Meet Maddie Ballard | Actor & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maddie Ballard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maddie, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Will all do respect, Lucius, I’m gonna do some driving”. If anyone knows what this is from, I love you. It’s from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with Will Ferrell. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. To give a little context, Will Ferrell plays a NASCAR driver named Ricky Bobby. He is stepping in as a replacement race car driver mid-race with very little experience. His boss, Lucius, says something along the lines of “if you mess up this car, you owe me 200,000 dollars”. Cue Ricky Bobby’s line: “Will all do respect, Lucius, I’m gonna do some driving”. I like a lot of things about it. One, it’s a good reminder to not take myself too seriously, because I picture Ricky Bobby being a seemingly unaware idiot doing his best. The main reason I love this quote is it serves as a reminder to my people-pleasing tendencies. It’s not asking for permission, it’s taking other people’s opinions with a grain of salt, it’s blindly trusting yourself with zero question. I’m a cancer who is fueled by hope, so I have to think like that.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a queer character comedian and musician based in Los Angeles. I grew up doing a lot of theater at Children’s Musical Theater in my hometown: San Jose, California. It was where my passion for performing was ignited. I thought I wanted to go the musical theater route for a long time, but as I became more honest with myself about what I really loved, I focused on comedy and music. I started doing a ton of improv and sketch comedy and trained at UCB, Second City, and now The Groundlings here in LA. Simultaneously, I started writing and producing my own music under the alias, Bonded Jacky. I was keeping my comedy and music very separate. I didn’t think people would understand me if I was doing both, but wasn’t a musical comedian per se. However, this past year, a mentor of mine encouraged me to drop the music alias all-together and have everything under my own name, Maddie Ballard. I’m so grateful for this advice, because she was right. I was tired of living these two separate lives, when at the end of the day, all of my creative ideas come from one weird little brain. We contain multitudes and we’re all incredibly nuanced and complicated. I have never fit in a box and I don’t want to. That’s why I like the word “artist”. It feels right. My art has no boundaries. Some days I wear a bald cap and play Stew, an old, spunky, shoeshiner in NYC. Other days, I isolate myself in my home studio and write a queer love song. I’ve made a pact with myself to have no limitations. Two recent projects I’m really proud of are a song I released called Dog Mommy! and a weekly character open mic I run with my friend, Ava Bunn, at Lyric Hyperion (Thursdays at 5:30). The future feels exciting. I’m most stoked about a comedic tv pilot I wrote about me and my grandma. I’m putting it out in the world and am going to make it happen! On the music side, I have a sappy gay love song coming out soon called “This is it”.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love this question. I am a extremely food-driven so my itinerary will be 100% based around meals. My best friend I’m using for this example is Charlotte, who is Australian.

MON AFTERNOON: Pick up Charlotte from the airport and go straight to IN N OUT, duh. Take my dogs for a bike ride along the beach.
MON NIGHT: Happy hour drink at Ruby Fruit in Silver Lake, then dinner at Night Market.

TUES MORN/AFTERNOON: Breakfast at Millie’s with my dogs
TUES NIGHT: Catch a music show at The Echo or Zebulon, then hit up Lowboy for a burger, fries, and mezcal marg.

WED MORN/AFTERNOON: Go to Saffy’s in East Hollywood and get an iced mocha and the best sandwich on earth, the Sasto Foccacia Sandwich. After food, probably go to Figaro Bistrot for a little people-watching.
WED NIGHT: Dinner at Piija Palace (ideally we would have a reservation because this place is a hot ticket)

THURS MORN/AFTERNOON: Dinosaur Coffee for a iced mocha and strawberry/almond croissant. Maybe work on our laptops for a couple hours, why not.
THURS NIGHT: Sushi at my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles – Kura Revolving Sushi Bar. I like the Japantown location. I get sooo excited when I go here. It’s so fun to pick and choose from the conveyor belt, but even better is when you order from your personal iPad at your table and it comes zooming toward you on a higher conveyor belt. If we still had energy, we could grab my dogs and go get a drink at Bar Flores in Echo Park.

FRIDAY MORN/AFTERNOON: Maybe skip breakfast, because I usually do, and go to Courage Bagels for lunch.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Go see a Mainstage Show at The Groundlings for the ultimate belly laughs. Hit up Bludso’s BBQ after.

SAT MORN/AFTERNOON: Brunch at Salazar in Frogtown, then bike on the LA River. I don’t really bike that much, but I guess this week I will!
SAT NIGHT: Korean BBQ at Kang Ho in KTown! Maybe Akbar after to dance our socks off.

SUN MORN/AFTERNOON: Nice chill morning at Go Get Em Tiger in Los Feliz, then walk to Oakberry for some Acai.
SUN NIGHT: Dinner at my apt — I’m makin’ fondue, baby!!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents, Rick and Shelley, deserve the biggest shoutout, no question. They have let me do my weird lil’ characters at the dinner table since ’97 and I’m grateful for that. They never once shut me down or questioned why I am pursuing a creative career. They are my biggest fans no matter what. They play my music for their friends when I’m not around, they drive 4 1/2 hours to see any show I do, no matter how small. They really are the best; two wonderful humans who I get to call my parents. They are all love to anyone they meet. Zero judgement, all love and positivity. They have two queer kids and they couldn’t be happier about that. Shoutout to my gay brother, Ryan! Haha. I’d also love to give a shoutout to my partner, Cara, for teaching me to live every day lovingly/deliberately and how to pursue things with your whole heart and a championship mindset!

Website: https://maddieballard.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themaddieballard/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@themaddieballard

Other: https://ffm.to/maddieballard

Image Credits
strangeexposures Andrew Max Levy Shoshi Anna Azarov Hannah Benet