vidagirl.com

You won’t see Rachel Matos hanging out on “The Hills” or strutting on “Make Me a Supermodel” or checking into “Celebrity Rehab.” The Bronx born actress is not a part of the Hollywood reality set. But, she is part of what’s real about a city that seems unnaturally unreal and is ready to set the record straight in the upcoming documentary “I Heart Hollywood,” a film that shows the true side of what it takes to be a hardworking actress in the entertainment capital of the world.

You grew up in The Bronx. What was your childhood like?

My mother raised me all my life, pretty much, working really hard to put me through private school. When I say I come from The Bronx, people automatically put this picture on it. I did grow up in a working class neighborhood but in my household I lived in a whole other world; a very conservative kind of upbringing. I grew up with a combination of everything, I guess.

Photo courtesy of Jody Domingue

Besides your acting career, you’re also an accomplished artist. Did that begin at an early age?

When I was a teenager I got into some of the modeling stuff but I was always into art. I would sit in my room and draw. My father is a pretty descent painter. It’s weird; I never picked up a paintbrush prior to going to art school. All I did was draw. When I got to college I couldn’t work with acrylics, which is like the first thing everybody can work with, and I found oil paints really easy for some reason. I tried different kind of paintings and it seems portraits was more my thing.

How did studying art turn into acting?

In art school you’re around film students, people who are doing other creative things and so I was doing student films and stuff like that. It was interesting because I started working as an art interpreter, working with kids and talking about art, and I got this really rigorous training in New York from Museum Education. They taught us how to talk to the kids and make the artwork come to life and sometimes that was a little bit of acting. We would make the kids reenact the painting, tell a story, and so I think that kind of was showing an interest in acting as well.

When did you leave for Los Angeles?

I moved out in 2006. I started doing the administrative stuff and auditions in New York and then I came to LA. I would have auditions that were 2 to 3 hours apart. I did a website, started sending out stuff. I was knocking on doors. People would kick me out because they were like ‘What are you doing here?’ I would slip a headshot under the door and run. What’s the worst thing that could happen, right? Some agents were awesome and some were like ‘We specifically don’t want you to do this.’ I’m like ‘Sorry.’ But, I ended up with a manager and through my management got representation at all the different divisions.

How did you get involved with the documentary “I Heart Hollywood”?

I met with the women who were putting it together (Executive Producers Cici Foster, Mashari Laila Bain; Director Rebecca Hu; Producer Lulu von Pottenbeurg) and they asked me a bunch of questions. I didn’t want to do something like a documentary because I would be afraid that it’s too real. But, I really liked them and I felt like I wanted to be a part of the project because they just had this really cool vibe about them.

How many actresses took part in the documentary?

There are fourteen of us. We’re all different and we all have a lot of things going on at the same time. I think we’re all very different but we all compliment each other. The hope is that it will change the landscape of the perception of Hollywood. We want it to be an inspiration to the younger women who come out here and don’t really know what it’s all about. So we’re sharing some of our experiences and we’re in the industry but we’ve kind of kept our priorities straight. To just kind of show another side, which I think is a more realistic side. I’ve met some of the most wonderful women that have lots of different things going on and are very inspirational people. You don’t really hear those stories. You only hear the train wrecks. That’s what this documentary is all about.

Do you feel the success of television’s reality shows gives the impression that it’s easy to “make it” in Hollywood these days?

Those shows definitely give the impression that it’s going to be an easy ride, but it’s very short lived, I think. I’ve seen a lot of the reality people at auditions and I think in many ways it hinders you. But some of these reality things are very fad-like and it’s something I would really, really consider and think about if I came out here. If that’s what I do, I’m taking a really big chance that it’s probably not going to lead to a major acting career because you’re already kind of labeled to start with. You’ve got to really think about it. If you’re doing this just for the fame or whatever, then you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

“I Heart Hollywood” is scheduled for release April 14^th. Rachel is currently working on the novella webisode “The Devil You Know.”