Holmes Pisses Me Off!
If Hailee Marie Matthews is hot pink, Holmes is something deeper and warmer.
If you’re reading this, you’ve certainly watched Overcompensating. No doubt, you fell in love with the electric Hailee Marie Matthews (“also known as ‘hmm’”). I didn’t know it was possible for every line to be a one-liner… Pisses me off!
But this interview is not with Hailee Marie Matthews. If Hailee is hot pink, Holmes, the incredible actor behind Hailee, is something deeper and warmer. Holmes hasn’t done many interviews to date. When asked why that is, they said “I feel more comfortable doing a character because I don’t want to lose my personality—I don’t want to lose the parts of me that aren’t popular. I want some things to just be mine.”
Newly based in NYC, Holmes invited me over to shoot in their Brooklyn sublet. Here are a few highlights from our conversation:
Last book you loved?
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. I already want to reread and hope everyone in my life reads.
Thoughts on self-tapes?
You have to have fun in your audition. If you’re not enjoying yourself, you won’t book because it’s so obvious… For Hailee on Overcompensating, I was like, ‘I never get tapes like this... let’s have fun’. I put on a push up bra and wore this insane bodycon dress, watched a video on doing contour… I really was making myself laugh a lot, and I ended up getting it.
Process for getting into a character?
I just want to get off book. I use this app that reads it in a robot voice, and then I’ll have someone test me on lines and interview me as if I’m the character, so I have to improvise and feel like I really know them.
What would you say to someone who wants to try stand up?
Anyone can do stand up, because you can do whatever you want. You just have to crack your own code. When you try to do someone else’s formula, that’s when it’s really hard.
So what’s your code?
If I can’t surprise myself on stage, then I’m just bored. That’s why stand up is so cool, because you really can do whatever you want. You’re just on stage. You just have to find your thing.
Is your creative process very individual?
I love collaborating with my friends on projects… When you’re a kid, you have people over and you’re like, we’re making a movie, putting on a play. As adults, it’s like, let’s go sit at this bar for five hours. And I’m like, wait, I want to make a movie…
Ego?
I had never heard ego out loud until I was in the acting world, when guys say things, like, “this is how keep my ego in check”. I was like, “what’s going on over here?” Because you cannot be good at long form improv if you have an ego. You’re on a team of 10, and your idea can be erased in a second, and you have to literally immediately not care and know that another good idea is coming, because it’s not about you, it’s about the piece that the 10 of you are making.
Audiobooks?
Some people love to say ‘THATS NOT READING’ and to them I say we have bigger fish to fry... Of course I’d rather hold a book than a phone but audiobooks changed the game for me.
Improv?
My time doing long form improv in Chicago is the best time of my entire life, and I will always, always be hoping to be able to feel that again.
Weed?
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Jobs before acting?
I was doing sales at a gym. Before that, I was working at a butcher shop (vegetarian, so that was really cool of me). And then before that, I was at an escape room where they called me Agent Shark.. And duh, a barista.
What were you like as a kid?
I was a really hyperactive kid. I remember in second grade, I kept poking this guy, and my teacher was like, ‘you can’t poke him again, or you’ll get in trouble.’ And I remember, so intensely in my brain thinking, ‘I’m gonna have to fucking poke him again.’
What color was your childhood bedroom?
Periwinkle, and I really didn’t relate to it. It was a real nightmare to me.
What’s your favorite color these days?
First and foremost, green. Did you know purple used to only be found underwater, which is why it was so expensive and used in royal colors?
Tell me about @holmestakesyourphoto!
I started it because I just love taking photos, specifically film ones. I love the dopamine rush when you get the photos back. And then you get to give people this little gift. I hate on digital cameras after you take a photo of someone, everyone’s so used to analyzing their faces, and then they don’t like it, and now I just have to watch them hate themselves, which I didn’t sign up to do.
What’s exciting you right now?
Tenant unions and knowledge of tenants’ rights growing across the country. People power.
Moms or Dads?
I have the best dad in the world but you know I gotta say moms. I love women so much it makes me sick :)
A song we need to hear?
Styling: Porchfinds
Creative Producer: Carly Kane