SEE to Host ‘Breaking Bad’ Actor Giancarlo Esposito for Back to School Lecture

The University of Maryland’s Student Entertainment Events (SEE) will welcome actor Giancarlo Esposito for its 2025 Back to School Lecture.

The annual event will begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Grand Ballroom of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union and will feature a moderated Q&A and audience Q&A. Tickets are required and will be available for free at noon Sept. 11 at umdtickets.com. The lecture is co-sponsored by ODK, the Mental Health Coalition and Terps After Dark.

Esposito is best known for his portrayal of drug lord Gustavo “Gus” Fring on the Emmy Award–winning series “Breaking Bad (2009–11), which he reprised in the prequel “Better Call Saul (2017-22).

He launched his acting career in 1968 on Broadway, as a child in the musical “Maggie Flynn.” He secured his breakout role two decades later in Spike Lee’s 1988 film “School Daze,” which marked a long period of collaboration between the two, including “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues” and “Malcolm X.” Esposito’s filmography also extends to video games, voicing and providing motion capture for the main antagonist of Ubisoft’s 2021 game Far Cry 6.