Maine-born actress Elysia Roorbach made her TV debut last week on HBO’s hit medical drama “The Pitt,” playing a patient who has glued her eye shut.

Her appearance had a real-life plot twist: Roorbach’s boyfriend, actor Patrick Ball, plays Dr. Frank Langdon. Roorbach’s character, Willow Baptiste, is frantic and upset as she explains to Ball’s Dr. Langdon that she used super glue to apply a false eyelash.

Roorbach would just hold her eye closed during rehearsals for the scene. But when it came time to film, an extra-strong actor’s adhesive would be used. It was the same stuff used in the show for prosthetic burns, she said. But she didn’t spend any more time with her eye glued shut than was strictly necessary.

“They were so thoughtful and efficient on that set. I’d get there at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and do my hair and makeup, but they’d refrain (from using glue) until moments before the director was ready,” said Roorbach on Thursday.

Roorbach, 25, grew up in the Farmington area and is a 2019 graduate of Mt. Blue High School, where she won the Principal’s Award and danced with the Maine State Ballet. Her parents are author Bill Roorbach and artist Juliet Karelsen. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch Drama program.

Roorbach’s character was on the Jan. 15 episode of the new season of “The Pitt” and will be on again Jan. 29.

Since Ball is a regular on “The Pitt,” Roorbach has gotten to see its growth in popularity among audiences and actors over time. Actors like it because there are lots of opportunities for guest roles as patients, visitors or other people wandering about the hospital. She had auditioned for two other roles before landing this one. 

Roorbach thinks audiences like the show because of how true-to-life it is, with a focus on making the medical procedures authentic and the pace representative of what health care workers go through. She said the show’s producers look at health care workers as a target audience, so being true to them is important. 

“It’s all about medical accuracy and procedures that are exciting and rare to see,” said Roorbach. “I think the show has exploded because there’s a real lack of representation of what the world looks like in TV and media. ‘The Pitt’ has reflected people’s lives.”

After the episode featuring Roorbach aired, Ball shared an Instagram story, according to People, celebrating Roorbach’s debut.

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A post shared by ELYSIA ROORBACH (@eeeelysia)

“So so honored to get to play with [Elysia] again in her TV DEBUT!!” Ball wrote over the post. “Even if she didn’t want anything to do with me. Boo killed it.”

Roorbach and Ball met in 2023 in Miami, working together on a play called “Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard.” They played scenes together there too, as boyfriend and girlfriend. But in the play, Roorbach’s character is cheating on him.

“We had a very tumultous relationship (in the play) but got along great in real life,” Roorbach said.

Ball and Roorbach were living in Brooklyn, New York, when Ball got his role on “The Pitt.” They were both working several jobs while auditioining for acting gigs. Roorbach was working in a restaurant, at a gym and as a baby sitter. She has acted in plays and short films. She’s playing Honey in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California in February.

Once Ball got his role, the couple started living in Los Angeles, where the show is filmed. When Roorbach first auditioned for roles on “The Pitt,” there was no indication anyone involved with the show knew she and Ball were a couple. But once she was cast in the role, people began to realize what a wild coincidence it was, that she would be playing her scene with Ball.

“It was one of those luck-of-the-draw things. I feel honored and lucky,” said Roorbach. “Once I booked the part, all the people I know on the show were like ‘Dude, this is so crazy. How fun!”