RJ Mitte, “Breaking Bad” supporting star, spoke to a full house at Graham Chapel Wednesday evening.

Chosen by the Congress of the South 40 executive board as the speaker for Fall CS40 Week, Mitte delivered an emotional speech relating his experiences with overcoming disability to his acting career and the general attitude of Hollywood toward those with disabilities.

“Breaking Bad” star R.J. Mitte speaks in Graham Chapel to hundreds of students about his experiences with acting with a physical disability. Mitte’s talk was sponsored by the Congress of the South 40 as part of the Fall Speaker program.

According to Mitte, he is just one of 11 actors on television today with a physical disability. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 3, Mitte faced extreme physical challenges and constant bullying. Much of his speech, however, focused on fear’s ubiquitous presence and manipulating power in everyone’s life—not just his own. Using his experiences as a disabled Hollywood actor, Mitte delivered what attendees saw as a precise and universal message.

“People try to manipulate you, and they try to instill fear in you,” Mitte said. “As soon as they do that, you’re not yourself; you’re acting on fear. People try to do this to me all the time, and this is a problem that will go on. Bullies have been around forever.”

Sophomore Aashna Narang, elected this June as the CS40 director of services, was the driving force behind the event and played a central role in selecting and coordinating Mitte’s visit.

“[Mitte] is our age and he’s overcome a lot. I thought that people could really connect with him,” Narang said.

The budget for this year’s speaker was $30,000. After price is considered, CS40 selects the candidates by their proposed messages and then their availability, according to Narang.

“The biggest hassle was researching each candidate. After we decided on RJ, everything fell into place. It was smooth sailing,” Narang said.

Past speakers haven’t always been so successful. Last year’s speaker and “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier ended up speaking mostly about his sustainability efforts although CS40 originally invited him to speak about his experiences in directing a popular television series. Narang was pleased to see that Mitte’s speech matched expectations more closely.

“It was very clear that RJ was going to speak about his disability and how he overcame it; that was clear. He was really relatable and nice, very personable, and he went above and beyond,” Narang said.

Mitte appeared personable as he met with a parade of eager fans one-by-one after his speech. Students took pictures, exchanged friendly words and hugged the star, who wasn’t reserved in reciprocating the love.

Lola Idowu, a freshman who attended, was impressed by Mitte’s friendly attitude.

“I was so impressed by how he treated everyone,” Idowu said. “He looked me in the eyes and shook my hand, asked me my name and told me to have a wonderful evening.”

Mitte has been traveling worldwide for months and delivering speeches of the same nature to college campuses and other large audiences while auditioning for roles.

“Apparently for the last month, every single day he’s been on at least two planes rides. Tomorrow he’s going to Stockholm,” Narang said. “This isn’t even his job—this is stuff that he wants to do just because he can, and so he can spread his message.”