Tom Hanks Urges Harvard Grads To ‘Fight The Never-Ending Battle For Truth’ In Superhero-Themed Commencement Speech

etcanada.com:

Tom Hanks offered nothing but wisdom and the truth while delivering a keynote address to Harvard University’s graduating class of 2023 on Thursday.

The actor, who famously starred as a Harvard professor named Robert Langdon in 2006’s “The Da Vinci Code” and its two sequels — “Angels & Demons” (2009) and “Inferno” (2016) — kicked things off by poking fun at his lack of credentials in comparison to the graduating class. “It’s not fair, but please don’t be embittered by this fact,” Hanks, 66, began. “Now, without having done a lick of work, without having spent any time in class, without once walking into that library — in order to have anything to do with the graduating class of Harvard, its faculty, or its distinguished alumni — I make a damn good living playing someone who did. “It’s the way of the world, kids,” he added as the audience erupted with laughter.

Hanks attended community state college where he was awarded an honorary doctor of arts degree. READ MORE: Tom Hanks Reveals He Sometimes Behaves Rudely On Movie Sets The “Cast Away” star carried on by diving into the main point of his speech — superheroes are fictional but humans have the power to save the planet — while of course embracing his signature wit and storytelling skills. “We, here, in the stands look at you all in the caps and the gowns and we hope, ah, at last, help is on the way.

Somewhere matriculating today is a man of iron, a woman of steel, a super human, just in the nick of time,” Hanks said. “This is not because we have failed in our duties or are completely spent.