Kevin Costner at VMX 2025: Finding your heart

Kevin Costner addressing the audience during his VMX 2025 keynote.

Kevin Costner, the Academy Award-winning actor, director, and producer, took center stage to deliver his keynote address and kickoff VMX 2025 in Orlando, Florida. Costner drew parallels between his life’s journey and the calling that drives the work of veterinary professionals with an inspiring speech about finding and embracing your purpose.

Costner began by reflecting on his career and the struggle to discover his path. He shared how his upbringing in a blue-collar family shaped his work ethic and worldview but left him searching for something deeper. “I was probably going to be a manual labor guy. I'm not that smart,” he said. “But I would play piano. I was raised in a church, [and] I sang in the choirs. I wrote poetry and I didn't tell anybody about that. I just did it. I don't know why.”

He continued: “At one point, I started getting a little desperate. I still hadn't [found my calling], but all I had to do was look back at the breadcrumbs of my life, and I started to understand that I was a storyteller, a daydreamer.”

This realization didn’t come easily. Costner spoke candidly about the challenges of aligning his passions with his professional life. Even after making it as an actor and becoming famous, he was determined to not less promises of money or success get in the way of his love for making art he felt strongly about. “I've used my own money to chase my own dreams,” he said. “Because once I found my heart, I wasn't going to let anybody take it away from me, no matter how much money was on the line.”

Defined by passion, not the title

In “finding his heart,” Costner drew parallels to the veterinary profession, in which so many are driven to as a calling. In his eyes, it’s that passion and purpose that define a person.

“You come out of school, and they call you a vet,” he said. “[When] you’re an actor, you’re a bum on the corner until you start to make money. But I wasn't concerned about money as much as I was concerned about my journey. And when I knew and I admitted to myself that…I was going to be a storyteller, my life changed.”

Costner also acknowledged that following that passion is not an easy path. With it comes moments of doubt and immense pressure, especially when dealing with emotional situations involving animals and their owners. In a parallel between actors and veterinary professionals, he acknowledged that it’s even harder to stay strong when you’re under a microscope and people are counting on you, but persevering is worth it and what ultimately defines who are you: “People are watching you…For me, I have taken big bites out of life, and life has taken some really big bites out of me…Who cares about the easy moments? How are you in the toughest?”

The toughest moments

On showing strength in the most difficult situations, one of the more poignant moments of Costner’s keynote came when he shared his personal experience of saying goodbye to a beloved pet. “There comes a moment when we know it’s the beginning of the end” he said. “I’ve had to put my dog down. There was one of you, and I didn’t even know your name. You were sitting on the ground, on a blanket right beside me, watching me, even crying. [You were] a stranger that became important…That’s what you do. You’ve helped me, and I just thought you should know about it.”

Costner’s take-home message was that discovering and embracing your purpose requires self-reflection, hard work, and resilience. For veterinary professionals, their profound impact on the lives of others lies not just in their technical skills but in their compassion and ability to guide others through emotional moments, making their purpose a cornerstone of their professional and personal legacy.

Reference

Costner K. VMX Kickoff with Kevin Costner, Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Presented at: VMX 2025; January 25-29, 2025; Orlando, Florida