ORONO — 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 University of Maine’s graduating class.

Simons, a 2001 University of Maine graduate and native of Readfield, Maine, 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 UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “His story is a wonderful reminder of how discovering a passion at UMaine 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.

“UMaine 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 UMaine and stumbling across the theater department there.”

Simons studied theater at UMaine 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 UMaine’s arts programs, which have helped launch many graduates into careers in theater, television and film.

“The University of Maine has a long tradition of students discovering their voice here and going on to succeed creatively and professionally,” said Philip Edelman, director of the UMaine 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.”

UMaine 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 Maine 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 Maine 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 UMaine’s 2026 commencement ceremonies are available on the UMaine Commencement website.

About the University of Maine: As Maine’s only public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution, the University of Maine advances learning and discovery through excellence and innovation. Founded in 1865 in Orono, UMaine is the state’s land, sea and space grant university with a regional campus at the University of Maine at Machias. Our students come from all over the world and work with faculty conducting fieldwork around the globe — from the North Atlantic to the Antarctic. Located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation with UMaine Machias located in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy Nation, UMaine’s statewide mission is to foster an environment that creates tomorrow’s leaders. As the state’s flagship institution, UMaine offers nearly 200 degree programs through which students can earn bachelor’s, master’s, professional master’s and doctoral degrees as well as graduate certificates. For more information about UMaine and UMaine Machias, visit umaine.edu/about/quick-facts/ and machias.edu/about-umm/umm-facts/.