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Patrick Ball was on the verge of quitting acting before he landed his role on The Pitt. 

“About six months before The Pitt came in, I was living in New Haven with my ex,” Ball recently told Cultured magazine. “We’d been together for three years and we were really struggling with coming up with a vision of the future. Working as an actor, you don’t know what’s coming, have no money—the financial outlook can be bleak. I was looking for an off-ramp.”

At that point, Ball, who studied drama at Yale University, was weighing a serious career shift, including possibly joining the FBI or the Merchant Marines. But after a few more life twists – including a stint doing corporate coaching seminars where he played an employee who had to be fired – he was cast as Dr. Frank Langdon in the Noah Wyle medical drama. 

The hefty HBO paycheck came as a massive relief, Ball said. 

“I paid off my student loans like three months into The Pitt, and that was a really profound moment ‘cause I thought I was gonna die with it. It’s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it,” he said. 

“I was $80,000 in debt and I had been through a series of failed relationships where my financial insecurity was a real problem,” he continued. “I had just thought that was going to be my life forever, and that is a really heavy thing to live with. Paying off those student loans and getting back to zero, I remember being like, Man, if this show works, great. If it doesn’t work, they can’t take that away from me. I am out of debt. No take-backsies on that.”

The Pitt Season 2 is currently streaming on HBO Max, with the season finale set for April 16. The show has been renewed for season 3. 

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