We recently connected with Edoardo Ballerini and have shared our conversation below.
Edoardo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I first thought about being an actor in college at Wesleyan University. A friend asked me to be in his student film, and the experience intrigued me. But I didn’t pursue acting until some time after graduation. So I was never in any high school or college plays, though I had done a bit of acting as a child, even professionally. Then as an adult it took me over two years to get my first professional job. I remember feeling like I was late to the game. It’s always tempting to say, “oh, I wish I’d gotten started earlier,” but you always meet life where you meet it, so who’s to say it would have been better? Maybe it would have turned out worse. There are going to be twists and turns along the road no matter where or when you start, so I like to think I started at exactly the right time.
Edoardo, 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?
I stumbled into my career, honestly. I thought I was going to be a writer and a professor. Then one day when I said, “I think I’ll give acting a shot, it looks like fun,” and I’d done that student film as a favor, and before I knew it I was taking classes, going to auditions, trying to learn about the industry. It took a little while to get going, but before too long I was working steadily, playing a lot of parts I didn’t even know I was capable of. My very first role was playing an autistic teenager on an episode of “Law & Order.” It wasn’t a role I’d ever imagined, but it helped me think, “Maybe I can do all kinds of things.” That initial casting widened my field of vision and opened the doors to things like playing a junkie on “The Sopranos” or an AI Bot in “A Murder at the End of the World.”
The big twist in my career came years later when somebody asked me to record an audiobook – I didn’t really know anything about audiobooks – and then that side of my career skyrocketed. I won awards, magazines and newspapers were writing articles about me, and I was in demand in a field I knew nothing about. It was all unexpected, but in some way, I’d been training for that moment all my life. I had my background in literature, and my on screen career of playing different parts all came together in the world of audiobooks, where you’re everything – the book, the writer’s voice, every character, all of it. And from that came other opportunities, including a collaboration on an Audible Original called “The Angel of Rome,” which, ironically, was based on my experience of leaving academics and pursuing a career in acting. Another unexpected twist.
The best thing I ever did was remain open to opportunities that presented themselves. I could have had a fixed idea about what I should be doing. But that often leads to dead ends and frustration. You have to remain open.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I love the variety of experience that comes with being a creative. I’ve met people and seen things and been places that I never would have in any other career. Ultimately, it’s the experiences that matter. Leaving behind a body of work might sound nice, but nothing beats the actual experience of making things and being in the moment. The results are almost secondary. And I’ve met some extraordinary people along the way.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
The creative journey challenges your sense of self every day. There’s a resilience that has to be part of your core being. It’s not easy. The tough outer shell and the soft, vulnerable insides are often in conflict. And it can be quite lonely at times. But it’s also an incredible opportunity to find out about yourself. Like a deep and prolonged meditation. You have to befriend the discomfort and learn pick yourself up time and time again. I’ve found that a community is helpful, or even a small group of friends who have been on the same journey and share the experience. That is invaluable.
The other thing I would add is learning to separate rejections from your identity. Man, that’s tough. Actors experience a lot of rejection and are often inclined to think that if they don’t get the job, or the applause, or the good review, that there must be something wrong with them as a person. But there isn’t. There are a hundred factors that go into it all that are beyond our control.
Now that I think about it, that’s probably a life lesson for all us, no matter what we do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.edoardoballerini.com
- Instagram: @edoballerini
- Facebook: @edoardoballerini
- Linkedin: Edoardo Ballerini
- Twitter: @edoballerini
Image Credits
@MarkTomPhotography