From movies and TV, to social media and magazines, you've seen her hands everywhere. Now, meet the women behind them. Hand Model Talia Wray joins us for a behind the scenes look at hand modeling, how to care for your hands and what makes her hands so in demand. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Fingers.

Interview with Hand Model Talia Wray

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

hands, people, finger, model, pinkies, long, ring finger, skin tone, wave, job, feel, nails, questions, commercial, product, world, thought, big, legs, nice

SPEAKERS

Nick VinZant: Profoundly Pointless Host

Talia Wray: Hand Model and Actor

Nick VinZant  00:15

Hey everybody welcome to Profoundly Pointless My name is Nick VinZant coming up in this episode, we're gonna talk modeling with a professional hand model and then count down the top five fingers.

Talia Wray  00:27

So that was really like the first time that I was booked for like a hand modeling job is like you don't want to be distracted from the product. So something has to come in that is cohesive and has like this rhythm. And people assume that hand models have certain direct can take certain direction and have like an elegance. The leg and foot job is the same client for me and I actually been looking under my feet for To see if anything has come up. And I haven't got anything weird yet, but I know that it's a really big thing.

Nick VinZant  01:10

I want to thank you guys so much for joining us. If you get a chance, like, download, subscribe, share, we really appreciate it. It really helps us out. So real quick if you're in a safe position to do this. Take a look at your hands. Have you ever really thought about your hands? Have you ever really looked at somebody else's hands? Have you ever really thought about the hands that you see in commercials, and TV and movies and magazines and all that kind of stuff? Our first guest has a fascinating story into just how much thought companies put in to the hands that you see all over the place. And it's just this it's such an interesting look into the behind the scenes world that I find just just fascinating. This is to Talia Wray. She's a hand model with close up models. How did you become a hand model?

Talia Wray  02:07

I started off doing commercial work and acting. And the casting directors always kind of have us put our hands up to our face. And there's a couple myths about why that is. The one that I heard that I like and stuck with was that somebody got booked for a McDonald's commercial and didn't have a Pinkie. So the casting directors always asked to see our hands and I guess they just noticed that I had really nice hands and brought me in to do a casting for Samsung. I ended up booking that commercial and ended up doing like almost every product they came out with for a couple years. So that was really like the first time that I was booked for like a hand modeling job officially and got into that world.

Nick VinZant  03:00

Did you ever think to yourself before this, like, Oh, I have nice hands? I mean, was it something that you had ever thought of before?

Talia Wray  03:08

Yeah, um, actually, my mom made me aware that like, My hands were very unique. And also my dad tried to get me into piano. So the whole thing was like, kind of having like the really long slender knuckle list kind of fingers that were really like appealing to just my parents. So when, when that was brought to my attention, I was just kind of made aware of it, then it's like, everywhere you go, kind of like the nail lady is always complimenting like, your nail beds and like, my nails are very strong and they grow long, naturally. You tend to get a lot of compliments, but I just never knew what to do with them. You know, I was just kind of like, Okay, cool. Never thought about making money.

Nick VinZant  03:56

Yeah, I would imagine like, hey, you've got great eyelashes. Like, oh, okay, what do you do? Whatdo I do with that?

Talia Wray  04:04

I just kind of took the compliments.

Nick VinZant  04:06

We kind of you talked about this a little bit but what about your hands? Like why? Why are they nice?

Talia Wray  04:13

Yeah, I think me knowing and like being in the world now for a while I know it's like this like smooth even skin tone. It's that the knuckles and the the skin where your nail starts. There's like no discoloration, it's just all the way down is like even then, like this skin tone is like a perfect medium color. So it's kind of like you would represent the medium girls then it's the nail bed is really long and flat. That's like something very appealing to I would say like nail polish companies and like higher ends like Chanel Unlike how they sell perfume you would see like long nails and if you look on trends with like, like household products and like whatever you're trying to sell it kind of goes with like either an everyday kind of look of a hand which would go with like a shorter nail and like that luxurious brand that might choose like to have longer nails or just like very well manicured.

Nick VinZant  05:24

When you talk about the medium skin tone, we're talking about like essentially for any ethnicity in between the lightest skin tone of that ethnicity and the darkest skin tone of that right?

Talia Wray  05:37

Exactly, you know, a while back it was only really like lighter skin tones, and they were een like airbrushing or spraying their skin to be medium or dark. If if like that a product appealed to like those clients. So I would hear a lot that like Like these white and Asian girls would work as like the medium or dark girls too, because they just didn't want to pay or use darker skin tone models. But nowadays, it's like fashionable to have every color of the rainbow. But my Yeah, my skin tone is like that is like the medium, but I could also go dark, because I tan very quickly and easily. So I can definitely like range between medium and dark.

Nick VinZant  06:29

Has that been, I mean a struggle in terms of like getting more diversity in that for like a product? Well, no, you don't have to have a white hand holding this. You can have a dark black hand or a Hispanic and has that changed recently.

Talia Wray  06:43

You know, I see that there are prejudices between like, I probably would never do certain things like I just know it. I would never work for certain people because like if you see the forecasting of like, just How they shoe or, or what they're trying to sell to, it's not going to be like a demographic, they don't want to sell to people who look like me, basically. Sometimes it's also like, I'm matching the spokesperson of their, their commercial, like, if my hand is going to be Kerry Washington, it would just be whatever's closest to her skin tone. So it's very on trend of like what's happening in the fashion world and like, who they're selling to and who they want to buy their products. So there is definitely prejudice in that regard. It's definitely become more popular to have like a medium skin tone. And there's a big disadvantage. I would say for people with darker skin tone.

Nick VinZant  07:48

Do you feel like that's fair? Do you feel like that's unfair? Is that just that's just how it is?

Talia Wray  07:53

I have my own opinion, but I would say that I understand from like a marketing standpoint, when you look at everybody on there. have, like their diversity board. Like, there's not even a lot of women and women of color. So I think it doesn't even make sense. Like, if you want to change an ad, you have to kind of change what you're doing within the company. So I feel like it definitely is reflective of what's happening in the world. And for that reason, I don't get offended because if you don't, if you don't want me to be part of the project, then I don't really want to be part of it either.

Nick VinZant  08:30

In terms of like getting jobs, is it a subjective thing? Like one client will say, Oh, you have nice hands. And another client will say no, I don't like her hands. Or is it pretty much if you have it, you have it,

Talia Wray  08:40

you know, I know that I have. So I'm pretty confident. But I know that I kind of appeal to everyone looking for my like, if somebody's looking for my skin tone. I feel like I'm really at the top of my game with like, the top And models I've done every job that I kind of wanted to do when I started when I, when I even fantasize and like got my first job I started thinking like, what is it like to be like the top hand model? And you think of like certain people like Adele and Christina and certain people who had just done every job out there. And I thought to myself, what what would they be doing? And like, what are the jobs that they booked and I kind of imagined on my own like, what are the what are the products I'm using? What is it that I want to see myself ads and I just started booking those jobs and I would see some I would see some emails as well about me and like people are very enthusiastic when they see my hands, but I have had clients say in front of me Wow. Like your your nail bed isn't as good Flat as like hers, like a girl sitting directly next to me. You see that right in front of you? Yeah, I had a client do that to me once. And she was just like, so upset that my nail bed wasn't completely flat, and it had a curve to it. And it was for a nail polish job, I guess.

Nick VinZant  10:23

I mean, do you get offended by just the sheer rudeness of it, or is it?

Talia Wray  10:27

So personally, I was I was offended because I was just like, wow, it's something I really can't change. And I don't even know what to say to you because it's so rude.

Nick VinZant  10:38

Yeah, what are you gonna do?

Talia Wray  10:39

Yeah. And I immediately told my agent because I was so upset because it was actually like one of my dream clients. And I had worked with them with a different creative team separately and like, love that team. But when I met her, I really never wanted to work for that company again.

Nick VinZant  10:59

Can, can you like become a good hand model? Can you do something else to the hand itself?

Talia Wray  11:08

Like physically? I want to say no, some people ask for certain positions. Like, for instance, with Samsung, a lot of the jobs I were doing, I was doing, I was under a table of this set. So it's like I have my hands up and I have to do things and I can't even see the screen and I have to hit certain marks and you just kind of have to like have like just the sense of space and direction and a lot of dance training actually helped me with this, like hitting my marks and being fluid with my hands. So there's certain things direction wise I can take but I don't think that like hand modeling is something that like everyone can do because some hands are just definitely not as a as appeasing as like others are.

Nick VinZant  11:59

It's one of those things that as soon as you notice, you really notice

Talia Wray  12:03

Yeah,you just can't stop looking.

Nick VinZant  12:07

No, I'm looking at some of your pictures. I'm like, oh you do have really nice hands. Looking at my hands, I feel self conscious.

Talia Wray  12:16

Yeah, it really it sucks when you become aware of it, but in my daily life, I don't really let it get in my way.

Nick VinZant  12:24

What do you do to take care of your hands.

Talia Wray  12:28

I've been doing a lot of hand masks which are really nice and they just feel really great and they they help like maintain just like the smoothness just like how you would kind of take care of your face. I've been trying to treat my hands the same way and like use similar products on my face in my hands. Maintaining just like my cuticles are really important cuticle oil, cuticle oil and like cutting the cuticles, I would say are the best things. You can Do and I just love a good shaping. And I only kind of let certain people shape my nails because it can just really take a long time to grow out.

Nick VinZant  13:15

are your hands insured?

Talia Wray  13:17

They're not but I've been trying. I've actually been looking into doing it and I should have just done it so many times I've been thinking about it a lot, because it does pay my rent.

Nick VinZant  13:29

Are there things that you like, Oh, I, I avoid doing that. Right. Like I imagine you don't go rock or something.

Talia Wray  13:36

Yeah, so there are things that like, I get a little nervous about, like, my roommate bought me rollerblades and I was like if I fall because I also do leg modeling and foot modeling. So I'm like if I fall on any part of my body like it would take months to repair it like I just don't think it's a good idea or bowling could be really like difficult. I'm a shoe So, I don't really care. I don't really like pay attention too much about like the knives and things. So I like in the kitchen, but I know people who don't cook and like will not touch knives. And they're just really sticklers for it. But yeah, there are things that I'm I'm made aware of, but I pretty much do everything.

Nick VinZant  14:22

Essentially, how much do you get paid for a shoot?

Talia Wray  14:25

Um, I get paid anywhere from like 500 to I think my highest job was about 2500 were really a yeah whoa

Nick VinZant  14:41

oh, a day

Talia Wray  14:43

Yeah.

Nick VinZant  14:44

Wow. And I mean, it was that a that's a day like I'm there the full day or Hey, here I am. I'm gone in 10 minutes kind of thing.

Talia Wray  14:52

Well, it's like some jobs. I've done like five minutes of work and I've been sitting around all day. Some jobs like, I'll literally shoot for two hours, and then I can go. So it really depends. But some days could be long some days could be like 8 to 12 hours. So it'll, it'll really feel like you're you're shooting like a whole campaign or commercial for you know, full body models is about the same time.

Nick VinZant  15:23

I mean, at that rate, so this this can be a full time living then right?

Talia Wray  15:26

It can, um, I don't know a lot of people who only do it, but I do know people who only do it and have made like a lifestyle out of it. A lot of the people who are like newly in the game, also do it hand in hand with like, their regular modeling or just like side hustles and stuff, but like there's I definitely do other things, but it definitely pays my rent.

Nick VinZant  15:54

Are you ready for the harder slash listener submitted questions? The first one is do you hate Seinfeld?

Talia Wray  16:03

Wow, because of that hand. That hand.

Nick VinZant  16:06

Yeah. Yeah,

Talia Wray  16:09

I thought it was really funny. I've been sent it a couple times. And I obsessed because of how excited I was when I first booked my job and first like, got into it and like, started dreaming up all of these jobs that I wanted to do. I got really excited. So I understand where it comes from. And I grew up watching Seinfeld so No, I do not hate it.

Nick VinZant  16:33

Who is it, and go ahead and say if that this is you? Who has the greatest hands of all time? Is there somebody they'd be like? That's, that's the ultimate there.

Talia Wray  16:44

Oh my god. of all time. I would say my friend Adele has pretty great hands. She does like she has a fair skin tone. And when I started. I was like, if I meet her and when I meet her, and if I work with her, I know like, I've made it. And we ended up working together last years. So that was like a pretty big deal for me. She doesn't even know this story. And so she's probably gonna think this is so funny because we're friends now. But for me, she's like the ultimate hand model

Nick VinZant  17:24

in the parts modeling world who is the cool kid of parts modeling High School, the hands, feet legs, who's like the cool kid.

Talia Wray  17:37

I thought it was legs. I think legs are pretty impressive. And everyone is has this whole thing about height, and like seeing women's legs is really sexy. So I thought legs were like the ultimate part. So I would say the cool kid his legs.

Nick VinZant  17:58

Now you do that too. Does one pay than the other.

Talia Wray  18:01

So I just, I, this was my first leg job that I got. Was this not this year? Yeah. Was it the beginning of 2020? rip? And so I started doing leg modeling. Do they pay more? No, not necessarily. It depends on the clients though. But hopefully from these photos, I'll start booking more legs and we'll, we can talk about that later.

Nick VinZant  18:31

Is the foot modeling one though, does that kind of end up? Because people have a thing with feet? Right? Does that lead to some weird places?

Talia Wray  18:40

Ah, you know, I, the leg and foot job is the same client for me and I actually been looking under my feet photos to see if anything has come up. And I haven't got anything weird yet, but I do know that it's a really big thing. And industry like the whole foot fetish thing. So it hasn't come up yet.

Nick VinZant  19:06

coolest product you've ever modeled

Talia Wray  19:09

iPhone.

Nick VinZant  19:10

Yeah, that's that's got to be a good one too, right? Yeah.

Talia Wray  19:13

And I've heard like the, the, the clients that I've worked with on the job like doing my nails and makeup said that they remember like when Steve was like on this set of those commercials and I just like Wish I could have been there for that. But yeah, iPhone was like, for me fell big.

Nick VinZant  19:34

Where have I probably seen your hands and not known it?

Talia Wray  19:38

Maybe food commercials like dunking french fries and ketchup.

Nick VinZant  19:45

Oh, yeah. I guess you don't think about all the times you just see pictures of people's hands.

Talia Wray  19:51

Exactly. Because there's so many McDonald's commercials that are only hands and you don't even realize it.

Nick VinZant  19:59

So they won't use them. But it's it's hardly ever the actual person I see on TV.

Talia Wray  20:04

Oh, no. Yeah, they would they would almost Oh wait, I think as something as big as McDonald's and when they're doing food close ups, they always hire hand models.

Nick VinZant  20:17

Why do you I mean, I guess why is that? Am I going to be turned off if I see.

Talia Wray  20:22

So that's what is like you don't want to be distracted from the product. So something has to come in that is cohesive and has like this rhythm. And people assume that hand models have certainty dirt can take certain direction and have like an elegance rather than like models who can just who Strike a pose or like a lot of people complain that models don't take direction well, but I think it's kind of hard for a full body model to not be able to take direction well and get jobs but I don't really know why that a They would do it other than like it's more appeasing and it just doesn't pull focus from the food. If you see something that is off about the hand,

Nick VinZant  21:09

Do you have good dexterity? Like do you have to be able to put this finger in this position and this finger in that position?

Talia Wray  21:16

I found a lot of times, I struggled in the beginning because of so many positions that were uncomfortable to me, and that I couldn't even that were just so unnatural. So it is kind of uncomfortable to the point where you're just kind of like you, you think like you want to reposition your fingers like surgically

Nick VinZant  21:42

Did somebody come in and like move like no, I need your left index to be open. 

Talia Wray  21:47

They will really almost always they'll be like we need it like this. We like it like this or just like literally pick up and move my finger and just be like, stay there and take the photo. Which can be irksome, because for me I'm just like, do my job. But I get it. I get it and I have been better at looking and noticing that everything is kind of like my fingers are evenly spaced and like looks pretty.

Nick VinZant  22:17

What finger is the best finger?

Talia Wray  22:21

The middle finger haha

Nick VinZant  22:23

It's definitely the most it, definitely has the most wide array of uses.

Talia Wray  22:32

But actually the most important finger I would say is that, yeah, the thumb is probably always in use, just like when you're holding your phone. It's always in the front. The thumb is very important. I think if you don't have a thumb you can you basically can't do the job

Nick VinZant  22:50

Now you've done some acting work too, right? Yeah. Is that is that kind of the the future career path or what's the What did what are you going to be? What is the main goal? I guess?

Talia Wray  23:02

Yeah. So my main goal is definitely in the acting world. I like being expressive and like writing my own work and like working with other actors. I really like just love storytelling. I think the part of the reason why I do it is a therapeutic aspect. I think it's very lovely to watch people creatively, emo and be able to get something back from that. So that is my main passion in life in the future in the present.

Nick VinZant  23:41

Yeah, it certainly seems like it would be good exposure.

Talia Wray  23:45

Oh, for sure. For sure,

Nick VinZant  23:55

 if I send you a picture of my hands, will you tell me what's wrong with my hands?

Talia Wray  24:00

Oh my god haha Okay, let me know when it shows up. Okay. Okay!

Nick VinZant  24:14

my hands are okay they're not bad

Talia Wray  24:10 I'm surprised to hear so well manicured during an epidemic or pandemic or life crisis, whatever we're dealing with now. I would say are you purposely making like this? Almost like the Star Wars symbol?

Nick VinZant  24:37

No.

Talia Wray  24:39

Okay because I was gonna say this spacing is just a little off between the the index and the middle finger or the ring finger in the middle finger.

Nick VinZant  24:51

Oh it does now I'm looking at it in real life it does kind of come apart. Are my knuckles bad?

Talia Wray  25:04

 I would say. I would say you could probably work like dad jobs they have like these jobs that you're like clearly like it's a dad feel like

Nick VinZant  25:14

that's a huge compliment and crush my soul at the same time.

Talia Wray  25:21

Cuz I'm saying, like, you look like you have like these like hard working hands like home improvement hands. Yeah, like I feel like those are like the kind of jobs that I would shake your hands for.

Nick VinZant  25:35

I felt Okay, I took it as like I'm getting old, because I'm at that age where I start to feel like I'm getting old.

Talia Wray  25:42

No, I mean, young people do the dad jobs too. So you know.

Nick VinZant  25:48

Ah, I feel good. I feel better about myself.

Talia Wray  25:51

Yeah, it's weird when you think when you notice it and then you kind of think about it.

Nick VinZant  25:55

Um, that's that's pretty much all the questions. I got what's coming up next for you.

Talia Wray 26:00

Well, I say with my agency, Close Up Models in LA, we're doing a bunch of different campaigns for holiday coming up. So I'm really excited to go back home and start doing that. So when I get back, I'm going to be shooting a bunch of stuff for holidays.

Nick VinZant  26:20

I want to thank Talia so much for joining us if you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media accounts, or Profoundly Pointless on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And I'd also like to thank close up models for helping connect us with Talia. I find this whole thing just endlessly fascinating, because it's definitely to me one of those things that you never think about until you notice it, and then you really notice it. We've also included both tullius information and close updadf models information in the RSS feed that's on this podcast. If anybody's interested in this I'll put up a picture of my hands just so you can tell. Have some perspective about what we're talking about.