When Román Zaragoza first joined Actors With Issues back in 2021, CBS had only filmed the pilot of Ghosts and its future remained uncertain. Now, four years and 200 episodes of the podcast later, Zaragoza has returned for episode 237 with much to celebrate: Ghosts is entering its fifth season and has already been renewed for a sixth.
“My life has completely changed. I went from being an actor really working job to job and doing mostly theater to now being a series regular on a show that’s coming to its fifth season. Like I feel like this has been my dream since I, you know, first thought I wanted to be an actor. This has been incredible,” Zaragoza said.
Learning “Fear Management”
Zaragoza explained that one of the most important lessons he has taken from working on Ghosts is what he calls “fear management,” a concept he first heard from Julie Bowen.
“There is something that happens when you get on set and fear kicks in… we start to tighten up and second guess everything we’re doing,” he shared. We’re not even in the moment sometimes… and there’s a certain point where you just have to manage all that fear and all of those negative emotions and just be like, ‘you know what? I was hired to be here. I’m gonna do my best and I’m gonna have fun.’”
He admitted that it took him time to feel comfortable on the set of Ghosts, especially as he was the youngest cast member. “Season one: I was terrified. I was so scared every day going to work. And luckily, the cast and creative team, everyone made me feel so safe and so welcome. But still that imposter syndrome, that fear, you know? Especially when you’re working with just incredibly talented comedians, it was intimidating.”
Booking a Dream Job While Still In School
Between filming the pilot and beginning work on the series, Zaragoza also returned to school and earned his degree in film production from California State University, Northridge.
“We shot the pilot in December of 2020 and that was also my finals week for my first semester back at college… I remember there were a few nights for Ghosts where I would wrap at maybe like 10 PM… and I would go home and just write an essay until maybe two in the morning. And then had to be up at like 5:30 the next day and had a full day [of filming].”
“I graduated at the end of May of 2021. And then we went to start shooting season one in July of 2021. So there was like, I got a month off and then I went to work,” he explained.
Despite the pressure, Zaragoza said he was proud to have completed his degree. “I didn’t think I was gonna finish my degree. I left school after my junior year because I got the opportunity to go work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I’m so grateful I was able to go back and finish.”
No Two Paths Are Alike
When asked what advice he would share with young performers navigating their early careers, Zaragoza emphasized that each artists’ journey is unique. “There’s no one way to do this. Like thinking about the whole cast of Ghosts, we all had such different trajectories… listen to what you respond to and listen to what’s responding to you,” he said.
He added that community and audition experience are both crucial, encouraging actors to do as much theatre as they can. “Finding a theater company is huge… get involved in the theater community wherever you are. It’s not just New York, LA. There’s theaters all over the country… and just audition and find community and listen to what responds to you.”
Earning Stability and New Opportunities
Since the days of acting troupes and traveling players, actors have always become accustomed to constantly being on the move. Zaragoza shared that since booking Ghosts, one of the biggest ‘growing pains’ was that of moving as the show films in Canada while he lives in New York City.
“We shoot Ghosts seven months out of the year and then the other five months I live in New York and I travel a lot,” he shared, mentioning he’s moved apartments every year since then.
But with those changes comes new opportunity to educate and give back. “I recently joined the Board of Directors for Outlast Arts and Education. I’m doing what I always wanted to do as well as getting involved with nonprofits and giving back to communities,” Zaragoza said.
With the show confirmed for two more seasons, Zaragoza acknowledged the rare sense of security it has provided that not all actors get to experience. “This is the most notice I’ve gotten of work. I’ve always been year to year, like since I started my career… and so to know that like we have two more seasons at least, it’s just like, I’m just trying to sit in that a little bit, in the security for just a smidge of time and enjoy my life.”You can see Román Zaragoza in Ghosts, streaming on Paramount+ with season five premiering Thursday, October 16 on CBS.
