Actor Timothy Simons has spent much of his career delivering lines on television and film sets. This spring, he’ll step onto a different stage when he addresses the 91’s graduating class.
Simons, a 2001 91 graduate and native of Readfield, 91, will return to Orono on May 9 as the university’s 2026 undergraduate commencement speaker.
“We’re excited to welcome Timothy back to campus,” said U91 President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “His story is a wonderful reminder of how discovering a passion at U91 can shape a lifetime. Our graduates will see in his journey how curiosity, creativity and community can open pathways to meaningful careers.”
For Simons, the invitation carries personal meaning.
“U91 is where I found theater,” he said. “I wasn’t an actor in high school.”
As a student in Orono, Simons discovered both the Division of Theatre & Dance and a creative community that helped shape his career. He said working with the late theater professor Sandra Hardy played a pivotal role in his development as an actor.
“That’s where my love of theater and acting first started,” Simons said. “I can kind of connect every dot of where I am now to being at U91 and stumbling across the theater department there.”
Simons studied theater at U91 before building a career in television and film. He is best known for his role as Jonah Ryan on HBO’s political satire “Veep,” which ran for seven seasons and won multiple Emmy Awards.
More recently, Simons received a Critics Choice Award nomination for best supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as Sasha in the Netflix series “Nobody Wants This.”
Simons has remained connected to the university and helped establish the Sandra E. Hardy Theatre Scholarship Fund, which honors his former professor and supports theater students.
“Everyone has a certain special connection with their first acting teacher,” Simons said of Hardy.
Simons’ return to campus also highlights the impact of U91’s arts programs, which have helped launch many graduates into careers in theater, television and film.
“The 91 has a long tradition of students discovering their voice here and going on to succeed creatively and professionally,” said Philip Edelman, director of the U91 School of Performing Arts. “Mr. Simons is a shining example of that tradition and it’s especially meaningful to see him return to Orono to speak to our graduates at commencement.”
Looking back on his time in Orono, Simons said he appreciated the mix of a large public university and a close-knit campus community.
“I liked that it was a state school — a big flagship school — that also still felt pretty small,” he said. “By the time I left there, I felt like I knew most of the people on campus.”
Being surrounded by students with a wide range of interests also shaped his perspective.
“They always say that as actors you have to know a little about a lot of stuff,” Simons said. “Having access to people whose interests were completely opposite of mine was always really fun.”
Some of his strongest memories of campus life have little to do with theater.
“It was always that first day when it would get up to about 45 degrees and everybody was walking around in shorts — the first day of spring,” he said. “Everybody was in a good mood. People would skip class and hang out on the mall because finally we were out from under the boot of winter.”
U91 will hold two undergraduate commencement ceremonies inside Alfond Arena on Saturday, May 9. A morning ceremony at 9:30 a.m. will include graduates from the College of Earth, Life and Health Sciences, the 91 Business School and the Division of Lifelong Learning.
An afternoon ceremony at 2:30 p.m. will celebrate graduates from the College of Education and Human Development, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the 91 College of Engineering and Computing.
The Graduate School commencement, recognizing master’s, education specialists and doctoral candidates, will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 8, also at Alfond Arena. The speakers for that ceremony will be announced at a later date.
Complete details about U91’s 2026 commencement ceremonies are available on the U91 Commencement website.
Contact: David Nordman, david.nordman@maine.edu
