We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Ballard recently and have shared our conversation below.
Daniel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
99% of my accomplishments never started on paper. Every journey/job in my life required some sort of application full of previous work, pictures, “about me” and all sorts of potentially interesting things that could make a person want to hire/accept me. For some reason, my applications were never good enough to get me that job or be accepted into that program. I stand by that to this day. I have always found myself most interesting in person, not on paper. With that being said, I whole heartedly believe in the pieces of paper I’ve earned in the process. I went to college and got my BFA in Theatre and then my MFAs in Acting and Directing. U of Louisiana at Lafayette, Ragin Cajuns! And Texas Tech U, Red Raiders! 8 years of school, several degrees and a few pieces of paper that haven’t gotten me a job. But it’s not the paper that matters. It’s the training and experience! The ability to learn about worldly issues from peers and surround myself with intellectuals is what made me who I am. That’s what makes me worthy of the opportunities that I’ve been given. Opportunities that were all but non existent when I was growing up. You see, I’m from South Louisiana where theatre was not a sought after activity. I grew up playing sports. That was the most fun we could have as a kid. Being outside and pretending we lived in a magical forest with castles and battles. Some would say that’s where I really began my acting. But there were a few other things that led me to pursuing this as a career. I started learning my craft around 16 years old. My school didn’t have a theatre program, just one speech class. Sure, I was an outgoing student that loved a little bit of attention, but not all of those students can zero in on this skill. I say skill because it can definitely become an issue if you let it run rampant. So speech class taught me how to narrow down the energy and focus it on one piece of text. Then, the theatrical side of my life started in church. And that is where I give the most credit. I joined a small group of friends and we wrote, directed, and acted in sketches. I had the discipline from sports, the joy from being a child and the faith and passion in what we were doing. We became pretty good at it all and found opportunities around our city and surrounding areas to perform. It felt like a path had be laid out for me. If I ever believed in signs, this was the one.
Daniel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Daniel Ballard and I am from South Louisiana, the Dirty South baby! Born and raised on a swamp, taking snakes out of my house and dodging alligators in my yard. Growing up in that environment left the imagination run free. I suppose this is where it all started for me. I was always outside running around in the woods, picking up any stick and acting like it was a sword or baseball bat. All that time outside was earned though. I was brought up in a way that made me work for the privileges that I was granted. That includes the time I spent playing outside and the occasional video gaming. I was taught to earn anything that was given to me. As I hit my teenage years, I was no stranger to that idea. My parents ran a pipeline business and I was raised on that thing. Worked on that pipeline on and off for 13 years. If you don’t know, that’s some of the hardest work that’s out there. I was a laborer and a welder helper for most of it. I also worked as a carpenter and mechanic’s assistant. Between going to school, playing sports and pipelining, I learned very early how to get dirty and work hard. I was hardened and disciplined by it. But I never lost touch with that kid that played make believe in the woods. Visual Arts was my first love. I found a talent for drawing, which led to sculpting and painting. This was the path that I thought I would take in life and when it came to going to school for something. Working on the pipeline taught me one thing that shaped more than my work ethic, it taught me that I didn’t want to do that for a living. I chose to go to college at U of LA at Lafayette and what started in the visual arts, my major changed to performing after one semester. I found a passion in that. Also, I could never imagine getting paid for it. It still blows my mind when that happens. At the end of my undergrad, I felt a drive and understanding for learning, studying and just school in general. I was always an average student and now I understood what it would take to be a great student. So I decided to continue my training in grad school. I was accepted into the Texas Tech Program in order to earn an MFA in both Acting and Directing. I understood the assignment and put all of my energy into school. I had managed to graduate in two and a half years. About a year later, I moved to Los Angeles. Television and Film were the ultimate career goal. I knew I would never leave the stage and if there was an easier path to that, I would take it. The Film industry offers more opportunities and different jobs that I wanted to educate myself with. In the City of Angels, I realized that stability is the foundation to success. I worked different jobs to pay the bills, all while auditioning. I booked short films and student projects fairly quickly and continued to build a reel and gain experience. Once I stepped into more of a professional business man, things changed. I learned about the business and not the art. I figured I got a lot of the art and craft in school. Now it was time to look at this industry for what it was, a money maker. I believe you need a nice balance in wanting to change the world with art and paying the bills. It’s been twelve years and success in TV and film have both happened. I feel great about the future. I have tried to narrow my brand into the world of westerns. I grew up riding horses and shooting guns. It’s in my blood. Going back to my roots being dirty and working hard. I’ve now appeared on three western tv shows including Wild West Chronicles, season 3 and 4, also in the new show Elkhorn in season 1. I put on those period clothes and boots and I am transformed back to that kid playing make believe. It’s one of the most fun and rewarding roles I have ever had.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
They say if an actor that succeeds in 10 years is an “overnight success.” They are not wrong. One day, nobody knows your name and the next, millions know exactly who you are. Literally “overnight.” The 10 plus years it takes to mange your career and build your own success story is not unlike everyone else’s day job. If a person is hired to start in the mail room and over a 10 year period, that person is promoted multiple times to what could be a senior manager or even the CEO, they are not considered “overnight.” But that is exactly how an actor can see their career. Over many years of working hard and staying persistent, an actor gains promotions by building relationships and gaining experience. The only difference is that these promotions might not pay more. An actor works extremely hard to jump from the mail room to being the CEO of their own company. An actor is a business owner and the product is themselves. It’s all about learning how to sell that product and who wants to buy it. So actors will see the small wins and tiny promotions over the years and know that they are on the right path. Most people that are not in the film industry don’t see the money raise and believe that actors are working for nothing. All it takes is that one consumer and then an actor can indeed become an overnight success.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When parking in Los Angeles, I found out, eventually, that I needed to look at the parking signs every single time. I didn’t care too much about a parking ticket here and there. I was young and dumb. After about 2 years of this, it all caught up with me. My truck had disappeared one day. I went to my parking space, which was at a meter in Koreatown, and it was not there anymore. I called the right people to find out where my truck had gone off to. It was towed. And since I never changed my plates from LA plates, the tickets had built up over the years to about $2,700. I have to admit, this is all my fault. I’m not going to make excuses. Young and dumb, remember? Well, I didn’t have that kind of money to throw down and get my truck. So studied the public transit system and the metro rails. I could get to my job by taking a train fairly easily. I decided I would work as much as possible to build that money up and get my truck. The other problem was that the impound charges $45 every night that the vehicle is there. I knew I needed to work fast. I also decided that this would not stop me from pursuing acting or living my life, a little. Day after day, I rode that train to work and stayed until 3am bartending. The only times I would hang out with friends was at someone’s place where we didn’t have to spend money. Or playing softball with the boys on Wednesday. Shout out to Miles for picking me up every week! Not only for a ride, but in life. Most of my time was spent at my apartment. I would take buses to auditions and I even booked a job or two. I would carpool with other actors when possible or find my own way. My trusty long board skateboard has seen many roads and sidewalks in this city. Thanks TTU crew for the wheels! The day rate from the impound kept on building and I realized I would have to catch up to the total amount I owed. I was chasing a dream and a paycheck. Two months of this. Two whole months of saving as much as possible and trying not to get discouraged or quit. It would have seemed easy to leave my truck behind or forget about the entire dream. But that truck was special to me. My parents bought me this truck 13 years before this moment and I couldn’t let that go. I couldn’t throw away an amazing gift. I didn’t let this messy situation get the best of me. Nah, I felt happy. I still had my friends and family. Everyone was extremely helpful and supportive. Nobody gave me hand outs. Just words of encouragement. My brother from another mother, Chris, told me I should tell people this story one day to let everyone know my struggles. So this is a good opportunity. Not only did I save up the $2700 for the tickets, I also managed to save up another $2700 for the impound. I paid $5400 on the day I got my truck back. You could say I learned my lesson. It’s very few and far between that a ticket shows up under my windshield wiper. A lot of people don’t last one year in this city and fewer last more than three. We are tested all the time. It’s okay to have to take a step back to get those two steps forward. Knowing that helped me avoid the discouragement. Knowing that helped me build a life in this city. It’s been 10 years since the truck incident. I eventually traded it in for a new whip. It was sad to watch it go and the trade in value was way less than what I paid to get it back. I’d still say those 2 months were worth it. Not just for the truck, but also for the life lessons and strength that I found from the struggle.
Contact Info:
- Website: dpballard.com
- Instagram: daballard