “may turn out to be the best things that ever happened to us.”
“I wish every one of you a life of adventure, surprise, delight, bold and glorious failures and successes, great friendships and love,” Jackman told the graduates. “And above all, the deep satisfaction that you are living your own life. Yours, because no one can take that away from you.”
Before the event, graduates said they were excited to have Jackman participating in their graduation ceremony.
“I’m very excited about seeing Hugh,” said Gracie Worrick of Marion. “I actually saw him the last time he was on campus, too. I think he’s going to be a good speaker.”
Kate Schiedemeyer, from Naperville, Illinois, said she was “a huge Hugh Jackman fan.”
“I’ve been watching his movies since I was little, so I’m very excited,” she said.
Jackson Constantine, of Fishers, was also enthusiastic about Jackman’s role in the ceremony;
“We grew up watching his movies, so I think it’s a really cool experience we get to go through,” he said.
Ball State conferred about 2,800 degrees on Saturday.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Actor Jackman encourages BSU grads to listen to their ‘inner voices’
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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