PHILADELPHIA — Denzel Washington confessed to a bit of stage fright in his latest role: Commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania.

Addressing about 5,000 graduates at the Ivy League school in Philadelphia on Monday, the Oscar- and Tony-winning actor said the academic ceremony was “a little overwhelming and out of my comfort zone.”

And that was his reason for accepting the invitation to speak, he said.

The 56-year-old star of “Malcolm X” and “Philadelphia” delivered a humorous speech with a sobering truth: Failure is inevitable. Yet instead of having something to fall back on, he said, graduates should “fall forward” — learn from their mistakes and keep going.

Thomas Edison had countless failed experiments before succeeding with the light bulb, he said.

“Do you have the guts to fail?” Washington said. “If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying.”