Actor Willem Dafoe Will Visit Milwaukee For Honorary Doctorate

MILWAUKEE, WI — An award-winning actor and alum will visit the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee in May to receive an honorary doctorate and give two speeches, the university announced on Friday.

The university will give Willem Dafoe an honorary Doctor of Arts degree on May 22, university officials said in a statement. The actor will also give two speeches — at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. — at the university's commencement ceremonies at the UWM Panther Arena.

Dafoe took classes at the Milwaukee school in 1973 and 1974, and some of his earliest acting work was on a UWM stage, the university said.

“My time at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was a very formative and positive experience,” Dafoe said in a statement. “I was young and very unsophisticated, but eager to train and perform. I was totally involved and spent most nights on a couch in the theater because I was always working and studying and didn’t want to go home.”

The actor was a great example for students of how passion, determination and hard work turn into success, university chancellor Mark Mone said.