“The Pit” actor Patrick Ball breaks down in tears during an interview with Cultured magazine, revealing how the Emmy-winning HBO Max medical series helped him pay off $80,000 worth of student loan debt. Ball will appear on the show as Dr. Frank Langdon. “The Pit” is currently airing its second season on the streamer.
“I paid off my student loans about three months after I started ‘The Pit.’ It was a really profound moment. I thought I was going to die from this,” Ball said through tears. “That’s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it. I was $80,000 in debt, had serious financial insecurity, and had a lot of failed relationships. I thought that would be my life forever, and it’s a really heavy burden to live with.”
Ball added, “When I paid off my student loans and got back to zero, I remember thinking, ‘Hey, if this show does well, great. If it doesn’t, you can’t take it away from me. I’m debt-free now.'” There is no retraction on that. ”
Ball was nominated for the Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in “The Pit.” He won a SAG Award as part of the show’s ensemble cast, starring Emmy Award winner Noah Wyle. Before starring in The Pit, Ball was leaning toward a life outside of Hollywood.
“The economic outlook could be bleak. I was looking for a way out,” Ball told the magazine, noting that the father of his girlfriend at the time had tried to convince Ball to join the FBI. Later, when he moved to New York City, he held four jobs.
“I worked in coffee shops, I worked in restaurants, I worked as a costume assistant on ‘And Just Like That,’ I gave corporate coaching seminars,” he continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever told this story to anyone, but they took me to BlackRock, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs to do seminars where they wanted to teach young managers how to have difficult conversations, how to fire someone. They brought me in as an actor so administrators could practice firing someone. So I’ve been fired more than anyone you’ve ever met, I promise you. And then… I got the call for ‘The Pit’ and everything changed.”
To read Ball’s full profile, visit Cultured’s website.
