A Conversation with Bill McAdams Jr.: From Catholic University to Hollywood

Welcome to Cardinal Perspectives, a series where we have in-depth conversations with alumni, students, faculty, and staff of The Catholic University of America.

Today, Bill McAdams Jr., B.A.G.S. 1994, joins Andrea Valladares, an international business and operations management major at The Catholic University of America and a member of the Class of 2027, to discuss his decades-long career of acting, directing, writing, and producing in the entertainment industry.

Bill McAdams Jr. was a self-proclaimed “jock who did drama” before heading to Hollywood to work in film.

During his senior year at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he played baseball, Bill took a train up to Camden Yards in Baltimore with his senior baseball picture and handed it to the casting director of the film Major League II. The next day, he was hired as a utility baseball player on screen and worked steadily for two months earning his first film credit.

Soon after, his career took off as a stand-in for Matt Damon on such films as The Rainmaker, Good Will Hunting, Rounders and Dogma. He also gained “hands on” experience by working with various Academy Award-winning actors, writers, directors and cinematographers including Steven Spielberg, David Lynch and Francis Ford Coppola.

After the tragic death of his younger brother in a motorcycle accident, Bill settled in on his genre, message driven films, and made two back-to-back. The first was about Jose Canseco, his late brother’s favorite baseball player. Jose Canseco: The Truth Hurts went on to win the Best Documentary Feature Movie Award at the prestigious Hot Springs Film Festival. His second film, Gallows Road, starring Kevin Sorbo and Ernie Hudson, won Best Picture at The International Christian Film Festival in 2015. Since, he has carved out quite an impressive resume as an actor, director and producer with an ever-expanding filmography.

Bill says his latest film, God’s Here, is his most personal project to date. Inspired by a true story, the movie follows Jack Gilmore, a decorated firefighter and man of deep faith whose wife and son are killed in a texting-and-driving crash three weeks before Christmas. In the wake of his loss, Jack is charged with a DUI and required to complete community service, during which he meets a young girl with whom he shares a conflicted and painful past. Meanwhile, as Detective Kent Powers investigates the fatal accident, he uncovers a shocking revelation that personally ties him to the case

We are excited to have Bill join us today to discuss his time at Catholic University, his career, and the process of creating God’s Here.

Tell us about why you choose to attend Catholic University.

Well, my father was friends with Bob Talbot. He was the athletic director, and this was in 1992, I believe. They were great friends.

I came here transferring in from another college. The first one I went to was St. Francis in Pennsylvania. It was pretty isolated. I left there and went to James Madison for a brief moment, kind of to find myself and find out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But I knew I wanted to play sports in college, and I wanted to do theater, which is kind of an odd combination. My publicist calls me “the drama jock,” or the jock that did drama.

It worked hand-in-hand, and I think coming over here and knowing somebody that my dad knew, and playing football and baseball, was kind of an extension of high school, which I missed.

I loved high school and I loved college. And, you know, later on in life, you look back, and it is the best times of your life, when you think about the people you met and the friends you've met. What athletics and the structure of going to class and having to get grades to stay on the team—I think all of that lends itself to a positive environment, and also a positive outcome because you're kind of forced into structure that you have to abide by or you get yourself in trouble.

I ended up going here my sophomore, junior, and senior year, playing football and baseball. I was in the drama program, and I majored in philosophy, which was an odd one. No one likes philosophy, but I did well in it. And I just wanted to keep busy.

I was born in Georgetown. I grew up in southern Virginia. My dad was an athletic director. He went to University of Virginia and Tech got his master's and his doctorate degrees in education. I grew up in a family of higher education, so not going to school was never an option. I had to be involved in some kind of institution.

I landed here at Catholic. My dad was really sick. He had a liver transplant. I was 23 years old when he was told he had six months to live. So I probably wanted to be near him, now that I think about it, but he didn't come to any of my baseball games and I was just putting all that together and realizing that he couldn't, because he was too sick. So maybe I was doing it for him.

I’m the oldest of four. I have a younger sister and two younger brothers, and one of them is not with us, so I really had to become selfless and just go on my own at 22, but was still close enough to home to where I could check in on them at any time.

So I think it was the best plan. It was my dad's plan. And coming here, meeting Coach Natoli, and playing baseball and football here, it really helped me in the rest of my life, in what I do right now.

It seems that family and sports are really important things in your life. What was it like being a student-athlete and what important lessons did you learn during your time?

Well, being a student-athlete, like I said, you have to get a certain GPA to stay on the team. So I think if I slipped below a 2.5 or a 2.8, I don't know what it is now, but, you know, you had to maintain a B minus average. And, it shouldn't be an incentive, but I wanted to play sports.

My dad played professional baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. He got drafted in 1961. He's from Pennsylvania, and where my dad is from in Pittsburgh, it's all family and sports. It's like, Sundays are for church and football. It's part of my life, being an athlete, it was in my family, so I guess that's why I was drawn to it.

But my mom was drawn to the dramatics. Imagine me trying to explain to my dad that I wanted to go be an actor in Hollywood. He didn't get that because he was getting me tryouts for professional baseball teams in Florida, which is just as hard as becoming an actor in Hollywood.

I think it's in my blood, sports and higher education.

What made you actually choose the entertainment industry? Like you mentioned, sports and entertainment and drama—they’re different things. Did you ever find a balance between them? What was the correlation? Did you always want to have a career in Hollywood?

I grew up on Casey Kasem, on American Top 40. It was based out of Hollywood. I was hearing these songs and then learning the stories behind the songs. I was around smalltown sports, church, and family, but California was like another world. So I think I knew back around 10 or 12. I used to put records on, like Off the Wall by Michael Jackson, and dance in my room by myself, just acting like there was a crowd in front of me.

I think I knew back then that I wanted to be in some kind of arts and entertainment. But coming here, in my senior year, was when I really figured out that, “Oh, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna choose this over going to try for a professional baseball team.”

It's really interesting that despite everything, it was always within you. What's one moment from your career that sticks out to you or your favorite project that you worked on?

Well, the first one was here. It was in 1994. They just opened up Camden Yards, which is in Baltimore. It was a brand new baseball field. And Major League II, the movie with Charlie Sheen came in.

We just finished our season, I think it was in November. And I literally took the train up to Camden Yards with my baseball headshot—my picture from Catholic—and I gave it to the casting director. And the next day I was on the field in an Orioles uniform.

I was a utility baseball player in that movie. And I was the only college guy. And there were a bunch of Bowie [Chesapeake] Baysox players. It was a bunch of pros and then me, just because I wanted to be around it.

That was my first movie credit. All my friends here at Catholic, we went to the theater right down the street and saw it. And I saw my name in the lights, and I remember thinking, “all right, this wasn't that hard.” But I was proven wrong. It's very, very, very hard.

And now about your movie. You've been involved in Good Will Hunting, Rounders, and Dogma. How does it feel to have a hand in such iconic, award-winning films?

Getting to Hollywood was a problem, because my family had no money. I took a job right out of college at the Reston Town Center Hyatt. And they told me, “You can transfer anywhere in six months.” I put in my six months time at the Reston Town Center just to transfer to the Long Beach Hyatt so I could get myself to California.

And I remember right when that six month mark hit, I said, “Mom, I'm going to LA.” I had $200 in cash. And I literally got in a car and drove to California with only two days promised at the Hyatt at $5.01 an hour plus tips. None of the money added up. I didn't care.

Long Beach was too far away from Hollywood. So, long story short, I took a job as an extras casting director and worked on a movie called Kazaam with Shaq. I made like $40 a day. And then I was like, I can't do this, but I wanted to be around it. So then I got the stand-in job for Matt Damon on a movie called The Rainmaker. That started the whole Matt Damon run.

So on The Rainmaker, it was a John Grisham novel, Francis Ford Coppola directed. I'm 26 years old and I'm in Memphis working with Matt Damon, John Voight, who went to Catholic University under my same drama program, and Coppola directing. I was making, I think, a hundred bucks a day at that point. But that education, you can't pay for watching Francis Ford Coppola direct and watching John Toll set the shots, as a cinematographer (he did Braveheart). So like, I'm around the best of the best.

[Matt] and Ben were writing Good Will Hunting in the trailer. He said, “Bill, I’m doing this other movie in Boston. I think it’s going to happen—we’ve got Robin Williams attached.” And I said, “Alright, let’s do it.”

My next film was Good Will Hunting, and I ended up in Boston with Matt. He took care of my living situation, and he was still figuring things out. I think he had been in a couple of movies like Courage Under Fire, and with The Rainmaker, he started getting noticed. But when he won the Academy Award for Good Will Hunting, everything changed. Suddenly, everyone knew who he was.

Gus Van Sant directed Good Will Hunting. I’m talking to the director of Rounders now—he also directed Yellowstone and Ray Donovan. Everyone I met in that whole group, I’m still in touch with, and we’re still working on projects together. One thing just led to another.

The idea of failure didn’t exist in my whole being. Even though you fail a lot in this business and get told “no” nine out of ten times, you don’t see them as “no’s.” They feel more like “maybe,” and you just figure it out and work your way to a “yes.” And when that “yes” comes, it’s huge.

I like how you emphasize that failing was never an option. It was a long journey. What inspired you to start writing and producing films by yourself?

I was terrible at auditioning. I'm a method actor, which means I really immerse myself into the role. But auditioning is different. You're in the waiting room, 20 people are sitting there, everybody's nervous and they're trying to memorize their lines. Everybody's overthinking everything. And then you have about 60 seconds to deliver this scene, and then you leave. I could never do it. I get in my head. Auditioning is an art, and I couldn't nail it. But the only way you get a job is by nailing the audition.

I got discouraged, but also the idea of just being an actor never landed with me. My dad was a leader. I was born into leadership. And not that actors aren't leaders, but with directing and writing, it starts with you. And I think that was more interesting—seeing the big picture and nurturing all these different departments in the film world.

Also, I could write my own ticket. I could write my own part. I could put myself in my own movies. I found my own money. You can control the narrative better.

And writing, you know, I was writing poems in college. I took a poetry class here. I remember one professor asked me for a signed Charlie Sheen baseball, and I got it for him. You remember a few professors and teachers here, and they were either really eclectic, or they were the coach.

And what exactly led you to produce and direct and write and star in God's Here? What was it like holding so many roles in the process and how did you immerse yourself into this production?

Gallows Road was my first faith-based film, I guess we could call it that. I mean, I make family films. I don't want to put myself in a box with this word, “faith-based,” because it can scare people. I don't know when we got away from family films, like Little House in the Prairie and The Waltons—the stuff I grew up on.

God’s Here came out of deep personal loss. I lost my brother in a motorcycle accident on May 21, 2012. My mother forgave the driver within 10 days—and even invited her and her family to the funeral. To see that kind of forgiveness when this girl was most likely distracted, texting and driving, she just cut him off. He was on a motorcycle, she didn't see him, he didn't see her. It was like a sucker punch, and he died in eight minutes.

That devastated my whole family. And we all had to deal with it. Then I lost my dad right before God's Here, which brought back all of my brother's death. First my brother, now my dad. I think the whole idea behind God's Here is Jeremiah 29:11—“For I know the plans I have for you.” It's tough to swallow, putting everything in His plan.

The film is out now, but it's all still fresh and [grieving is] tough. You asked me how I got through it? I didn't do anything. He did it. He got me through it all.

The movie is such a good memoir to keep their spirit alive. And watching the movie, it's like their presence is always going to be there. That's the beautiful part of it and the blessing that comes through it.

Yeah, so I think the film—it’s not about me. I wrote it, directed it, and played the lead, but what really stands out is the people involved. The actress opposite me, this was her first part in any movie.

She came knocking on my sister's door at Branch to Hope Community Center, and I gave this troubled girl a shot. After all I've been through, working with the Matt Damons and the McConaugheys—this girl's never acted, but she was extremely intelligent. You realize that you're not making movies for yourself, you're doing it for somebody else. You're doing it for God and you're doing it for the family structure—putting good material with a strong message out there.

There’s not much of that anymore. When was the last time you saw a film you could watch with your whole family—including a 10-year-old—and feel good about it? I wanted to get back to that. I have a platform now, and I have the power to make those kinds of movies—ones that matter.

I’m using that power to create films with purpose, not just the ones I personally want to make. Sure, I know the president of Marvel. I worked on Avengers and Captain America. I wanted to direct Marvel TV. Of course I did. But that wasn’t my path.

These films—these message-driven stories—this is what I was meant to do. Because they resonate. They mean something.

It's a gift.

Yeah. And it's also a purpose. The whole idea that God has a plan… when I started making these films, that’s when things started falling into place. I had made some comedies, thrillers, and a horror film, and they didn't connect with anybody. It wasn't until I started making family films that I connected with an audience. People would come up to me afterwards and say, “Hey, I was an alcoholic. I used to beat my kid. I don't drink anymore. I don't do that.”

A week before we started shooting God's Here, Erin Wilde—a personality on Hank FM, a huge country station in Texas—texted, telling me that her son had just been killed in a car accident. She said, “I've never needed this movie more than ever.”

That's why I make these films.

But I still had to go through trauma and struggle. Working with stars like Matt Damon, you know, there’s a part of you that wants to  be them, and you're not. So I think it's still a struggle.

It sounds like it was really good to have had a group of people to support you throughout this entire process. What was the most rewarding thing about making those films?

It’s the people that come up and say, “Hey, thanks.” You know, the people like one of the film’s actresses, Lola Gianna, who was suicidal a year and a half ago, and now she's the lead in a movie that's out everywhere. Through this film, I was able to give her a purpose and hope, which is the whole idea behind Jeremiah 29:11. I keep going back to that, but it just lines up with the movie—the message that He has a plan for us.

It also goes back to why I didn't just want to be an actor. It goes back to when I was 27 and wanted to nurture actors, cameramen, wardrobe, hair, and makeup… all these kids, they want to be the best at what they're doing, and you give them an opportunity. So the opportunity that I didn't get, I was able to give to them.

I made my own opportunity. I just did it. And I didn't want them to go through what I had to go through. So you kind of, you create an opportunity to help nurture, which is what school does, which is what coaches do. Which goes back to Ross Natoli and the structure of baseball. You have to get to practice and you have to work on the field. You can't just go up and get a hit, you have to work yourself. You had to earn a base hit on Ross Natoli's baseball team at Catholic University. And if you didn't earn it, you didn't play. There was no slacking, you just weren't allowed to do that back then.

I don't know what it's like today, but some kids come to set and they don't want to do something. We remember that, and it doesn't help their case if they want to learn. So just the opportunity to let people do what they want to do.

You gained a lot of discipline, and your faith probably expanded after you started attending Catholic University. Did that contribute to where you are in your career today?

I got three years here, in my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I still talk to John Douglas—he played shortstop with me. One of my high school best friends was my roommate here. We just all stayed together back then.

I don’t know what made me reach out to Catholic. I think it was the idea of a kid like me sitting on campus, wondering what they’re going to do with no money, no opportunity, struggling to get through a school that costs money.

Back then, we had grants, and I was helped out a little bit, but you want to give some confidence to the kid here that doesn't know what to do, because this is not real life. This is studying, this is preparing yourself for when you graduate. Real life starts when you walk off that campus with your diploma. And you have to understand and accept the fact that it's not gonna be easy. At least for me it wasn't. So you have to kind of make your own way.

It's really courageous, and I know many students from the drama school especially, are going to see the movie and view you as a role model of someone who graduated from Catholic University. What advice would you give those students who dream of working in the entertainment industry just like you

This is always a loaded question, because it's hard. It's so hard. Some of the situations I put myself in, it's survival. Like I said, I didn't know one person in California, my dad was a baseball coach, he was the athletic director of a high school. My mom was a mother of four kids. So I didn't grow up around business. It was just survival.

I would say, just keep the friendships that you have. If you have family members anywhere near Hollywood, use them. Use the contact. Don't be shy about asking anybody about anything, because you just have to throw it all out there to see what sticks. And you gotta do it humbly. 

You can’t be afraid of anything. Any kind of failure, the word “no.” If you think about the normal person, they graduate from college, they have that one year asking themselves, “where am I going to work?” They're going to job interviews. But think about it—they get one interview, they get a job, work five, 10 years, maybe transfer to another company. But in our business it's no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yes, and then some more nos.

You have to be prepared for all of that mentality. And there's a little bit of crazy to get in a car and drive to California with $200. You really have to see the end game to do that. You can’t be afraid to fail.

And maybe you can even find the beauty in the uncertain, as you're learning through the process. Even with rejection, each time you're improving. I never saw those rejections as “nos,” I saw them as “maybes,” I saw them as alternatives.

It's about the journey. When I drove to California, I had this $500 car, a Honda Accord. I just remember, the radio was broken, but I had a tape cassette— Purple Rain by Prince—and it was on loop for 44 hours. But I didn't care. I just wanted to get to California.

But, you know, you wake up 30 years later, and now we're sitting here. And I'm walking right by the metro stop that I used to get here before 7 a.m. practice. I don't know why I'm here, but I think that there's another reason for it. I want to see these kids and see what they're thinking.

It’s been great to hear about your journey and experience and all the lessons you learned so far. And I'm pretty sure that all these students are going to enjoy it as well. They're going to love seeing the movie and the impact that it’s had on your life.

It's funny, when you get older, you call them kids, but they're adults. They're students, but they're adults.

Well, I appreciate you having me and thanks for the sit-down. I'm looking forward to walking around, trying to bring back some of these memories, and trying on my baseball hat over there.

Awesome. Thank you.

Thank you.