Rising Stars: Meet Rachael Hip-Flores

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Hip-Flores.

Rachael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
So, I’ve had one foot in the business all of my adult life. I studied acting at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (which included a year with the folks at Shakespeare’s Globe in London), graduated at the top of my program, and was the first (and I think? still? only? don’t quote me on that?) person to pull off a double major in the acting conservatory (English! The most useful of majors!).

I spent the next chunk of eternity in New York City, skittering around the theater scene, living in a succession of terrible apartments (sometimes but not always legally), and meeting most of my current best friends. Artistry-wise, the two biggest pieces of my life there were with Flux Theatre Ensemble (where I am still a Creative Partner, we’re the most wonderful group of weirdos around) and on Anyone But Me – an early LGBTQ streaming series, which now has over 100 million views (hi, y’all!), and about which I will never stop being super proud. We got a bunch of awards, and the show meant a great deal not only to those of us who worked on it but also to the people we made it for – and that’s kind of miraculous – like, that’s a kind of miracle……so, y’know, that was pretty cool 🙂 And then, in 2015, my then-boyfriend/now-husband, Ned Thorne and I decided it was time to pull up stakes and head out here. And it’s been weird, to be perfectly honest.

As a lifelong East Coaster, there’s a type of ease out here that I’m still coming to terms with, even after eight years. I never feel like I’m hustling enough, and I’m also extremely introverted, which is not, like, a great trait to have as an actor in this town. But! I think LA forces you to get crystal clear about who you are and what you have to bring to the table. I’ve met some truly lovely people out here and am very much enjoying moving through the world with a stronger sense of myself. Y’know, plus the weather’s great.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
::pause here for a full five minutes of laughter:: Oh, friend. Look, no. It’s been a complete shit show. It has never not-been, and maybe one day it won’t be, but it is not this day.

I heard someone say recently that New York is hard on the body, and LA is hard on the soul, and that could not be more true.

So, struggles along the way – let’s start with the body…

Young and SO poor in New York, I lived in a basement studio with, at one point, three other people and a cat. Let that sink in for a sec. A few years after that, I lived with a hoarder in an apartment that had no hot water for, I think, about a year – I joined a gym so I could shower (I was in terrific shape that year). I genuinely cannot remember what I ate during that time in my life; I can’t believe I didn’t get scurvy.

Now, mercifully, the shit show is different! Now we’re in Act Two of the shit show, and the body is happier. I’ve figured out how to make a living (it includes not working for free – who knew?), and I can cook myself a healthy meal in a kitchen which is not home to highly civilized bacterial colonies. So, the current challenge is how to feel like an artist when you’re busy making a living. It’s a fitful journey, and I stall out frequently, and mostly it’s just faith that one day I’ll figure out how to make both happen at the same time.

The thing that gives me some sense of peace is this: I’m lucky enough to have some genuinely smart, kind people around me, and even the brightest, most competent people I know are really just best-guessing it. And, I mean, their best guesses are usually pretty damn good (and that comes of intelligence and experience, so let’s not negate that), but I do think it’s liberating when you realize that there isn’t some magical Right Answer to get to. You just have to find some grace in the learning.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well, hey, yeah, I’m an actor! The thing most people know me from is a web series called Anyone But Me, where I play Vivian, a high schooler who’s forced to leave her girlfriend, Aster (the wonderful Nicole Pacent), behind when she moves from New York City to the suburbs of Westchester (New York, not LA – I was so surprised when y’all had one here, too). The show ran for 3+ seasons and now has over 100 million views across platforms. It also has a WGA award (Tina Cesa Ward and Susan Miller, who mean more to me than they know and you must never tell them) and, thanks to them, I also won a few Best Actress Awards, and we were nominated…for many awards, many times, and in many categories. And all of that is terrific, high fives all around. BUT THE FANS!!! THE FANS ARE THE BEST!!!! I am so crazy lucky and so crazy proud to have been on a show that gave young LGBTQ people a sense of community and belonging and hope and that connected people to each other. UGH! SO COOL!! Yeah, I’m super proud of that, definitely look that up, it’s on all the things.

And I’d also love for everyone to know about Flux Theatre Ensemble. We do such cool, weird, new, innovative work. During the pandemic, we created this interactive, immersive audio piece called Our Options Have Changed where you call a phone number and get sucked down this rabbit hole of a near-future, dystopian world of corporate wellness run amok. We’re in Phase 2 of it now, and the lead artists – Corey Allen, Emily Hartford, and Will Lowry – are… frighteningly brilliant. Here’s this https://www.fluxtheatre.org/our-options-have-changed/ for that project, and if you poke around the rest of the site, you’ll see the immensely cool things we’ve been up to for the past… 84 years… or 17. I don’t know, time is weird now. But I do know that I’m so proud to be in that company. They’re smart. They’re weird. They’re daring. They’re kind. I feel good about being in the room with them.

Type-wise, my wheelhouse is dark, intelligent, passionate, maybe slightly crazy, maybe slightly disaffected, holding her shit together, but just barely. So, y’know, like a basic Tuesday.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Excuse me as I type this question into ChatGPT.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rachaelhipflores.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hipflor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachaelHipFloresOfficial/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hipflor
• Other: https://www.fluxtheatre.org/

Image Credits
Anna Koukouli Born, Ned Thorne, Anthony Mongiello