Harrison Ford Encourages ASU Graduates to 'Go Change the World' in Passionate Commencement Speech

Ingrid VasquezThu, May 14, 2026 at 3:39 AM UTC

0

Harrison Ford reflected on his college years, sharing how a drama class helped him discover his passion for acting

Ford spoke about finding purpose through his environmental work with Conservation International

He encouraged graduates to embrace leadership and seize opportunities to create meaningful change in the world

Harrison Ford left a lasting impression when he received an honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters at Arizona State University.

The actor, 83, was given the honor ahead of his address at ASU's undergraduate commencement on Monday, May 11.

While speaking to the crowd of over 14,000 undergraduate students, Ford reflected on his college years, during which he said he "did not make good choices."

"I was squandering my life in riotous living," which led to him being in "real trouble" grade-wise by his junior year, the Indiana Jones actor recalled.

Looking for an "easy A," Ford enrolled in a drama class where he thought he would “work at the box office or build sets,” but instead fell in love with acting.

“My classmates were people I had previously discounted as geeks and misfits. But I soon realized I was a geek and a misfit,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Harrison Ford in February 2026
Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

“I had found my fit. These were my people," said Ford, noting that he earned major roles in his class' stage productions.

"I began to find myself onstage, pretending to be someone else," he said. "I had always seen myself as shy, but hiding in character and costume and makeup, I had a freedom, a bravery I had never felt before."

While he got the A he was looking for, he came to realize that his passion "had led me to community.”

Finding a mentor in the head of the theater department, Ford would go on to perform in summer theater and, just short of graduating from Ripon College in Wisconsin, follow his mentor to California.

Harrison Ford in 1966
Credit: Screen Archives/Getty

Acting was not paying the bills at first, and Ford had to support his growing family with carpentry jobs.

After 15 years, during which he only did "four or five acting jobs," things changed when he got the role of Han Solo in Star Wars.

Advertisement

"The load lightened. I had freedom, opportunity, but something was still missing. Passion and purpose are not the same thing," he said.

Ford later found another passion when he joined the nonprofit environmental organization Conservation International.

"A place to put my passion for storytelling to work. I didn't want to be a poster boy for the cause," he said. "I wanted to be part of the work, so I was invited to join the board some 35 years ago, and that's why I stand here now before you: to represent for nature, the source of life itself."

Ford said that "despite new science, new policies, we are still losing nature to profiteering, corruption, conflict."

Harrison Ford in 1984
Credit: Paul Harris/Getty

"We need cultural change. We need to extend social justice. We need to respect and elevate the Indigenous people that are being marginalized and, in many cases, killed in cold blood," he said.

The Oscar nominee advised graduates that their generation has "far more power than you may realize."

"And if you harness that power, if you find your leadership, your issues, your voice, the world will not be able to ignore you," he said.

Ford ended his speech by encouraging the class of 2026 to take hold of every opportunity, "because what could be worse than getting to the end of your life and realizing that you haven't fully lived it?"

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Congratulations," he said. "Go change the world."

Ford recently starred in the third season of Shrinking, which is now streaming in full on Apple TV.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”