Jodie Foster to address Penn graduates

Oscar winner to be speaker at Ivy League school's 250th commencement

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updated 4:51 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster will be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania's 250th commencement on May 15.

Foster, who graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1985 with a literature degree, will receive an honorary doctor of arts degree.

"Jodie Foster is an eminent Ivy League graduate who has achieved tremendous success and influence in the powerful entertainment industry," Penn president Amy Gutmann said in a statement Tuesday.

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Gutmann said Foster also "has used her tremendous talents to bring before an international audience such weighty social issues as violence against women, parent-child relationships and the challenges faced by women in traditionally male professions."

Foster was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her role as a teenage prostitute in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver." She won Academy Awards for her performances in "The Accused" (1988) and "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991).

Foster, who has appeared in nearly 40 films, in 1990 founded her own movie production company, Egg Pictures, which produced "Nell," for which Foster received an Academy Award nomination for best actress.

Past Penn commencement speakers include U2 lead singer Bono, former President Jimmy Carter, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.