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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nIt took a lot of sacrifices, hard work, and sweat, but Doug can comfortably say he\u2019s made that dream come true. Now, Doug wants to keep the momentum rolling and he has two avenues in which he\u2019s looking to do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rouillard is fresh off the silver screen, playing a small part in the Tom Cruise-led box office smash Top Gun: Maverick, in which he plays a fighter pilot with the call sign Stumbler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the publishing world, Rouillard\u2019s second book \u201cDon\u2019t Just Dream It, Do It!\u201d has just been published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not bad for a kid from Goffstown, N.H., who ended up at Florida Southern because of one simple reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of the cold,\u201d Doug said. \u201cNot that there isn\u2019t opportunity there, you can make it from anywhere, but I needed sunshine. I needed a change of pace. It was a big change. You\u2019re getting slapped in the face with new opportunities, but it was kind of an easy decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWHERE I HAVE TO BE\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doug recalled that he either wanted to go to school in Southern California or Florida. At the time he was ready to graduate high school and looking at colleges, he found Florida Southern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the happy medium between Tampa and Orlando that intrigued him, so he set up an appointment, got accepted, and was off to Lakeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI figured this is where I have to be,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rouillard helped start FSC-TV while he completed his communications degree and says he owes a great deal of credit to now retired Florida Southern professor David Snodgrass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was the one that gave me the opportunity to take the ball and run with it,\u201d Doug said. \u201cI owe him a lot of appreciation. Those are the things you take with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CALIFORNIA DREAMING<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating from Florida Southern, Doug headed to Los Angeles where he started to get his acting career off the ground. Once Doug got to California, he found himself in a familiar, albeit unwanted, role of a struggling actor. He faced those roadblocks the only way he knew how, with hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to do what you got to do until you can do what you want to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That included sleeping on an air mattress, waking up at 5 a.m. to sell Vitamin Water on the street, or selling fragrances in the mall. There were several other odd jobs he did to pay the rent so that he could keep making auditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Doug started landing auditions, he took that money and put it into building houses. At 23, Doug began working for himself with the goal of building a house every year for 20 years. That has led to 26 homes he now owns and rents, but acting is still his dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ON HIS OWN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doug described his big break in acting as not getting one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After writing a small independent film called \u201cAnything\u2019s Possible,\u201d studios he pitched it to had one question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey loved it, but they asked me who was in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey told me you\u2019re not important. When you can get someone to play your part, we\u2019ll invest in it, or you can make it. If you make it, we\u2019ll watch it. That woke me up. It was all I needed to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doug started his own production company called DR Productions in 2008 and played the title role himself. \u201cAnything\u2019s Possible\u201d was released in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STARS ALIGN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, he has self-produced one other film called \u201cTrust No1\u201d in 2019 and has two more films on the way, a sequel to \u201cTrust No1\u201d called \u201cTrust No1 Secrecy\u201d and a supernatural thriller called \u201cAlone in the Woods\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doug also wrote his first book titled \u201cIt\u2019s Time\u201d in 2019 and has built up an extensive resume of appearances in television and commercials working with Hollywood stars ranging from George Clooney to Denzel Washington, to Cruise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along the way, he has learned many things, but being around some of Hollywood\u2019s elite has taught him one of the biggest lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s Denzel or Clooney or Cruise, they all share one thing in common,\u201d he said. \u201cThey all have quiet confidence to them, which keeps them under control. They never let anything ruffle them. When you\u2019re thinking about $200 and $300 million films, with all this stuff happening it\u2019s tough to stay in these characters. They teach you how to zone it out and stay true to what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n