Actor Giancarlo Esposito — celebrated for his roles in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian and multiple Spike Lee films — addressed a nearly packed Bailey Hall crowd on Friday night, offering an evening of humor, vivid storytelling and candid insights on identity.
The event was hosted by Cornell University Programming Board and the Multicultural Community-Fueled Activities Board. It received 1,566 registrations on CampusGroups, including both ticket-holders and people on the waitlist. With the balcony of Bailey Hall closed, the crowd that gathered to see Esposito filled the vast majority of the auditorium.
Esposito, whose career spans decades across stage, television, and film, spent much of the conversation — moderated by graduate student Ali Azim — reflecting on his personal journey that shaped him as an artist. Describing his upbringing as the child of an Italian father and African American mother, Esposito emphasized how early experiences of being placed in “boxes” shaped both his creative life and his understanding of identity.
“To be in a mixed-race body and culture and blood and feeling means for me to embrace both — it’s extremely important,” Esposito said, calling his path toward self-acceptance a long process of “grow[ing] beyond that shame” and becoming “proud of who I am.”
Throughout the night, Esposito encouraged attendees to investigate who they really are rather than who or what the world tells them to be. “You’re not who you think you are, and you’re not who you are told that you are,” he said.
Esposito also spoke about fighting for creative autonomy in the entertainment industry. He recounted years of pushing casting directors to let him audition for roles not originally written for Black or mixed-race actors, and advised attendees to trust their instincts when pursuing their goals.
“Bank on yourself,” he said. “Even if your brain is telling you it’s [impossible]… if your heart tells you that is something you can bring to fruition, you have to go after it.”
During the chat, Esposito recounted stories about working with Emmy-award-winning film director Spike Lee on movies such as School Daze and Mo' Better Blues and described how, early in his career, he learned a Spanish accent because people frequently assumed he was Spanish based on his name, despite his Italian heritage.
Still, Esposito repeatedly returned to one central message: authenticity. “Be true to yourself,” he told the audience. “It takes courage, especially in this day and age, to be true to yourself.”
Attendees described the evening as unexpectedly moving. Jacob Palmer, a second-year Law School student, said Esposito’s reflections on silence and presence stood out most.
“I really picked up on when he was talking about how he uses silence to bring more meaning to his words,” Palmer said. “It made me think about how we can bring more meaning to the words we’re saying by incorporating a bit of silence.”
Palmer also appreciated Esposito’s early stories about being typecast. “He grew up overseas and overcame this sort of typecasting … he really stuck through to what he thought was important,” he said.
Andrew Day ’28, who knew Esposito from his role as Buggin’ Out in Do the Right Thing, said the talk revealed a deeper, more vulnerable side of the actor, who usually portrays evil, witty villains like Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad.
“He got a little bit deeper than you would have gotten from just a regular interview,” Day said, calling the discussion of identity and early-career challenges “something a lot of people need to hear.”
For Ava Farkash ’27, the event felt less like a celebrity Q&A and more like an affirming message. “Hoenstly, I feel like he could be a motivational speaker,” she said. “The main thing I took away was to keep being who I am and listen to what I want… I feel like I can walk away with a new mindset.”
As the evening concluded, Esposito urged students to choose paths aligned with their passions, callings and interests. “Choose what you love,” he said. “You’ll never work a day in your life.”
Rowan Wallin is a member of the Class of 2027 in the Nolan School of Hotel Administration within the SC Johnson College of Business. He is a senior writer for the news department and can be reached at rwallin@cornellsun.com.
