Northbrook Mail Carrier Delivers Convincing Performance in TV Ad (VIDEO)

Most actors struggling to break into showbiz have to juggle a day job while waiting to be cast in that primo role that opens the door to the big time.

But it was thanks to his day job that Carlos Ayala, an Old Irving Park resident who has been pursuing acting for more than a year, landed his latest TV role. He'll be appearing in a series of commercials for the U.S. Postal Service, the Northbrook Star reports, playing a part he's intimately familiar with: mail carrier.

Ayala, 34, has worked for the Postal Service out of Northbrook for 11 years, beginning as a fill-in employee and then moving up to a regular route two years ago. He got the commercial role by answering a casting call and was flown out to Hollywood in February to film the ads with a group of fellow postal workers, according to the Star.

"They hired me on the spot," Ayala, who earned $1,500 plus expenses for the shoot, told the Star. "They were looking for Hispanics of a certain age."

The postal commercials, which are scheduled to air nationwide this spring, are the latest entries on Ayala's acting résumé. His other roles include playing a gun smuggler who's shot dead in Runner, a failed 2015 ABC TV pilot starring Paula Patton, and a brief appearance in a Chicago Bulls video shown during games at the United Center.

Check out this behind-the-scenes video from the U.S. Postal Service commercial shoot for a sneak peek of Ayala's performance at the 1:50 mark.

More via the Northbrook Star

PHOTO: Northbrook mail carrier Carlos Ayala in a clip from the behind-the-scenes video of the U.S. Postal Service commercials he appears in. (YouTube screen shot | U.S. Postal Service)