Actress Kristin Chenoweth told students graduating yesterday from the UNC School of the Arts to always listen to that inner voice.
"Not the one that says you need that new Prada bag," she said. "That other voice."
It was that voice that told Chenoweth to turn down a scholarship to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts and instead take a role in the musical Animal Crackers.
It was that same voice that told Chenoweth to take a role in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, even when her friends and her agent said she was crazy to do so.
Listening to that small but insistent voice has led Chenoweth to a wide-ranging career in theater, film and television. She's won a Tony for her performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and was recently seen in the ABC series Pushing Daisies. She has just joined the cast of Fox's animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, and appears in the new Fox comedy Glee. And she has released a memoir, A Little Bit Wicked.
More than 200 UNCSA students received their degrees at the Stevens Center yesterday.
Many of them took advantage of the ceremony to give a final performance for their fellow students and teachers before leaving to pursue their artistic dreams.
One student, dressed sharply in a white suit and hat, grandly opened his umbrella as he got his diploma.
Even Chenoweth got into the act -- singing a song at the end of commencement as John Mauceri, the school's chancellor, conducted a small group of student musicians.
Chenoweth urged the graduates to keep pursuing their dreams, no matter what ups and downs their careers take. She also urged them not to be afraid to fail because they would learn valuable lessons from their mistakes.
She even joked about her failures, including her short-lived sitcom, Kristin, and the movie Space Chimps.
"Two hours of your life you won't get back," she said about the movie, as the audience roared with laughter. "I'm just being honest."
Chenoweth reminded the graduates that what they do, whether it's drama, filmmaking or design, is important.
"Be inspired so you can be inspiring," she said. "You are graduating at a time when the world is in desperate need of inspiration."
That message touched Heidi Elska McIver, who graduated with a bachelor's of fine arts in drama in directing. She was inspired by Chenoweth's enthusiasm.
"She allows her passion to fuel everything she does," McIver said. "I believe as she does -- that art will change the world."
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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