The Bear star Jeremy Allen White revealed on Live with Kelly and Mark Thursday, October 23, 2025, that he finally received his high school diploma at age 34 after his former drama teacher surprised him with the document at the Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere premiere.
White attended Manhattan’s Professional Performing Arts School but never graduated because he frequently skipped classes. “I wasn’t a good student because I didn’t go to school enough,” he admitted. The actor confessed he would “just leave at lunch and never come back,” spending afternoons at Central Park, hanging with friends in Brooklyn, or going home if his parents were out.
Former drama teacher Mark Parente, whom Jeremy Allen White invited to the New York Film Festival premiere because he’s a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, presented him with an unexpected gift. “I was like, ‘what are you giving me a gift for?’ And I open it up and it is my high school diploma,” White told cohosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
The 34-year-old Emmy and Golden Globe winner started working professionally as a teenager, appearing in Law & Order, Conviction, and films before turning 18. “So I’ve got that in my hotel room now and, uh, it’s really nice,” he said about finally achieving the milestone while promoting his Bruce Springsteen biopic.
