Rod Ball was born in Miami, Florida in 1965. He began acting professionally as a wee lad with a small role in "Lenny", a biopic of Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse.

Soon after, a role in "The Island", starring Michael Caine qualified him to join the Screen Actors Guild (now SAG-AFTRA). He has since served on the Local Board of that union for many years. Rod attended the University of Miami as a Business Management major (in addition to studying film directing and theater) for two years before he transferred to, and graduated from, the University of Colorado (Boulder) with a B.