Actor and life coach Justin Carroll chatted about his experience on “Passions,” and he opened up about his latest endeavors.
Walt Disney once said: “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Actor and life coach Justin Carroll is living proof of this wise quotation by the cartoon legend.
“Doing ‘Passions’ was very interesting to me because I came from a night show ‘Beggars and Choosers’,” he said. “Doing a soap opera was very different than a night show. In a night show, we shot 48 pages over eight days. In a soap opera, you do 90 pages a day.”
Carroll played the role of David Hastings on the defunct NBC soap opera “Passions.” “Doing a soap opera taught me a lot. In the beginning, when I did the audition I had to learn a 10-page monologue. Then, I was told that I had to shoot it the following morning. It took me four hours to learn those 10 pages but in a few years, I would do 60 pages and I would be done by mid-day,” he elaborated.
“Working in daytime TV was a fantastic muscle, and it teaches you the real fundamentals of acting: don’t show up on set without knowing your lines and make strong choices,” he added.
Carroll had great words about his “Passions” co-stars McKenzie Westmore, Galen Gering, James Hyde, Dana Sparks, and Jack Krizmanich.
“The first person I met on ‘Passions’ was McKenzie Westmore, the beautiful blonde lead actress, and Galen Gering is so great. Dana Sparks is incredible to work with, and Jack Krizmanich, who played my son John, is such a lovely man. Jack genuinely has a huge heart and he is so kind and a beautiful person,” Carroll said.
“James Hyde is such a cool guy, and everyone on that set was so lovely,” he added.
Aside from being an actor, he is dedicated to the battle against addiction. He is a hard-fought champion in the treatment world. To date, he has spearheaded many interventions, 45 extractions, and numerous LPS conservatorships. “What I have been doing for the last 10 years is not acting,” he said. “I work in crisis management, and I did a lot of extractions. It was very interesting.”
As a top rehabilitation consultant and team manager, he has been involved in designing many treatment facilities, their therapeutic models, and operations. Fully cognizant of the nuanced nature of trauma, he has also created and managed custom, individualized treatment programs, and crisis management for high-profile and high acuity situations.
Carroll had the great privilege of growing up in such places as Greece, Rome, and London. His father, as well as a world-renowned travel author and historian, served as a diplomat to the United Nations for over 38 years.
In a 400-year-old family tradition, Carroll attended the best British boarding schools and after finishing up in Rome, moved to Los Angeles. After success in the entertainment industry, he quickly came to understand the predatory temptations that seemingly surround the space.
Fighting his own demons and suffering from untreated trauma, he battled with addiction for many years. Finally finding peace after enrolling in an intensive trauma program. “When I was younger, I had so much trauma from my childhood that I acted out in certain ways so eventually I had to do a lot of work to get to this place,” he said.
Carroll has a passion for helping others in the addiction treatment world and he has a simple philosophy…Work hard, play hard, and don’t take yourself too seriously! He is a firm believer that in order to build a fulfilling life, one has to address the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional components.
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Carroll said, “Finally Growing Up.” “Oddly enough, I am writing a series of short stories about my life. There will be four volumes,” he said. “I am trying to walk my own talk. The Greek island of Skopelos is one of the most amazing places, where the quality of life is great.”
Carroll defined the word success simply as “finding a life balance.” “Success is a balanced life,” he said.
To learn more about actor and life coach Justin Carroll, follow him on Instagram.
