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SPEC Film invites Zach Braff to speak at Penn. Credit: Sam Sherman , Sam Sherman

College sophomore David Liang said he’s a big fan of Zach Braff, “like everyone in America. It’s impossible not to be.”

Last night, Liang — along with a crowd of about 700 — welcomed the comic actor, director and screenwriter at Harrison Auditorium in the Penn Museum for the Social Planning and Events Committee Film Society’s annual speaker event.

Fashioning the discussion after Bravo’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” cinema studies professor Kathleen Demarco Van Cleve moderated the interview with Braff, as well as the question-and-answer session that followed.

Braff kicked off the interview by expressing his disappointment in seeing the Liberty Bell — “It was broken” — and then exploring how his failures helped him achieve his current success.

Braff doled out some wisdom that his father imparted on him long ago.

“Don’t be afraid to pick up a broom,” he said.

Braff shared this proverb, along with anecdotes about the challenges that he faced both as an up-and-coming actor and as a well-known comic actor.

One such anecdote recounted how the young actor, after starring in the 2000 independent film “The Broken Hearts Club,” came to work in a restaurant across from a movie theater. He said that moviegoers who had seen the film would come in for dinner and commend his performance — to which he would then respond, “Thank you, and would you like to hear about our specials tonight?”

Braff encouraged students to strive to be the best at whatever trade they choose for themselves — no matter their day job — and reminded them that persistence is key.

“How many ‘no’s’ will you take before you give up?” he asked the audience. “My answer was, ‘I’m not going to give up.’”

When creating his cult film “Garden State,” Braff pitched his idea and got rejected 60 times before finding a financier, who gave him only half the money he had seen fit for the job.

In the same vein, before auditioning for the role of J.D. on the medical comedy series “Scrubs,” Braff said he had reached a low point and nearly gave up on his passion to be an actor. After landing the role, however, he realized that “sometimes when a door closes and it feels like your life is ruined, another one opens up and it changes your life.”

Cecilia Lee, a freshman at Bryn Mawr College, liked learning more about Braff’s ups and downs as a struggling actor, remarking that “he was very humble and down-to-earth.”

Besides recalling valuable lessons in life and work, Braff also discussed his Internet habits, reveled in bathroom humor and talked about his friend and “Scrubs” co-star Donald Faison, who pranked him on the MTV series “Punk’d” by spray-painting his Porsche.

The audience rewarded Braff’s friendly banter with incessant laughter throughout the evening. A few attendees even made signs to express their love for the actor, and one girl brought a gift for him.

Liang enjoyed in particular seeing the serious side of the otherwise comic actor. “It’s interesting to hear how he gets his inspiration for his characters,” he explained. “It’s cool to see that people like Braff can be both funny and very serious about their work.”

Engineering freshman and professed “Garden State” fan Alex Whitaker appreciated Braff’s refusal to compromise his ideas to please producers. “It’s cool that his work is 100 percent his.”

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