On Tuesday, April 29th, 2025, New York University President Linda G. Mills and Board of Trustees Chair Evan R. Chesler announced that the 2025 NYU Commencement Speaker will be actress, New York Times bestselling author, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts alumna Molly Shannon ’87 (BFA, Drama). Shannon will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.
With a distinguished career spanning film, television, and stage, Shannon is renowned for her six-year tenure on Saturday Night Live—where she created some of the show’s most memorable characters. She has amassed multiple Primetime Emmy nominations, a Screen Actors Guild Award (Only Murders in the Building), an Independent Spirit Award (Other People), a Critics’ Choice Award nomination (The Other Two), as well as critical acclaim for her roles in HBO’s wildly popular series The White Lotus and Divorce, and for films including Marie Antoinette, Year of the Dog, Talladega Nights, Superstar, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, among many others.
NYU’s 192nd All-University Commencement Exercises taking place at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, May 15, 2025.