Actor Aaron Marcus shares how he got hired as a hand model for a restaurant commercial. He walks through audition prep, on-set choreography for picking up shrimp, and the practical details: avoid caffeine, use lotion, protect your nails. Hand modeling pays $100 to several thousand dollars per job.
Have you ever watched a TV commercial and you saw a hand model and wondered, I wonder what really happens on the set? How did they get the job? What do they really do? Well, watch this video and I'm going to share with you an experience that I had as a hand model for a TV spot. Okay, let's get started. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus and welcome to the Actor and Model Career Center and the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips By the way, I've got a lab coat on. Just finished an audition for a TV show. Didn't feel like changing, so I just wanted to keep it on. Hey, listen, if— before I forget, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button and also the notification bell, and that way every time I upload a new video, you're going to know about it. And if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's always really helpful. And please share the link with fellow actors and models. Yeah, please do. Just to keep them more informed about the industry. This was a really cool experience. I got hired as a hand model. So, you know, sometimes people wonder, well, what, what exactly do you have to do in order to get hand modeling jobs? Well, one, you got to have a certain kind of look for your hands, and typically you want them long, you want them Kind of thin. They have to be expressive. And actually, I'm going to tell you what really took place on the set, so you'll learn more about that. Having said that, look, there have been a couple times where I didn't get the job because my hands didn't look rugged enough. It was for some kind of power tool thing, and they just didn't buy me as a, you know, carpenter or laborer or someone who uses That kind of equipment a lot. But yeah, typically. And so what I like to do, not that I get that much hand modeling work, every once in a while I do, but I do try to keep my hands in good shape. I will wear gloves in certain situations just to make sure they don't get scratched or I don't get cut or dried out. I do put hand lotion on just to kind of keep them looking good and try to keep my nails okay as well. Hey, so here's Here's what happened, and this was a really great experience. I'm not going to give out the name of the restaurant. It just doesn't feel right, but because I'm going to be sharing some behind the scenes— oh, oh, before I forget. Hey, when you watch until the end of this video, I'm going to be sharing with you a special bonus video that will be really helpful to you. It's the one secret. To getting commercial modeling work. You definitely want to watch it, so you'll have the link at the very end. So I get hired for a restaurant. In this restaurant, one of the things that they are selling were their shrimp dishes. And so one of the things— so one of the things that I learned is that sometimes there are directors who specialize in this kind of work in restaurants, food-related. And that's what this guy Does a lot. And so what they had me do was I would take my hand and it was like a ballet. I had to go down, pick up the shrimp, pull it up at a very specific angle, dip it into something, hold it up like this, and then put it down. It was very, very specific. And One thing that I also have learned over the years from doing hand modeling work— and look, coffee affects, or tea can affect different people in different ways— but I know that when my hands have to be really steady, I don't drink any caffeine that morning. Because if your hand is moving even just a little bit, it's going to look horrible. It's not going to be good for the shoot. So if you do get affected by caffeine in any way, please don't drink it. You don't drink it the morning that you're doing hand modeling work. So here's what was taking place. So we went through it a few times, we practiced, and I made sure that I had this dance worked out perfectly. But they have a food stylist, and the food stylist creates the plate of all the food. I was warned Please make sure, do not eat any of the food that we're working with because they spray it with stuff. They make it look beautiful. They even had— and that's why I don't want to give out the name— they would stick a little metal skewer into the shrimp so that when I would pick it up, it wouldn't flop over or anything. It just stayed still. And so Yeah, it was a good idea that I did not try tasting any of the stuff that was there. But we spent a few hours just doing this over and over and over and over again. And so, yeah, if you're interested in doing hand modeling, just make sure that you do keep your hands in good shape. Something that I would also recommend— look, most commercial modeling agencies Work with hand models. I can tell you that most of the hand models, at least who I know, do other things too. They're actors, they do commercial print work, they also happen to do hand modeling. I'm sure there are some people who do special— I mean, I know there are some people who do specialize in hand modeling work, but I think most of the people don't. So if you're interested, make sure your hands are in good shape. Talk to your agent to see if your agent thinks that your hands look right for hand modeling work. And And the other thing too is, you know, I would definitely have some commercial modeling shots done where your hands are visible. Now, unless you are a full-time hand model, then you will have a whole portfolio just of hand modeling shots. But most of us aren't in that situation. But you can have commercial shots where your hands are very visible, and that way people can see it. And if you do print a composite sheet, and I know some people do, some people don't. By the way, they're also called comp cards or Zed cards. It's all the same thing. You will put on there, you know, great hands or good hands just to let people know, and then they can see it in some of the photos. So if that's something of interest to you, then yeah, make sure that your hands are seen, and maybe you could even try marketing yourself. And sending shots with your hands in it to various places who you think might hire hand models for some of their products. So anyhow, I just wanted to share that with you. It can be, by the way, it can be lucrative, you know, hand models. And once again, with the whole commercial modeling world, it's not like SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, where there are minimums that you will get for every job. Everything is negotiable, and there are so many factors that go into how much you get paid. But I mean, you, you, it can be anywhere from, you know, $100 to thousands of dollars for the day depending on what you're doing, uh, what format it's running in. Are we talking about billboards, high exposure formats, uh, TV commercials? And that's a whole other separate category. And if you're in the union, you will get— there are union rates for hand models. But if you're really interested, make sure that your hands do look good, make sure that your hands are right for hand modeling work, and then talk to your agent or try marketing yourself and try to get some hand modeling work on your own. Like I mentioned, if you look right up here, you're going to see the link for the one secret to getting commercial modeling jobs. Click on it, watch it. I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget, if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe. Let's build a great community of actors and models helping each other by leaving comments, sharing information and experiences. Click the notification bell and help your fellow actors and models and share this link with them. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
