Tom Hanks surprises graduating class with video message: You are the chosen ones

Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks gave an inspiring commencement address to the Wright State University's graduating class of 2020 who could not have an in-person ceremony in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 63-year-old actor, who recently recovered from COVID-19, sent a surprise video message to the Ohio institution students over the weekend, reported Entertainment Weekly.

Hanks called the graduates the "chosen ones" not only for their academic achievements but also for entering the real world during a time when the world was witnessing change and upheaval.

"You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures. You started in the olden times, in a world back before the Great Pandemic of 2020. You will talk of those earlier years in your lives in just that way," he said in a video.

From now on, the Oscar winner said, eras will be defined as pre- and post-coronavirus.

"Part of your lives will forever be identified as 'before'. In the same way other generations tell time like 'that was before the war,' or 'that was before the internet,' or 'that was before Beyonce'. The word 'before' is going to carry great weight with you."