Along the road to pursuing his dream and life craft of acting, Danny Ramírez has faced a litany of experiences he didn’t feel ready for—where he felt out of his depth, underprepared, and uncertain, even sensed he didn’t belong. Yet he pushed through the hesitancy and self-doubt, stayed in the room, and learned as he went—decisions that have led him to discover “the magic around the corner” and to success as a film and television star, and now as a producer and director.
Ramírez, the commencement speaker for two University of Miami undergraduate ceremonies on Friday, urged new graduates to push past fear and self-doubt and to just begin—especially when they don’t feel ready.
In a morning ceremony, Ramírez addressed 583 baccalaureates from the School of Architecture; School of Communication; School of Education and Human Development; and the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music. At an afternoon session, he shared remarks with more than 700 students graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences, including the Division of Continuing and International Education.
“Beginning is the hardest part. It’s the moment where you’re out of your depth, where you think you haven’t earned it, where you know just enough to understand how much you don’t know, where, at any second, it feels like someone’s going to figure out that you’re not ready to be there,” said Ramírez, whose acting career began in television, in series such as “The Gifted,” “Orange Is the New Black,” and “On My Block.” He has since landed roles in popular feature films and recently launched his own production company.
Discipline, hard work, focus, and resilience are essential for any successful career, Ramirez told the new graduates, noting that they all had certainly applied these traits to reach this milestone. Yet these characteristics don’t explain how anything actually begins—“that first move, that spark, the moment of combustion, the small explosion that gets something going.”
“We neglect to investigate how we begin. If we do, too often we usually hear it in a negative way—'that person starts a lot of things’—as if beginning were a flaw,” Ramírez said. “The fear of beginning has kept more ideas, more talent, more potential inside people’s heads than anything else because beginning requires something most people try to avoid—humility and curiosity. But most important, the willingness to move before you feel like you are ready.”
Ramírez told the graduates he knew that feeling well and emphasized that “it’s not a flaw in the process—it is the process.”
Born in Chicago and raised in Miami, Ramírez is the son of parents from Colombia and Mexico. A graduate of Miami Coral Park Senior High School, he has always spoken with pride about his heritage and culture and how privileged he feels to represent the Hispanic communities through his work.
As a youngster, he was an avid Hurricanes fan, yet soccer was his passion, and he devoted countless hours to the game throughout high school. He envisioned a future in the sport and left for Oglethorpe University in Georgia to continue playing at the college level—yet an injury sidelined him right at the start.
While standing on the sideline during a practice, leaning on crutches, a production assistant from a film crew wandered up and asked if anyone wanted to be an extra.
“I said ‘yes.’ I needed the money. It didn’t feel like a big decision at the time, but looking back, that was the first real start,” Ramírez remembered. “Because something clicked that day. Internally, clarity started to take shape. I wanted to act.”
He transferred back home, began taking classes at Miami Dade College and later enrolled at an engineering school in New York City, but the acting bug continued to pester.
“So, I made a trade. I replaced my schoolwork with reading every acting book I could find. My GPA plummeted, but my understanding of what I wanted to do had never been clearer,” he said.
He started again, this time at the Tisch School of the Arts, a prestigious performing arts school in New York City. Waiting for his audition, he felt suddenly overwhelmed, surrounded by other budding actors with far more experience.
“Thirty minutes into waiting, I broke. I started crying. Sitting there thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was about to leave, and then they called my name. So, I walked in, still emotional, still unsure, and, with tears in my eyes, started the monologue,” he recalled. A few days later, he received the email that he’d been accepted to the school.
Ramírez shared another pivotal moment in 2022, years after he’d broken into the acting world.
He was in Iowa working on a small film when he got an audition call for “Top Gun: Maverick.” He was needed in California immediately but didn’t have the money and was terrified of flying.
He willed himself to get on the plane and flew to Los Angeles, then learned that the role required flying an F/A-18 fighter jet. He was terrified, yet talking to director Joe Kosinski and the film’s star, Tom Cruise, realized this was the dream opportunity he had been waiting for.
“In that moment, I realized something I hadn’t before. The two ‘beginnings’ I had been most afraid of were now happening at the same time—acting and flying. From the outside, it looks like luck, but it wasn’t,” Ramírez said. “It was the same decision again: begin before you’re ready, begin even when you’re afraid, and stay.”
Ramírez told the new graduates that the feeling of “not belonging” doesn’t go away.
“You don’t graduate out of it, and you don’t earn your way past it. If anything, it shows up more as more opportunities arise. The only thing that changes is whether you leave when you feel it,” he said. “Beginning is us at our most human. It’s where everything is new, where there is uncertainty, where we negotiate with fear in real time. And before we ever get to discipline or resilience, we have to begin”
At the afternoon ceremony, University President Joe Echevarria presented Ramírez with a Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, “for his disciplined artistry, commitment to meaningful storytelling, and spirited representation that inspires others to follow his lead.”
The president celebrated the class of 2026 for “having completed something demanding and worthwhile” and recalled his own graduation from the University in 1978.
“You gained knowledge, but just as importantly, you developed habits—discipline, responsibility, resilience, and the ability to follow through. How do I know? From my own experience,” Echevarria said. “I walked off this campus without having everything mapped out, but with the skills honed right here that turned out to matter far more than I realized at the time.”
Melissa Neglio, a graduate of the School of Education and Human Development and the student speaker for the first ceremony on Friday, reflected on her academy journey.
“The University of Miami didn’t just teach me in the classroom. It helped me create my future, turning dreams that once felt abstract into something tangible,” Neglio said. “I didn’t arrive here with everything figured out. But somewhere along the way, through internships, late nights, leadership roles, and moments of doubt, shy me stopped waiting for permission. And started creating her own path.
“This community does not let you shrink. It challenges you. It believes in you, sometimes before you believe in yourself. And it pushes you toward who you are meant to become,” Neglio added.
Maria Angelica Petit, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences and student speaker for the afternoon ceremony, shared a message of resilience. Just months before she was due to start college, Petit was involved in a boating accident that resulted in a severe hand injury, multiple surgeries, and nearly two years of physical therapy.
“What once felt like a setback became the reason I stayed in Miami—and ultimately, it was one of the greatest blessings of my life,” Petit said. “Because if everything had gone according to my plan, I might never have ended up exactly where I was meant to be.
“Here, I became someone I never thought I could be because of the way people here made me feel—seen, supported, and capable, even when I didn’t see it in myself," she said. “We became who we are because of the people, the moments, and the choices we made when we didn’t feel ready.”
Students graduating from the School of Education and Human Development and the School of Communication at Friday morning’s ceremony were reluctant to leave the South Florida area after an enriching four years at the University.
Alexandria Cinquemani was graduating with a degree in exercise physiology. She celebrated with her parents, Dawn and Matthew, as well as her sister Sydney, outside the Watsco Center. They flew in from New Jersey to celebrate the occasion.
“I’m sad to graduate—it doesn’t feel real yet,” she said. “I will miss everything here. The community, the professors; everyone here was super helpful and they want you to succeed.”
Cinquemani said that her experience at the University helped her learn the sports medicine field, especially the internship class, where she had the opportunity to work in a local hospital. Not ready to leave Miami yet, Cinquemani is looking for jobs in South Florida.
Advertising management major Gustavo De Matos Henrique Pires came to the University from his hometown of Recife, Brazil. He also plans to stay in Miami and is currently interviewing with a few companies. Pires said the weather drew him to the University, but the people and experiences kept him at the U.
“The friends I made and classes I took prepared me for the real world, and the experiences I’ve had helped me grow in and out of school,” he said. “It’s bittersweet to graduate—I’ve gone through all the stages of grief, and I’m now in the acceptance phase. I did what I could and needed to do to get the most out of this experience.”
Nayely Menendez, who graduated Friday with a degree in electronic media, was the first in her family to attend college in the United States. Menendez said the road to graduation was arduous but that she was relieved and happy to cross the stage and felt her extended family’s support Friday.
“I am so proud of the fact that I did this,” said Menendez, who found her on-campus family at UMTV. “It was a struggle, but in the end, I have the degree now, and that’s what matters.”
Students from the College of Arts and Sciences, graduating in the afternoon ceremony, were also excited to earn their degrees on Friday.
Eduardo Guzman, a biology major, earned a scholarship to the University, but wanted to become a Hurricane well before that.
“It was my dream to go to UM, and the fact that I got accepted and I was able to get a scholarship—I am very glad to be here,” he said.
Guzman moved to the United States from Cuba during high school. He began serving as a technician at a behavior clinic for children with autism after high school, a job he has continued through college. Now, Guzman is working on his master’s in special education while working, so he can become a better therapist for his patients. But Guzman is also planning to apply to medical school, and hopes to one day become a psychiatrist.
“It feels good to graduate because it will open new doors for me both professionally and personally,” he said.
Neuroscience major Maggie Weaver was also feeling fortunate for the mentors and friends she met at the University. In particular, professors Steven Ullman and Michael French in health management and policy, helped her realize that rather than going to medical school, she would prefer to work on the business side of health care.
“Those two professors were so amazing that I wouldn’t have a job without them,” said Weaver, who is from Lexington, Kentucky. “They taught me that health care is a people business, challenged me to see that there are many different career options in it, and helped me become passionate about health management and policy.”
She is moving to San Diego soon to work at a biotechnology consulting firm, but said she will miss her Miami home.
“These were the best four years ever, and if I could do it again it would be Miami every time,” she said.
Other students shared mixed feelings. Tenally LeClaire, who graduated with a degree in criminology, sat next to three friends she met her first year in Mahoney-Pearson Residential College.
“I’m having a lot of emotions about graduating, but I’m grateful to be here,” she said.
