Actor Drew Powell announced as DePauw commencement speaker

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Drew Powell, an actor and 1998 DePauw University graduate who is best known for four seasons as a character on Fox's hit series "Gotham," will provide the primary address to his alma mater's Class of 2019 at the Sunday, May 19 commencement ceremonies, it was announced by the university Wednesday.

Drew Powell

The program will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Holton Memorial Quadrangle.

Powell, who will also receive the University Arts Medal during the program, responded to the commencement announcement via Twitter.

"I'm so honored and excited," he wrote on the social media site. "I promise two things: 1) it won't be boring and 2) I'll wait til after the speech to eat my GCB (that's a garlic cheeseburger for the uninitiated. A DePauw delicacy!)."

An English (literature) major and Media Fellow at DePauw, Powell portrayed antagonist Cyrus "Butch Gilzean" Gold, a character who transformed into Solomon Grundy during the first four seasons of "Gotham." Powell also played Reede Smith, one of the final suspects for the serial killer Red John on "The Mentalist."

His resume includes a role in the big screen remake of "Straw Dogs" and he'll soon be seen on the big screen's "Ted K."

Other movie roles include appearances in "Wanderland," "Message From The King," "Touchback," "1408" and "The Marine."

Powell has been seen on TV on "Ray Donovan," "American Horror Story," "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service,"" Grey's Anatomy," "Modern Family," "Castle," "Necessary Roughness," "Bones," "Leverage," "Malcolm in the Middle," "True Blood," "CSI," "Ponderosa," "The Office," "House," "Psych," "Memphis Beat" and "ER."

Drew Powell (right) with actor Will Smith

The versatile actor has also also performed in "The Pee Wee Herman Show" on Broadway and contributed his talents to the video games Hitman: Absolution and Grand Theft Auto V.

In a 2011 profile, the Indianapolis Star's Joe Shearer wrote, "A native of Lebanon and a graduate of DePauw University, Powell's love of acting grew out of the Avon movie theater ('featured in the movie "Hoosiers," by the way,' he notes). Taken by the magic of cinema, Powell made the decision to head west while a senior at DePauw, when he was offered a job as the youth director at a [North Hollywood] church. 'I packed up my car and headed west two weeks after graduation,' he said. Powell was noticed by a talent agent while doing a staged reading of 'Our Town' at the church, and soon found himself in front of cameras shooting a role on the television show 'Malcolm in the Middle.' That role (Cadet Drew) went over so well, it became a recurring one on the hit TV show."

Powell told the newspaper that acting gives him the "feeling of marrying the thrill of the performance with the almost mystic power of the cinema."

In 2017, Powell sat down for a podcast interview with his DePauw classmate and friend, Jon Fortt of CNBC, who noted, "There are only so many hit shows on TV, and so many recurring roles. So how did Powell make it? Drew packed up his car two weeks after college graduation and headed out to L.A. He knew as well as anyone the clichés about waiters (and now Uber drivers) with screen ambitions. So he took a pragmatic approach to his journey as an actor."

Powell now lives in Los Angeles.

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  • He was also in the movie Reparation filmed here i Putnam County in 2015

    -- Posted by cquery on Thu, Feb 21, 2019, at 11:56 AM
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