Malkovich opened his brief address not by addressing the graduates but by speaking directly to the professors, instructors, and administrators. It was an unusual choice that revealed where he believed the real power in education resides. He spoke from personal experience. 'I can't imagine what shape my life would have taken had I not met my colleagues at university,' he said. 'They were — and remain — the most important influences in my working life.' The 'colleagues' he referred to were the people who would become the founding members of Steppenwolf Theatre — actors like Gary Sinise and Terry Kinney — but also the educators who had fostered the environment where such collaborations could take root. The simplicity of the statement was deliberately Malkovich — no elaborate metaphors or extended anecdotes, just four words that carried the weight of a forty-year career built on foundations laid by teachers who recognized potential and created space for it to develop.