'You're an artist - yeah, you're f**ked. The good news is, that's not a bad place to start,' Robert told thousands of NYU art school graduates on Friday.
- May 23, 2015
AceShowbiz - Robert De Niro gave an amazing commencement speech to thousands of graduates of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts on Friday, May 22. The two-time Academy Award-winning actor warned the grads to be ready for "a lifetime of rejection."
"You discovered a talent, developed an ambition and recognized your passion. When you feel that, you can't fight it -- you just go with it," Robert told the crowd at Madison Square Garden during the ceremony. "When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You aren't just following dreams, you're reaching for your destiny. You're an artist - yeah, you're f**ked. The good news is that's not a bad place to start."
While he noted that grads with degrees in nursing, dentistry, business, law and education would certainly have a good future, Roberts warned that it would be hard for ones majoring in art to even find a job for living. However, he had some simple yet inspiring advice for them.
"Now that you've made your choice - or, rather, succumbed to it - your path is clear," he advised the mass. "Not easy, but clear. You have to keep working, it's that simple. You got through Tisch, that's a big deal. Or, to put it another way, you got through Tisch? Big deal!"
"A new door is opening for you - a door to a lifetime of rejection. It's inevitable," he continued. "How do you cope? I hear that Valium and Vicodin work! You don't want to block the pain too much. Without the pain, what would we talk about?"
Robert added, "Rejection might sting, but my feeling is that often, it has very little to do with you. When you're auditioning or pitching, the director or producer or investor may have someone different in mind, that's just how it is."
He concluded, "That happened recently when I was auditioning for the role of Martin Luther King in 'Selma'. Which was too bad because I could've played the hell out of that part - I felt it was written for me! But the director had something different in mind, and she was right. It seems the director is always right."
