'The Pitt' helped two of its actors finally quit their day jobs—one 'spent 12 years hustling and pounding the pavement' before his big break

HBO’s medical drama “The Pitt” is one of the most lauded shows on television, winning two Golden Globe awards on Sunday after picking up five Emmy Awards in September. For two of its stars, the show’s breakout success even allowed them to quit their day jobs.

When actors Patrick Ball and Supriya Ganesh landed their roles on the show, which premiered in January 2025, they were both struggling actors waiting for their big breaks. Ball, 36, was bouncing between theater roles across the U.S. and working as a barista in Brooklyn, New York, before landing a starring role as Dr. Frank Langdon in “The Pitt” in 2024, he told E! News in a Jan. 4 interview at the Critics Choice Awards 2026.

“Eighteen months ago, I was in Brooklyn working three jobs. I was making coffee and thinking about moving back to North Carolina,” said Ball.

Ball studied acting at both the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Yale University’s School of Drama. He “spent five years traveling around, doing regional theater across the country,” Ball said in an interview with UNC Greensboro’s alumni website in September 2025.

“I spent 12 years hustling and pounding the pavement, working for $700 a week,” he said. “I’d play the lead in a big [theater] show, move back to Brooklyn with nothing to show for it, and have to start again from scratch.”