"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has been nominated for an incredible 11 MTV Movie Awards. For his part as Kylo Ren, Adam Driver has been nominated twice--Best Villain and Best Fight. Adam's quickly becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men. But I'm not surprised. I was there to witness it from the very start.

Adam & I were both enrolled at the University of Indianapolis in 2004--seriously, that seems soooooo long ago! We were each considered freshmen, though he was two years older (he'd served briefly in the Marine Corps before pursuing acting), but it didn't take long to realize that he was much more advanced as an actor than I was--more advanced than pretty much anybody I'd ever seen at that age.

University of Indianapolis
University of Indianapolis
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Adam had a certain magnetism about him; he commanded attention when he was on stage and he was laser-focused. His preparation and commitment to a role was awe-inspiring.

University of Indianapolis' production of "Endgame" in 2004.
University of Indianapolis
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He starred in two of our college's productions (The Leading Player in Pippin and Clov in Endgame) before being accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. From there, Adam went on to star in the HBO series Girls and appear in hit films like Lincoln and This Is Where I Leave You before his breakthrough role as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Adam has certainly worked very hard for his success. And now I can tell everybody that I took an acting class with one of the dude from Star Wars! You can vote for Adam and the rest of your favorite MTV Movie Award nominees until March 20th.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart will host this year’s ceremony, which airs on April 10 at 7 p.m. on MTV.

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