Delroy Lindo will be the keynote speaker for Fisk University’s 152nd Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 3, 2026. Oscar nominee Delroy Lindo earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sinners, a critically acclaimed film that earned a record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations. Fisk University, one of the nation’s oldest historically Black universities (HBCUs), is proud to welcome him to Nashville.
Lindo has built a distinguished career across television, film, and theater since his acting debut in 1975, in a stage production of Of Mice and Men. He was nominated for The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Herald Loomis in the 1988 production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, underscoring his deep connection to Black theatrical tradition and storytelling.
He is well known for delivering a range of culturally impactful performances. Notable among his over 50 film roles include West Indian Archie in Malcolm X, Woody Carmichael in Crooklyn, Rodney Little in Clockers, Joe Black in This Christmas, and Vietnam War veteran Paul in Da 5 Bloods, for which he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
On television, among his more than 2 dozen roles, he has starred in The Good Fight and UnPrisoned, for which he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, further showcasing his dynamic range as a performer. In 2010, he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Law & Order: SVU. This year, he won the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Ensemble Cast.
Delroy George Lindo was born November 18, 1952 in the University Hospital Lewisham in Lewisham, London, England, the son of Jamaican parents who were part of the Windrush generation. His mother had immigrated to the UK in 1951 to work as a nurse, and his father worked in various jobs. When he was a teenager, Lindo moved with his mother to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When he was 16, they moved to the United States, to San Francisco.
At the age of 24, Lindo began his studies in acting at the American Conservatory Theater, graduating in 1979. Upon learning more about the Windrush generation, both through his mother’s accounts and his own role as a Jamaican immigrant in Wondrous Oblivion, Lindo became inspired to study the subject and history further. In 2014, he completed a master’s thesis from New York University’s Gallatin School. Lindo holds an honorary doctorate from Virginia Union University, a fellow HBCU, and he will also be conferred another honorary doctorate, the Doctor of Humane Letters, during the Fisk Commencement.
“Delroy Lindo’s career embodies the enduring power of a liberal arts education — one that cultivates artistry, intellect, and a lifelong commitment to craft,” said Dr. Agenia Walker Clark, President of Fisk University. “These are the very values we instill in Fisk students, and we are honored to welcome him to our campus community as we celebrate the Class of 2026 and the boundless futures ahead of them.”
This year’s Fisk University Commencement Ceremony will be held at the Gentry Center on the campus of Tennessee State University at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 3, following the TSU ceremonies the previous two days. Fisk will confer degrees upon approximately 255 graduates. For more information about this phenomenal HBCU, please visit their website: Fisk.edu
