Whatever the scene, actor Timothy Simons steals it — in his breakout role as the reprehensible Jonah Ryan in political satire “Veep,” his current romantic-comedy series “Nobody Wants This” and even his recent last-place showing in the quarterfinals of “Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars.”

As the Readfield native returns home this weekend to deliver the commencement address at the University of Maine, I think it’s time he usurps something else: the title of most beloved Mainer on screen.

First, I’ll have you know, his upcoming appearance at his alma mater is unpaid and happening while the third season of his hit Netflix show is in production. Although that might not be as heroic as, say, founding a cancer center, Patrick Dempsey is around so much — between Hearts of Pine games and his house in Kennebunkport — we associate him with here more than Hollywood now anyway.

At this point, University of Southern Maine alum Tony Shalhoub probably has the edge on Simons in terms of impact on higher education in the state, having helped fund and fundraise for the school’s new Crewe Center for the Arts. Being from Wisconsin, however, the “Monk” star doesn’t qualify for this particular accolade.

We certainly couldn’t forget about Portland native Judd Nelson and his iconic fist pump from “The Breakfast Club,” but his moment in the sun has passed; same goes for one-time Waynflete student Liv Tyler. And though Katie Aselton and the rest of the cast of raunchy FX sitcom “The League” were a highlight of my pandemic bingeing, the former Miss Maine Teen from Milbridge isn’t exactly a household name.

That really only leaves Anna Kendrick who, aside from a signing of her 2016 memoir at Books-A-Million (not somewhere local like Sherman’s, mind you) and a photo taken in front of Portland restaurant Mami several years ago, has kept a low profile when back in town — which isn’t all that often because hotels are hard to book in summer and it’s “very far away,” she told Wired in 2024.

Simons, on the other hand, usually visits twice a year, spending time at a camp in Wayne in the summer and New Year’s in Rockland, where his sister owns a bookstore, always making an excursion to Portland for a basketball game, he told the Press Herald in a livestreamed event during the pandemic.

Talking about his experience at UMaine, where he discovered his interest in acting, he said, “I loved every second of it, and I miss it all the time.”

Meanwhile, my algorithm keeps feeding me clips of Kendrick mocking her home state in interviews — saying it wouldn’t make a good location for “Love Is Blind” because Mainers are “on the whole, pretty repressed” and, after describing the “very classy” drink that is Allen’s Coffee Brandy and milk, adding that “we have an alcohol problem.”

I get that sarcasm is her thing (which I’m in no position to judge) and that she thinks she’s being self-deprecating, but just as we transplants are expected to tread lightly when it comes to ribbing Maine culture, the same should go for anyone who books it to Los Angeles after high school and doesn’t look back.

The Deering grad has given back to Maine, at least once that we know of, by funding 31 classroom projects from Sanford to Skowhegan in 2016 through an effort organized by “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert.

And, of course, her Tony-nominated Broadway performance at 12 years old was a source of pride for the state.

More relatable, however, is Simons’ sixth-grade victory in a school lipsyncing contest, with “Weird Al” Yankovic as his artist of choice.

That was another tidbit from Simons’ live Press Herald interview in 2020, which is really where this competition started. Concerned about how the size of the audience compared to those for other notable Mainers, Simons wanted to know if Kendrick had participated in the event series. (Whenever asked, her publicist has said she’s too busy.)

“I’d never beat Anna Kendrick,” he said.

I’d argue that by staying connected to the state as his star rises — beyond using it as a punchline — he already has.