Former ‘Emmerdale’ star Bill Ward used to work for an advertising agency before embarking on his acting career.
The 52-year-old star- who played James Barton on the ITV soap from 2013 to 2016 – revealed that before dedicating his life to acting, he worked as an account director for some of London’s top ad companies, and even considered a career as a radio journalist before deciding to enrol in drama school.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, he said: "I used to work for an advertising agency – a couple of advertising agencies – and I was a suit, I was an account director.
"[I thought] What if, what if, what if. It’s that whole thing isn’t it? And I had it constantly going on and I went travelling for a year and I came back, and actually for a while I was going to be a radio journalist.
"I got into sort of various colleges, but right at the moment when I was literally about to go to college, I found myself looking through the back of The Stage magazine which has adverts for drama schools in.
"I knew at that point it was gonna make one kind of big career change when I was 30, then it should be acting because it was the thing I’d always wanted to do."
Bill – who also portrayed Charlie Stubbs in ‘Coronation Street’ from 2003 to 2007 – went on to explain that it was initially difficult landing roles as he was up against actors with "a ten year or a 12 year CV".
He said: "I put myself through drama school when I was 32 so I was 33 when I came out.
"So you’re up against people who have a ten year or a 12 year CV so you’re up against extraordinarily experienced people. "
Bill Ward worked in advertising before embarking on soap career
