The Pitt' Star Patrick Ball Reveals He Was $80k in Debt Before Landing Breakout Role

HBO Max's medical drama, The Pitt, has easily become one of the best shows on television today. The show has nabbed multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards and has become a must-watch for those who love shows like ER and Grey’s Anatomy.

Actor Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon on The Pitt, talked to Cultured Magazineabout how being cast in the hit drama saved him from $80,000 worth of student loan debt.

Patrick Ball Student Loans Were Cleared Thanks to ‘The Pitt’

“I paid off my student loans like three months into The Pitt, and that was a really profound moment because I thought I was gonna die with it,” Ball explained. 

“It’s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it. I was $80,000 in debt, and I had been through a series of failed relationships where my financial insecurity was a real problem. I had just thought that was going to be my life forever, and that is a really heavy thing to live with.”

Ball continued: “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.” 

Before landing his role on The Pitt, the up-and-coming actor shared that he balanced various odd jobs.

“I was working at a coffee shop, I was working at a restaurant, I was working as a wardrobe assistant for And Just Like That, I was doing these corporate coaching seminars,” Ball said. 

“I don’t think I’ve told anybody this story, but I was doing these seminars where they’d bring me into Blackrock and Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, and they would want to teach these young administrators how to have difficult conversations, à 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’ve ever met, I promise you. I’ve been fired thousands of times. And then the call for The Pitt came in and everything was different.”

Noah Wyle Has One Burning Question for George Clooney

Veteran actor Noah Wyle, who leads The Pitt as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, recently asked, “Why doesn’t George ever put me in one of his movies?” during an interview with Kate Thornton on the UK radio show Greatest Hits Radio.

Thornton brought up remarks Clooney shared with Entertainment Tonight in November 2025 during the interview. At that time, Clooney expressed his delight regarding Noah Wyle's starring turn in the show.

Clooney previously shared with Entertainment Tonight, "If I'm allowed to be, I am so deeply, deeply proud of Noah". When asked about a potential guest role on The Pitt to "get back in the ER," Clooney enthusiastically replied, "In a heartbeat." Wyle offered a playful retort, suggesting it might be "perhaps his last heartbeat".

“You see how I keep ducking that question?… He doesn’t really want to come on The Pitt,” he said. “Suddenly, I’m on a hit show, he wants to come and play. The last 15 years, where has he been? Ocean’s 12, 13, I never made the cut.”

Both George Clooney and Noah Wyle rose to prominence as stars of the medical drama ER. Clooney portrayed Dr. Doug Ross from 1994 until 1999, while Wyle's tenure as Dr. John Carter lasted from 1994 to 2005, a period during which he achieved significant television stardom.