Glen Powell left college to pursue a career in Hollywood. He is still trying to finish seventeen years later.
One of Hollywood’s most attractive actors spending a portion of his week on Zoom for a lecture on radio, television, and film has a subtle allure. Not because it’s uncommon for celebrities to pursue education, but rather because Glen Powell has spent more than 20 years attempting to complete this same degree at this same university.
After graduating from Westwood High School in 2007, Powell enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. He described it as “the greatest year of his entire life.” He was a part of the campus culture that he had grown up admiring from the stands of basketball and football games, and he was studying Spanish and early American history. For him, UT was more than just a school. He had spent his entire childhood there, attending acting classes at Austin Musical Theatre, learning to play the violin in the UT String Project, and watching Longhorn games.
However, Hollywood advanced more quickly than his degree timeline. In 2007, he had a minor role in Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters, which attracted the attention of agent Ed Limato, who urged him to relocate to Los Angeles. After just one year, Powell packed up and moved off campus. Over the following ten years, he would audition, struggle, and gradually gain recognition.
In Powell’s ascent, it’s simple to ignore how realistic his goals always appeared to be. Not all he wanted was fame. Craft was what he desired. That instinct likely explains why he kept thinking about the unfinished degree even as his career was starting to take off with Set It Up in 2018 and then really took off with Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
He was asked to give the commencement speech at UT’s Moody College of Communication in 2023, which was an ironic moment. Speaking to graduates, he was still not one. He discussed the winding nature of any real career and how failures can serve as teaching moments. It’s possible that the incomplete chapter felt more present than ever when I stood on that stage and said those words.
Powell announced his re-enrollment in UT’s Radio-Television-Film program at Moody College in the middle of 2024. While filming The Running Man in London that fall, it was intended to complete credits via Zoom. For his exams, he would take a plane back. His goal of graduating in the spring of 2025 was later pushed back to the spring of 2027. A movie star’s schedule is not easily adjusted to accommodate semester deadlines.
Powell’s decision to go back to school seems to have nothing to do with the degree itself. With a $220 million Netflix sleeper, a franchise hit, and a Golden Globe nomination, he already has more career validation than most actors could hope for. Completing this degree appears to be more personal than professional, an unresolved issue with a location that influenced him. He keeps being pulled back by Austin. He has openly expressed his desire to return there in the future.
In actuality, Glen Powell’s educational tale demonstrates the tendency of real growth to be nonlinear. Before pursuing acting full-time, he took part in UT’s Semester in Los Angeles program, which aims to expose students to the industry through internships and classes taught by working professionals. In a way, he was carrying out the program exactly as planned. At the end of the semester, he simply did not come back to campus.
He remained enrolled as of late 2025, continued to attend classes virtually, and continued to strive for a May 2027 completion date. He appears to be finishing his coursework in between co-writing scripts and filming blockbusters. That is either commendable or somewhat ridiculous, perhaps both. However, for someone who has never fully moved on from the location where his life began to make sense, it feels genuine.
