Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayley Himmelman.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Smiling up at my sister with stars in my eyes, I reach up and out for the fake microphone as she pours her heart and soul into a song for her new baby sister. One of my favorite pictures from our childhood shows me the exact moment I fell in love with performing, as I watched my sister above me. From that moment on, I dreamed of affecting an audience the way she had affected me, through performance.
Growing up, I never felt particularly beautiful or conventionally attractive, especially because I was bullied at times (honestly, who wasn’t??). But performing as an actor, singer and dancer, along with experiencing certain positive relationships in my private life, really increased my sense of self-confidence. So, when I was presented with the opportunity to model (almost a year ago), I was surprised, but prepared. At first, I used it as an opportunity to familiarize myself with my appearance on screen, as I was being cast in film work more often. But I quickly realized that modeling, itself, was a pathway to being cast in professional acting roles and modeling gigs. Actually, working as an actor/model is an absolute dream come true for me. Every day that I get to commit my time and efforts to it, I’m meeting new people in the creative community, exploring unique locations and spaces, and being inspired to create new and forward-thinking content with like-minded and fascinating people.
Please tell us about your art.
I often hope that my art makes people smile, however I am not opposed to simply provoking thought and emotional reactions with my work. For example, my senior year of college I wrote and directed a multi-media documentary piece about consent and sexual assault on college campuses, and how administrations nationwide often mishandle these cases. The reactions to the show were varied, but included anger, frustration, disgust and sadness. It provoked friends and fellow students to take action on our own campus, come forward with their own personal experiences, and even in some cases to step out during the show, which was something we highly encouraged for anyone who encountered triggering content during the performance. I was not afraid to include material that was upsetting, unfiltered, and even offensive in some cases. As long as it would cause a reaction and inspire positive change, that was all I could hope for with my work.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
I’d like to address the topic of loneliness in artistry, as I believe it’s one of the biggest emotional challenges facing artists today, especially with the immense presence of social media in our lives.
Something I discovered early on in the theatre world is that you become so incredibly close to a group of people and share this experience, which usually entails a lot of emotional bonding and rising up against a common enemy and overcoming these great challenges to put our hearts and bodies into this show together… and then most of the time we never see each other again. I’ve found that I remain close friends with at least one person from almost every show I’ve participated in, and I think of those friends as special gems I discovered solely because we both worked on that show and shared that experience.
In modeling, however, the Chicago modeling and photography community has been the warmest and most welcoming environment. With groups like the Hub (H-Collective), it’s incredibly easy to reach out to discuss your work, link up for collaborations, get invited to and featured at meetups, and inspire each other to create even better content than we previously have.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My Instagram profile @hayhimmel is a great way to see my modeling work, but it doesn’t contain even a fraction of my entire portfolio, which has already expanded enormously in my past year of work. I am currently creating my website, which will showcase not only my wide range of modeling experience, but also examples of my singing, dancing, choreography, writing and directing, and acting performance in theater and film. The link will be posted on my Instagram profile and probably also on my basically-ignored Facebook account, just so that the most people can access it as possible. I am also always happy to receive referrals to modeling and acting work – I check my DMs and emails as much as possible, so feel free to reach out 🙂
Contact Info:
- Email: hchimmelman@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hayhimmel/
Image Credit:
Ben Foote, Felipe Sanchez, Tyler James, John Kim, Adam Miguest, Jordan Torri, Ed Sochaki, and Jack Soltysik
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
