Bryce Dallas Howard just graduated from New York University 21 years after enrolling. She shared advice for graduates in a moving personal essay.

• Bryce Dallas Howard graduated this year from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, 21 years after she had enrolled.
• In a letter to her fellow 2020 graduates, the 39-year-old actress shared her story about her college journey, which be in the fall of 1999.
• Dallas said she left school to pursue acting, but 21 years later, she said she was excited to walk in her ceremony from NYU because she would graduate alongside people who were born the year she started her career: "How wild, how weird, and what a great story."

Bryce Dallas Howard is a member of the class of 2020.

Howard, who's starred in "The Help," "Jurassic World," and "Rocketman," announced on Thursday in an Instagram post that she has completed her degree from New York University, after enrolling at the Tisch School of the Arts in 1999.

"I am so overcome with joy to share that I have officially graduated from NYU!!" the 39-year-old actress wrote on Instagram. "This has been 21 years in the making!"

She continued: "It's been a long dream of mine to complete my formal education and though all of us NYU grads couldn't wear glorious purple robes together today, I want to say thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged all of us graduates every step of the way."

Howard shared the story of her non-linear journey in a personal essay to the class of 2020

"I enrolled in NYU Tisch the fall of 1999," Howard wrote in an essay for students of The Nine Muses program — an internship program she helped to coordinate at the Tisch School of the arts.

"I, and many others, were on edge about Y2K, but felt pretty confident and excited about the new millennium — as long as we got through New Year's Eve, which we thankfully did."

The actress said that she initially left NYU to pursue an off-Broadway acting job but always planned on finishing her degree.

"Given how the industry was significantly struggling after 9/11, I jumped at the opportunity to work professionally, especially as it would allow me to join the Actors' Equity Association. But I fully intended on graduating one day. In fact, I continually deferred the following semester and the semesters after that, hoping that instead of 'dropping
out,' I was simply taking a 'leave of absence.' Again, and again, and again."

At age 21, Howard said, she was making a reliable living through acting, but continuing her education was still on her mind.

"I legitimately missed school and dreamed of one day getting my masters, which meant I needed my BFA. So I enrolled part-time at an accredited university with the goal of eventually transferring credits back to NYU," she wrote in her essay.

The actress wrote about how continuing her degree while pursuing acting allowed her to fill her life with "ever-evolving passions and curiosities."

"There have been world events where we felt the rug pulled out from underneath us (hi, 2008) and personal challenges that led to a real crisis of confidence (looking at you, motherhood)," she said. "Despite all this, continuing to pursue my degree and complete schoolwork never felt like a chore."

When Howard realized she would finish her degree in 2020, she was excited to walk alongside graduates who were born when she first enrolled

"Many babies born the year I first started NYU were probably graduating alongside me, which made me even more excited. How wild, how weird, and what a great story," Howard wrote.

She also shared words of encouragement with her classmates: "Reach out to people who inspire you, excite you, impress you, fascinate you — folks who might be acquaintances rather than your best friend," Howard wrote.

"I have no idea what in the world the entertainment and storytelling industry will look like on the other side of this, but I can for sure have a say in the matter of who I am standing beside, and who is standing beside me."

She continued: "You are all going to 'make it.' You just are. You are all winners and I know you are ALL going to make it — either in the conventional sense, or the unconventional sense. You are all going to truly find success in your lives and careers and I am so certain about it and am looking forward to it all unfolding."

Read the full essay by Bryce Dallas Howard here.

• Read more:
• Here's where 51 celebrities went to college
• These are the 15 most uplifting commencement messages celebrities and icons from Oprah Winfrey to Tom Hanks gave the class of 2020
• The best advice celebrity graduation speakers gave the class of 2019