The rise and rise of Hollywood IT girl Rachel Sennott
Utopia
The stars are aligning for the Bottoms and Shiva Baby star, whose latest film, I Used To Be Funny premieres this month. But who is Rachel Sennott and where can we sign up to join her clique?
You may recognise Rachel Sennott from the music video for 360, the catchy new song from avant-pop artist Charli xcx’s latest album brat. In the opening scene, the comedian and actor has been selected by Charli to be seated amongst the internet’s current ‘IT girls’ - the women that make up the western world’s latest cultural and social zeitgeist - at a dinner party. Think Julia Fox, Hari Nef, and Gabbriette.
To be an IT girl, “you have to be, like, known, but also unknowable,” observes model Hari Nef in 360, as the girls seek out the latest iteration to their clique. And in the real world, Sennott is just this, having recently affirmed her position as the IT girl/darling of both the indie movie circuit and the internet world of cultural high society.
From documenting her antics with writer, producer and socialite, Jordan Firstman, on Instagram, to the sickly sweetness that is her friendship and creative partnership with fellow actor and Bottoms co-star Ayo Adeberi, the world of actor and comedian Rachel Sennott is no ordinary one.
Julia Fox, Charli xcx and Rachel Sennott
Born in Connecticut to Italian and Irish parents, Sennott trained at NYU Tisch and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, before beginning her career on the New York City open mic scene after being inspired while on a date to an open mic night during college.
Her newfound internet IT girl status was perhaps a long-time coming, as someone whose career has often centered and relied on the internet itself. After graduating from college, Sennott took to X- formerly Twitter - to tweet her comedic quips and gags to a rapidly growing audience of, at its height, 150k followers (the actor is rumoured to have since deleted her X - formerly Twitter - account). Her Instagram video “Come on, it’s LA” epitomised her dry wit and satirical social commentary, and was later sampled at the beginning of the song, Bump This, by Michael Medrano.
The 28-year-old’s deadpan eyes, steely humour and chaotic persona have become trademarks of her breakout roles, from playing Danielle in the cripplingly awkward and chaotic Shiva Baby - which launched her into roles like HBO's The Idol and A24's Bodies, Bodies, Bodies - to her hilarious portrayal of PJ - a confused bisexual teenager in the queer high-school loser comedy Bottoms.
Rachel in Shiva Baby (2020)
Both Bottoms and Shiva Baby were collabs between Sennott and director Emma Selligman, for whom friendship and the professional creative process have often overlapped, resulting in the hysterical, sharp, and refreshing films that have come to define their relationship.
Sennott’s on and off-screen personas are interchangeable: her quick wit, writing talent, refreshing satirical social critiques and raunchy tongue-in-cheek Instagram posts embody the ‘brat’ aesthetic immortalised in Charli xcx’s new album, and also explain her broad appeal to a millennials and Gen Z-ers disillusioned with the state of the world and in need of satire to cushion the chaos.
In her latest film, I Used to Be Funny, directed by Ally Pankiw, Sennott returns vaguely to her adolescence, playing the role of a stand-up comedian struggling with PTSD, who weighs up whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. The film premiered in the UK this month and garnered a mixed response, but consistent praise was given to Sennott, who is often credited by critics for doing the absolute most to “carry” shows with negative criticism, like Sam Levinson’s controversial Idols.
In March, HBO gave the go ahead for a comedy pilot written and executively produced by Sennott. The untitled project centres on a codependent friendship group who reunite, “navigating how the time apart, ambition and new relationships have changed them”. The pilot will star friend Jordan Firstman (Rotting in the Sun), Odessa A’zion (Grand Army), Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn't Real) and True Whitaker (Godfather of Harlem).
Sennott announced the news on Instagram with the caption “G2g to work!! See you guys in a bit 0:)”. Gushes of praise from the Internet’s latest cultural agenda-setters - Emily Ratajowski, Hunter Schafer, Emma Seligman, Julia Fox, Lauren Servideo and Ziwe Fumudoh - flooded the actor’s comments section, proving it really is Sennott’s world, and we’re all just desperate to live in it.
I Used To Be Funny premiered in the UK on June 7 and is showing in selected cinemas.
