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HBO Max\u2019s Emmy-winning medical drama The Pitt<\/em><\/a> is all about saving lives onscreen\u2014and redefining them offscreen. The TV series revived the star of Noah Wyle<\/a>, who plays Dr. Robby on the show after an 11-season run as Dr. John Carter on E.R.<\/em> in the<\/em> 1990s and 2000s, and introduced talents like Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon in The Pitt<\/em>\u2019s currently-airing second season<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ball makes his major Hollywood debut playing a young doctor who works in the Pittsburgh emergency room. But the project has been more significant for the previously struggling actor than one could imagine. During a recent interview with Cultured<\/em> magazine<\/a>, Ball revealed how the series helped save him from $80,000 worth of student loan debt.<\/p>\n \u201cI paid off my student loans like three months into The Pitt<\/em>, and that was a really profound moment \u2019cause I thought I was gonna die with it,\u201d Ball said, pausing as he began to cry during the interview. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it.\u201d<\/p>\n The actor said the financial hardships had also taken a toll on his personal life. \u201cI was $80,000 in debt and I had been through a series of failed relationships where my financial insecurity was a real problem,\u201d said Ball. \u201cI had just thought that was going to be my life forever, and that is a really heavy thing to live with.\u201d<\/p>\n Paying off the debt has lifted a long-held burden from his shoulders. \u201cMan, if this show works, great. If it doesn\u2019t work, they can\u2019t take that away from me,\u201d Ball told Cultured<\/em>. \u201cI am out of debt. No take-backsies on that.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a relief that allowed him to enjoy with a clear mind the many other joys derived from the series, such as a Critics\u2019 Choice Television Award nomination<\/a> for best supporting actor in a drama series and winning a SAG Award<\/a> as a member of the series\u2019 ensemble cast.<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the Cultured<\/em> piece, Ball shared that because of his financial situation, he considered quitting acting and joining the FBI, becoming a Merchant Marine, or working in a fishing camp in Alaska and \u201cdropping off the grid entirely.\u201d As Ball put it: \u201cWorking as an actor, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming, have no money\u2014the financial outlook can be bleak. I was looking for an off-ramp.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, Ball persevered, and after starring in a play in his home state of North Carolina, Ball moved to New York City with a new partner, where he worked four jobs. \u201cI was working at a coffee shop, I was working at a restaurant, I was working as a wardrobe assistant for\u00a0And Just Like That<\/em><\/a>, I was doing these corporate coaching seminars,\u201d Ball continued. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve told anybody this story, but I was doing these seminars where they\u2019d bring me into Blackrock and Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, and they would want to teach these young administrators how to have difficult conversations, \u00e0 la how to fire somebody. They would bring me in as an actor so that these administrators could get practice firing someone. So I have been fired more than anyone you\u2019ve ever met, I promise you. I\u2019ve been fired thousands of times. And then the call for\u00a0The Pitt<\/em>\u00a0came in and everything was different.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published by<\/em> Vanity Fair Italy.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n