Greg Cipes Interview

Actor Greg Cipes has appeared on General Hospital, Cold Case, House, Without A Trace, The Fast and The Furious 4, True Blood, Bones and most recently in Roseanne Barr’s new sitcom, Roseanne’s Nuts.

In the new hit Lifetime docu-series, the Florida native stars as Roseanne’s euphoric hippie who is ready to stir things up at Roseanne’s macadamia nut farm. The journey follows Roseanne, her boyfriend Jonny Argent, son Jake, and Cipes on an adventure to experience the newfound serenity of farm life.

TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Shakala Alvaranga spoke with Cipes about his new show, the crazy adventures that he has taken Roseanne on, and the comeback of his band Cipes And The People.

TheCelebrityCafe.com: In the new sitcom, Roseanne’s Nuts, you play an eccentric hippie living in Roseanne’s backyard, how has your journey been so far?

Greg Cipes: Well for one, there’s no better place to film in the whole planet. So that itself was just so enjoyable and inspirational. And two, working with Roseanne is like working with a master. So, it’s like two very powerful things coming together- Hawaii and Roseanne - are just two powerhouses. To be with both of them, creating this show, has just been awesome and I’ve learned so much just from being a part of the show already. From the land, and from Roseanne!

TCC: How did you end up meeting Roseanne?

GC: My base player in my band is Lisa Marie Presley's son. Lisa Marie Presley and Roseanne are old friends. We just met up at a party back in Hollywood a couple of years ago and we just hit it off. She was like ‘Oh, you get it!” And I go, “YOU get it!” And all of a sudden WE got it. We started hanging out, and our relationship started off by watching movies by my favorite filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. A movie in particular that really told her a lot about who I was is The Holy Mountain. It is a movie that John Lennon and Yoko Ono funded. When I showed Roseanne that movie, it was kind of really the first time that we hung out after meeting each other, she was like “Oh, yeah. I get it.”

This movie, The Holy Mountain, is a fearless movie. It confronts every taboo in the whole world and touches upon everything without fear. The filmmaker is just fearless and that’s kind of who Roseanne is. She’s this fearless warrior-goddess-teacher. I really consider her one of my main teachers in life.

TCC: Did you have to audition for this role, what was the process?

GC: She mentioned that her new show, Roseanne’s Nuts, was going to be the show that would be her comeback to re-introduce herself to the world. And I’m like ‘That’s such a great idea!’ and I hadn’t been to her farm yet, so, she goes ‘Well, you should come out and be on the show. Let’s figure out what kind of character you’d play on the show.’ Ultimately, I just wounded up being a personification of myself. We really are friends. We really do meditate and do yoga. So, I just got to kind of got to show her all of these things on the show, and kind of amp it up a little bit and had a lot of fun telling the stories that we needed to tell based on the ideas and scripts that she would come up with.

TCC: What interested you about being Roseanne’s sidekick and going in this direction?

GC: All the energy that comes off on our TV show is very true. The reason why me and Roseanne connect, and the reason why I decided to be a part of the show is because we both believe that what people hear and see and how their minds work creates our reality. We realized that with television, with movies, with music, with cartoons, through all of these things we can show people a world that we want to live in and then all of a sudden it starts to become real outside of the TV screen. And it does. People are confirming that this show is affecting a lot of people. I’m getting massive responses, especially from the youth, which is so beautiful to see. I’m getting tons and tons of fan mail confirming the positive vibrations that are coming across from the screen. And it’s a very rare thing to have that happen on TV or anywhere really, so it’s a blessing to offer it through Roseanne’s Nuts. The conscious revolution is what me and Roseanne followed.

TCC: In the sitcom, you and Roseanne live on a farm in Hawaii, how was it adjusting from city life to farm life?

GC: Well, I actually live in a tree house in Laurel Canyon, which is really cool. It is one minute away from the hustle and bustle and the craziness of Hollywood Boulevard. It’s my getaway within the city but, filming Roseanne’s show in Hawaii was really a break. That’s where I want to be filming all of my TV shows from now on! To be there was awesome because I’m filming General Hospital at the same time I’m filming Roseanne’s Nuts. I’m a regular on General Hospital right now, so I would fly sometimes to Hawaii just for one day and then come back. The production for Lifetime was like “You, sure you just want to come out for one day of filming and fly back that night?” and I’m like “For Hawaii? I’ll fly to Hawaii just to hang out there for ten minutes.”

TCC: How is shooting for General Hospital going?

GC: Such a blessing! It’s something that I’ve been manifesting for since I was twelve years old. I moved to LA around 2001 when I was 20 years old. I always wanted to be on a daytime show and sure enough it manifested in 2008. They gave me a role, JP, and they brought me back this year. It’s been a lot of fun to play this really dark twisted character, which is way different from the character that I play on Roseanne’s show. As an actor, it’s been really awesome to go from playing this very dark character to this very blissful character. I love playing with all of the energies and all of the emotions.

TCC: As a pro surfer, it’s only natural that you would teach Roseanne how to surf. Was it as easy as you thought it would be?

GC: It’s a really funny story actually because in the script we developed this episode on how I’m going to teach her how to surf. I proposed it, and the production thought it was great and Roseanne was like ‘I wanna do it!’ Sure enough, the day we were shooting and the productions set up and I have all of my Hawaiian warrior friends there to help me teach her, production tells me she doesn’t want to do it. And I’m like ‘no, no, no she’s going to do it.’ She was very scared. She’s scared of sharks and she doesn’t want to go in the ocean but when she got to this beach she kind of just started to melt and she surrendered. And I’m so thankful that she did because it was actually one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever experienced… witnessing her surrender to the ocean. Being out in the water with her, teaching her, and seeing this really authentic side of her where she’s smiling. She really enjoyed it. She got up on her knees four times. When she got out of the water, she literally passed out on the sand for about 45 minutes because she was so relaxed. She’s someone who never stops, she’s so busy. The reason that I wanted to give her the gift of surfing was because for me, it’s always been the place where you get away from everything. You can’t think of anything else while you’re out in the ocean. Everything just disappears. It did that for her and it was actually the first time that I saw her really relaxed…EVER. She took a nap on the beach in front of everyone, kind of like a homeless woman. It was funny. She’s the fiercest and sweetest thing there is. You don’t want to mess with her.

TCC: What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done while living on Roseanne’s 50-acre macadamia farm?

GC: Around the corner from her house, there’s land where there are wild horses everywhere. Real packs of wild horses. And I grew up with horses. I love animals and kids and I’m not afraid of them. These horses are so in tune with everything and sensitive. You can’t fool a horse. If you have fear in you, you might get kicked in the face. So, everybody was kind of scared to go around these horses, but what I did was I went and I sat down in the grass and I started meditating and one of them came over and kissed me. And they got it on film and it was just so beautiful. That was definitely one of the most adventurous things, other than taking Roseanne surfing.

TCC: What other film productions can we look forward to from you?

GC: I’m working on Venice Heat, which is a half hour procedural comedy that’s like Reno-911 meets Baywatch. I play a cop, which has been another dream of mine. But not just any cop, I play a hippie cop! Right now I’m helping to produce the show and get it sold. Also, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Nickelodeon. That comes out in 2012. I play Michelangelo with my co-star’s Sean Astin, Jason Biggs and Mae Whitman. That’s kind of the highlight of my life so far because Michelangelo raised me in many ways. He got me into meditation and martial arts. I’m also working on a movie Vile that is coming out soon and a movie called Deep Dark Canyon. I also have a recurring role on The Middle. The new season is going to start filming soon, and then Ben 10, which is another one of my big cartoon series that I play Kevin Levin on cartoon network.

TCC: You also have a deep love for music. How is your reggae/hip hop band Cipes And The People going?

GC: It all intertwines and it’s all seamless as far as all the things that I am creating because I put my music in all the things that I am a part of including Roseanne’s Nuts. I play a lot of my original songs on the show. As for Cipes And The People, I’ve been working on a new album for the past three years. And it’s really close to being done. The music is really at a point where I’ve always wanted my music to be. I’m playing with all of the musicians I want to play with, who are the most talented musicians I’ve ever played with. So by the beginning of 2012, we are going to be making it available. And how we’re going to do that, that’s going to be the interesting story because I’m going to intertwine it with a TV show that I’m creating that has everything to do with the album. So, kind of a musical. Basically, like a conscious Glee.