‘Go out into this world as your whole self. Your Philly self’: Colman Domingo delivers an impassioned commencement speech to Temple grads
The West Philly native studied journalism in the university before dropping out to pursue acting. On Wednesday, with an honorary doctorate, he was officially a degreed alum.
Nearly 40 years after stepping foot on Temple University’s campus, West Philly’s Colman Domingo is officially “Temple Made.”
The Emmy-winning actor took the stage at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday morning, delivering a commencement speech that dazzled the thousands of freshly minted Temple graduates in attendance.
In line with his work as a performer, Domingo largely abandoned his planned notes, injecting personal stories that retraced his early days walking Temple’s hallways and his eventual climb to Hollywood stardom.
“I have some prepared words, but I’m a storyteller, so I like to go off book,” said Domingo, who studied journalism at the university, before dropping out in 1991 with about 50 remaining credits. He then moved to San Francisco and pursued an acting career.
For his commencement speech, Domingo, who started at the university in 1987, reflected on his days as a young journalism student, while balancing multiple jobs and showbiz dreams.
And no, he didn’t forget to mention his endless appetite for college parties, either. “I have partied more than most people have partied at Temple University,” he joked. “I know how to pump the keg. I know how to dance with the Black and white fraternities. We had a really good time here, and maybe that good time stopped me from getting my degree.”
His multiple jobs included a stint at the former Barnes & Noble at 1805 Walnut St., where the Rustin actor oversaw the store’s travel and self-help section. It was a fitting gig, he said, as his ambitions began to grow as he dove deeper into his passion for acting at Temple.
“I wanted to learn how to become a person. I just didn’t think I had all the tools,” he said. “And Temple gave me all those tools.”
With the encouragement of drama professor Chris Wolfe, Domingo eventually dropped out when he was 20 years old and moved into a small studio apartment with three of his friends in San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin district.
“When you’re 20 years old, that sounds like a great idea,” he said. “And I learned a lot.”
Before scoring lead roles in films like the Oscar-nominated Sing Sing, Domingo cut his teeth as a stage performer at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center and Theatre Rhinoceros. He also worked as an aerial web artist, stilt performer, juggler, and clown for local circus companies.
Domingo went on to build his name as a playwright, acting instructor, and Tony-nominated and Obie-winning theater veteran.
None of these experiences, Domingo said at the commencement, would be possible without Philadelphia and Temple University, the institution that, he said, made him.
His relentless work ethic, he said, was shaped on the Temple campus.
Throughout his 30-minute speech, Domingo referenced luminaries such as Maya Angelou and James Baldwin, while offering his own poetic insights into what it means to be “Temple Made.”
“Temple is not for the faint of heart,” he said dressed in academic regalia. “Temple is for the called; called to wake up before sun; to chase a dream that doesn’t yet have a name; a call to work two jobs and still show up to class with your head held high; called to believe education just isn’t the ladder, it’s the light.”
On Wednesday, Domingo also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters. He was honored alongside the late JoAnne Epps, a legal scholar and the university’s 13th president, and David Boardman, the dean of the Colman Domingo delivers an impassioned commencement speech to Temple grads
Before departing the stage, the actor encouraged his fellow Temple grads to remain courageous, maintain their integrity, and to always show up as their fullest self, no matter what room they are in.
“Go out into this world as your whole self. Your Philly self. Your complicated, brilliant, and unstoppable self,” he said. “And when they ask you where did you learn to be this resilient, this compassionate and this ready, tell them: ‘I’m Temple Made.’”
