Los Angeles-based creative professional Hailey Magoon certainly leads an exciting life.
As a photographer originally from the Bay Area, Hailey took a leap of faith by embarking for freelance work in Hollywood. Having grown up with “car people,” Magoon’s passion for automotive culture only further fueled her toward L.A.
A decade has gone by and Hailey is still thriving as a tenacious freelancer in the “City of Angels.” She’s worked with top talents like actor Chris Pratt and NBA star Trae Young. On days off, you might see her cosplaying as Letty from The Fast and the Furious saga.
Between projects, Hailey made time to talk with Playboy’s Gabriel Santiago across a variety of topics. For an intriguing conversation on Los Angeles’ car culture, the hustle and bustle of the industry, iconic film references, thriving as a creative and more, continue reading.
Playboy: Let’s start at the beginning—where were you born & raised?
Hailey Magoon: I was born in Northern California in Fremont. I was there until I was about 11 and then my family moved about 40 miles east to Brentwood.
Playboy: What was your upbringing like?
Hailey Magoon: I was really family oriented. My fondest memories are the various camping trips we’d take to local lakes, especially Lake Tahoe. My dad was also into NASCAR and drag racing, so on many of our trips we were able to camp at the racetrack. Growing up, I probably tried every single sport there was all the way through high school but nothing ever really clicked and I’ve never been particularly competitive. I think independent creative things always pulled me back in.
Playboy: How did you fall in love with motorsports?
Hailey Magoon: My family have always been car enthusiasts, but not necessarily active in motorsports aside from being fans. My dad started working on bikes and cars from a young age and built quite a few into his early 20s.
Playboy: Tell me about some of those cars.
Hailey Magoon: His first car was a ‘55 Chevy that his brother passed down to him when my dad was 14, and it’s still sitting in his garage to this day. When he got to legal driving age, he got a ‘69 Corvette, an 80’s Chevy Dually, another Corvette, and a few trucks. He’s always had a thing for Chevy trucks.
My mom’s first car was a ‘67 Camaro that her and my dad rebuilt together from the inside out. She only got to drive it for about a year when the car died in an intersection when she was eight-months pregnant with me. She had also pulled a muscle from pressing down the clutch and decided it wasn’t the most practical car for a new mom. I unfortunately didn’t get to see that one, but I’m pretty sure that’s where my Camaro obsession came from. A first generation Camaro is definitely on my dream car list.
Playboy: Wow! What was your first car?
Hailey Magoon: After many years of obsessing over Camaros, and kind of against what my parents wanted me to get, I got a brand new 2011 Camaro right out of high school. 13 years later and it’s still my daily driver!
Playboy: Nice. What were you feeling after the first time you watched the original The Fast and the Furious?
Hailey Magoon: It’s funny because I didn’t actually watch it until 10 years after it was released. I wasn’t allowed to watch PG-13 movies until I was actually 13 and I was only nine years old when the first one came out in 2001. I had always heard of the series and I had a crush on Paul Walker from watching him in Eight Below, but the first movie of the franchise that I saw was Fast Five. It struck me as a very powerful film that involved cars in a way that I had never seen before, as if the cars themselves were characters. After that, I went back and watched the first one and I was hooked.
Playboy: Back in the present, that ’96 Skyline you were cruising around L.A. in is absolutely marvelous. Can you tell me some of your favorite aspects of it?
Hailey Magoon: Since moving to L.A. in 2015, I’ve become pretty involved in the car community and have had some incredible opportunities where friends offered to let me drive their cars. It’s a very special thing to have someone trust you enough to offer up the keys to their cars, so when Art Cervantes let me get behind the wheel of his R33 GT-R, I knew I was in for a real treat. He had taken great care in all of the mods while still honoring it’s heritage. It’s unique to drive a right hand drive manual car here in California, especially with the turbo. That experience alone put the biggest smile on my face.
Playboy: Moving over to your familiar looking Nissan 240SX, talk to me about your inspiration with that.
Hailey Magoon: During COVID, I was looking for a project car while simultaneously watching The Fast and the Furious as a comfort movie most days. Halloween was coming up and I set out to dress up as Letty Ortiz but I wanted to do it as movie accurate as possible. I spent most of my COVID hours trying to find the actual pieces that Letty wore, which was hard because none of the pieces were branded or documented. Once I found all of the pieces I needed, I leaned on some friends who made replica cars from the first movie and put together a whole production for a Halloween photoshoot. I was so proud of it, but the most common comment I got was “Where’s Letty’s 240sx!?”
Playboy: Literally, car cosplay! And from there you found your 240?
Hailey Magoon: It came at a great time because again, I was eager to have a project car. After being inspired by my friends making replica cars, and about a year of scouring Facebook marketplace, I finally found my perfect project. I loved the idea of making a replica of Letty’s 240 while I live in L.A. because I’m so close to a lot of the filming locations. But if I ripped that wrap off and painted it silver, it would still be a car I was very proud to own. I’m excited to continue to grow with it over the years.
Playboy: Do you prefer JDM or American muscle and why?
Hailey Magoon: I don’t even know how to approach this. I think because classic American muscle is so rooted in my veins that I have to default with that. I do have such a newfound respect and love for classic JDM vehicles. I actually don’t know if I can choose. It’s like asking someone to choose their favorite child. I do think there is something very special about an American V8 and the way it sounds, but also shifting through the gears of an RB26 turbo—I just can’t pick.
Playboy: What’s your story as a photographer?
Hailey Magoon: Creativity has always been my constant. My mom is a great artist and always had a camera on her. My dad is a talented musician who had a recording studio and wrote, produced, and performed his own music. I always loved to draw, sing and perform. From a young age, I was always messing around with my parents cameras. My grandpa gave me a little 35mm Canon film point-and-shoot when I was 8 that I loved. When I was 15, I got my first DSLR for Christmas. I started out just shooting portraits of friends. I created a Facebook ‘fan page’ and started post things I’d be working on and people would message me asking, ‘How much do you charge for this?’ That’s when it dawned on me that photography could be a career. Being in high school myself, I knew a lot of people that needed senior pictures or family photos, and quickly started shooting weddings.
Playboy: How did your shooting progress from there?
Hailey Magoon: After college, I started assisting a couple commercial photographers in San Francisco as well as assisting and running a personal photo studio for an art director at Apple. When I realized that many of the artists we worked with were flying up from Los Angeles, I wanted to move down south and give it a shot. I wanted to stay in L.A. for at least five years. As of now, it’s been almost 10 years and I think I grow every day. I’m freelance, so there’s ups and downs, but you just have to be prepared for it. I’m still really happy to be doing jobs in fashion, editorial, commercial and automotive. I’m really grateful.
Playboy: What’s it like as a female thriving in male-focused industries like automotive and content creation?
Hailey Magoon: There’s definite differences in the way that I’m treated sometimes and it’s come with unique challenges, but these industries have also opened up some amazing opportunities to me. One of the things I’ve noticed is that, as women, we often have to prove our skills and knowledge a bit more to be taken seriously. That extra effort has shaped me into a more resilient, detail-oriented creator, and has allowed me to build a reputation rooted in authenticity and hard work. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of really great male collaborators that trust me and my vision. I’m truly grateful for all of the incredible productions I’ve been included on over the years.
Playboy: Favorite car from 2 Fast 2 Furious when the crew is in Miami—go!
Hailey Magoon: That has to be a tie between Paul Walker’s R34 GTR and the ‘69 Yenko Camaro. That’s a really hard question. Those vehicles are two absolute icons of their own areas. Also maybe a small bias for the “Orange Julius” RX-7 because my friends at Chrome Cars let me take the screen used stunt car for a couple days last year.
Playboy: Any upcoming projects from you that Playboy readers should be on the lookout for?
Hailey Magoon: I’ve been really excited to team up with NOS energy drink and GoPro recently for some videos that you’ll see on my Instagram soon. I also had the opportunity to be a part of an event with Discount Tire at their tire testing facility in Texas that I’m excited to put out soon. Otherwise, I’ll be at the SEMA convention shooting for a few different clients. It’s about the cars, but it’s also about the people and I can’t say enough about all the amazing people I’ve connected with in this industry. SEMA always feels like a bit of a reunion even though most of the people I’m excited to see also live in L.A. There’s so many exciting things happening in the next few months that I can’t wait to show everyone!
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