Rachel Sennott has become the unflinching chronicler of millennial and Gen Z malaise in Los Angeles, where dreams are as fleeting as a TikTok trend. The actress, comedian, and writer has turned her unique style of “messy” humor—part self-deprecating cringe and part razor-sharp social satire—into a cultural force at the age of 30. Sennott isn’t just making us laugh; she’s also holding up a funhouse mirror to our collective quarter-life crises. Her breakout indie films show how anxious young adults are, and her latest HBO series makes fun of the craziness of Hollywood life.
Rachel Anne Sennott was born on September 19, 1995, in the beautiful suburbs of Simsbury, Connecticut. She grew up in a Catholic family with Irish and Italian roots. Her parents, Donna (née Virzi) and Jack Sennott, gave her a stable home life that made her funny as a child. Sennott graduated from Simsbury High School in 2014. There, she worked on her acting skills in school plays and improv groups. She was excited to get into the rough world of New York comedy, so she went to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and got her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2017. There, she also trained at the famous Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where she learned how to combine classical technique with her natural ability to play chaotic, relatable characters.
Sennott’s first steps into the world of comedy were far from perfect. She hit the open-mic circuit in New York City right after college, performing at places like the now-defunct Upright Citizens Brigade and her regular gig on the all-male showcase It’s A Guy Thing. Her early shows, like the loud Puke Fest and the insomnia-fueled Ur Gonna Slp Rlly Well Tonight, were all about the real problems and fears that millennials face when they date. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sennott switched to Instagram Live and turned Puke Fest into a virtual vomitorium of funny sketches that got thousands of views. Time Out New York and Pop Dust quickly named her one of the best alt-comedians, praising her “messy” personality that makes fun of hookup culture, social media addiction, and her generation’s performative feminism.
Next came TV, where she had guest spots on HBO’s High Maintenance and a recurring role as Jackie Raines on the short-lived CBS sitcom Call Your Mother. But it was her work with other comedian Ayo Edebiri that really got her going on TV. In 2020, the two worked together to create two Comedy Central shows: the dating-disaster docu-series Ayo and Rachel Are Single and the stand-up showcase Taking the Stage. Sennott also appeared in the web series Speak Up, which made her even more of a voice for the awkward side of being a young woman.
However, Sennott really broke through in movies, or at least cracked a few with her forehead-first style of comedy. Her first movie was the short film Shiva Baby from 2017. It’s a claustrophobic gem about a young woman dealing with family problems at a Jewish funeral. Sennott played the same role again in the 2020 movie version, which was directed by Emma Seligman and got great reviews at SXSW and TIFF. Critics called her performance as Danielle, a pansexual college student dealing with a sugar daddy, her parents’ expectations, and an ex-girlfriend’s glare, a masterclass in anxious hilarity. The performance earned her a nomination for Breakthrough Actor at the Gotham Awards and the Rising Star Award at the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival. This is ironic because she was raised Catholic, which has led to many people making wrong assumptions about her background.
The momentum grew. In the queer coming-of-age drama Tahara, which came out in 2020, she gave a moving performance of grief and first love. Then came Bodies Bodies Bodies in 2022, a slasher-comedy mystery that trapped a group of rich twenty-somethings in a mansion that had been hit by a hurricane, where small betrayals turn deadly. Sennott’s Alice, a trust-fund socialist who is good at performative activism, stole the show. The New York Times called her “hilarious, heartbreaking” portrayal of Gen Z hypocrisy. The movie’s cast, which included Maria Bakalova and Myha’la Herrold, boosted Sennott’s star power and showed that she could do well in A24’s high-end horror sandbox.
Sennott had become a co-writer and star with Edebiri in Bottoms by 2023. This queer high school fight club movie turned the teen sex comedy genre on its head. Sennott brought a lot of chaotic energy to the role of PJ, the insecure ringleader who plans fights to impress cheerleaders. He shared an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Screenplay with the other writers. That same year, she showed off her acting skills in the dramedy I Used to Be Funny, where she played a former nanny dealing with trauma. She also voiced a character in the animated show Teenage Euthanasia on Adult Swim. She played Leia, a sharp-tongued assistant to pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), on HBO’s The Idol. This made The Weeknd’s controversial drama even more interesting.
In 2024, Sennott was busy with both serious and fun things. She played Rosie Shuster, the smart and funny producer and wife of Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, in the biographical comedy Saturday Night. She captured the crazy energy of the show’s famous first episode. She also made a memorable appearance in Charli XCX’s music video for “360,” where she channeled the club-kid vibe of the pop star’s Brat summer look.
As 2025 began, Sennott’s rise showed no signs of slowing down. She joined Bowen Yang, a former Saturday Night Live cast member, in January to announce the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards. This was a sign of her growing power in Hollywood’s inner circles. In March, she reached her first big fashion milestone: she starred in Balenciaga’s Summer 2025 campaign, where she modeled Demna’s signature slouchy silhouettes with the same ironic detachment that defines her comedy. “Rachel Sennott, one of the funniest girls on the Internet (and now in Hollywood),” Nylon said, praising her smooth transition from indie darling to high-fashion muse.
More and more film roles came in. She was in the drama Bunnylovr, which was directed by Katarina Zhu and got a lot of attention when it premiered at Sundance for its look at online obsession. Sennott not only starred in the movie, but she also co-produced it, which shows how much power she has behind the scenes. A cameo in Holland with Nicole Kidman, a member of Balenciaga’s team, added A-list shine, and the movie premiered at SXSW. The Moment is coming up next. It’s a thriller that promises to show off more of her ability to switch between genres. Deadline reported in August that Sennott is co-writing a biopic about “Hollywood madam” Heidi Fleiss, with Aubrey Plaza set to star. This project combines Sennott’s satirical style with real-life crime stories.
But the best thing about 2025 is I Love LA, Sennott’s HBO comedy series that started on November 2 and has already made her a showrunner to watch. Sennott and Emma Barrie are the creators, writers, executive producers, and directors of the eight-episode series. It follows Maia (Sennott), a 20-something talent agent, as she tries to survive in LA’s cutthroat scene. With viral sketches and a Rolodex of Gen Z influencers, Maia deals with bosses who don’t care about her goals, roommates who take her shine, and the soul-crushing grind of “hustle culture.” Josh Hutcherson, Jordan Firstman, Odessa A’zion, and True Whitaker are all in the ensemble, and episodes come out every week until the finale on December 21.
Critics love it. The Guardian said it was “a hilarious comedy about the grotty glamour of Gen Z life,” and Sennott said, “It’s for the girls and the gays!” In an interview with Deadline, she talked about how her 20s were cut short by the pandemic: “We all went through COVID, but [Gen Z] went through it in a way that made it much harder for them to settle into their careers.” The New York Times called her “flourishing amid chaos” and compared the show to a modern-day Girls for the TikTok generation—messy, ambitious, and not afraid to be imperfect. NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour said the same thing: “I Love LA reinforces our love for Rachel Sennott,” which shows how people in big cities mess up all the time. Even Variety said that the trailer promised “very online” hijinks, like fake Jewish heritage for hospital hacks and astrology-fueled meltdowns.
Sennott’s awards show how talented she is in many ways. In addition to the Gotham and Independent Spirit nominations, she has also been nominated for awards from the Hollywood Critics Association, the MTV Movie & TV Awards, the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. Shiva Baby got a ReFrame Stamp for having a gender-balanced production, which shows how much she cares about telling stories that include everyone.
Sennott is real and pretty private when he’s not on screen. She was in a relationship with actor Logan Lerman until they broke up in 2024. This has been mentioned in recent profiles, but she had previously dated comedian Stavros Halkias. She says she’s a “yapper” and an astrology fan. She splits her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she is often seen in low-rise jeans and vintage tees, which is a style she makes fun of in her work. “The gatekeepers don’t want us to win!” she told The Guardian. This is a rallying cry for the underdogs she has always supported.
Rachel Sennott is more than just funny; she’s important. Her work reminds us that the most interesting stories come from the messiest times, even in a world of curated feeds and filtered facades. I Love LA is on HBO, and there are more projects in the works, so you can expect her to keep talking, cringing, and winning. After all, in Sennott’s universe, failure isn’t fatal—it’s just fodder for the next viral hit.
