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April 3, 2024 — Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson is an Emmy-nominated and SAG award-winning actor best known for playing the inimitable “Dwight Schrute” for nine seasons on NBC’s The Office. He recently wrapped Lessons in Chemistry with Brie Larson for Apple TV+ and the unscripted travel series Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, which aired on Peacock in May of 2023.

He stars in Jerry & Marge Go Large, with Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening; Utopia for Amazon; Roger Michell's Blackbird, opposite Kate Winslet; The Meg alongside Jason Statham; Star Trek: Discovery; Hesher, opposite Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt; James Gunn’s Super, with Kevin Bacon and Elliot Page; Cooties opposite Elijah Wood; Juno; Galaxy Quest; and Almost Famous.

He has an MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts and spent 10 years doing theatre in NYC before moving to LA. He was on Broadway in The Tempest with Patrick Stewart, and the Tony nominated London Assurance. Rainn performed the critically acclaimed one-person monologue Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) at The Geffen; and was the lead role in the political farce The Doppelganger at Steppenwolf Theater.

Rainn founded the digital media company, Soul Pancake (3.5 mil subscribers on YouTube). He is the author of The Bassoon King and the NYT bestselling SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions. His newest book — another NYT best-seller — Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, was released in April 2023

Oct. 16, 2022 — Questlove

A conversation with Questlove

Oct. 16, 2022

��ñ�� Distinguished Speaker Series was pleased to announce "A conversation with Questlove" in the fall of 2022. Ahmir K. Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American drummer, DJ, author, multi-instrumentalist, music journalist and record producer. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip hop band the Roots. 

Oct. 2019 — Steven Canals

An Evening with Steven Canals

October 24, 2019

Co-sponsored by Campus Activities, the Q Center and the MRC, the ��ñ�� Distinguished Speaker Series was pleased to announce "An Evening with Steven Canals" in the fall of 2019. Alumnus Steven Canals '05, MA '08 returned to ��ñ�� to discuss his time as a student at the University and his role in the creation of the hit television show "Pose."

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Hailing from The Bronx, Steven Canals is a 2015 graduate of UCLA’s MFA Screenwriting program. He began his journey as a storyteller in high school, producing a documentary short about Turf Violence. Steven went on to earn a BA in Cinema from ��ñ��. While attending UCLA, Steven served as a Research Assistant at Hungry Jackal Productions for Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. Steven was a Staff Writer on Freeform’s Dead of Summer, the same year his short film, Afuera, premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival. Variety Magazine named Steven a TV Writer to Watch in 2018. Steven’s original drama series, POSE, co-created with Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, debuted June 2018 on FX.

Oct. 2018 — Bo Burnham

A Conversation with Bo Burnham

October 7, 2018

The ��ñ�� Distinguished Speaker Series and Campus Activities was proud to host "A Conversation with Bo Burnham" in the fall of 2018, during which guest speaker discussed his career, his struggles, his debut film Eighth Grade and more. This event was coordinated in conjunction with Campus Activities and paid for with funds from the Campus Life fee. The Student Association Programming Board is a co-sponsor.

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Bo Burnham is a wunderkind writer, director, comedian, singer-songwriter, poet and actor. Bo’s debut film, Eighth Grade, premiered at Sundance this January to rave reviews. He wrote and directed the film for A24; Scott Rudin produced. He also recently directed Chris Rock’s special, Tamborine, for Netflix, and Jerrod Carmichael’s special, 8, for HBO. Bo’s Black List script, Gay Kid and Fat Chick, is set up at Paramount to shoot this fall; Bo is producing. As a writer and performer, Bo co-created and starred in the MTV television series, Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous. He began his career on YouTube in 2006 when he was just sixteen. So far, his videos have been viewed over 214 million times.