KENT: Octavia Spencer told about 800 Kent State students in caps and gowns Saturday that she nearly missed her own commencement.
During her last quarter at Auburn University, she convinced the school to let her do a work-study as a casting assistant on a film being made in Mississippi.
“I decided that I did not want to drive back to Auburn, so I told my family I did not want to go to graduation and they did not have to come,” Spencer said. “I would wait for my diploma to arrive in the mail.”
But the night before commencement, she knew she was making a mistake she would always regret, Spencer said, and made it back to Auburn just in time for the ceremony.
“I am so glad I did,” Spencer said. “I would have missed what you’re feeling right now — that sense of completion, of accomplishment, that sense of victory.”
The critically acclaimed actress spoke on a stage in Dix Stadium flanked by giant screens showing a close-up of her face so about 6,000 relatives and friends of graduates sitting in the stands could see.
Spencer, her wavy hair moving slightly in the breeze, said it was the first outdoor commencement she had attended. And Kent State President Beverly Warren said it was the first they’d ever had — on a sunny, 65-degree day.
It was also Kent State’s first universitywide graduation ceremony, open to about 5,600 spring graduates from all its campuses. And it was the first time the school hired a speaker: Spencer was paid $100,000 plus travel and expenses.
The Kent State crowd embraced Spencer from the beginning with a roar of applause and shouts of her name.
“She is such an inspiration,” said Oliva Kavishe, 34, who graduated Saturday with a degree in international relations.
Kavishe, originally from Tanzania, said she had studied the history of civil rights and race in the U.S. and was particularly moved by Spencer’s portrayal last year of Dorothy Vaughan in Hidden Figures, the true story of black female mathematicians who worked at NASA during 1960s segregation and helped send astronauts into space.
Ashlynn Thompson, 18, a freshman studying fashion marketing, said she’s admired Spencer since her debut role, a small part as a nurse in the Matthew McConaughey-Sandra Bullock thriller A Time to Kill.
But Thompson, a Pittsburgh native, said Spencer’s finest on-screen performance was in The Help, playing Minny Jackson, a maid whose chocolate pie stole the show. Spencer won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.
It was a breakout performance and, on Saturday, Spencer said she was swamped with offers to play other maids afterward.
But she didn’t take them.
Early in your career, Spencer told the group, take anything because it will help you find your voice. “Show up early, stay late and bust your ass,” she said.
But know when it’s time to say “no.”
For her, that was after The Help. After she turned down maid roles, she ultimately played a NASA scientist and God in The Shack, a film released this year.
“Whatever that voice inside you might be saying — whatever side of the political scale it may weigh on — I’m asking that your words, your actions and your voices be rooted in a true empathy for others,” she said.
“Understand each other, and let that understanding shape your values.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @agarrettABJ