The Rise of Rachel Sennott: Gen-Z’s Leading Lady
Rachel Sennott is my favorite upcoming actress and my personal national treasure. As a distinctive comedic voice of Gen-Z and a declared internet “it girl”, Sennott has experienced an upward trajectory of her career in recent years. I myself discovered her for the first time when my sister recommended I watch “Shiva Baby,” in which she plays a college girl at a Jewish funeral service, faced with seeing both her sugar daddy and ex-girlfriend. As Variety says, Sennott blends sharp comedy with raw vulnerability, which has become her calling card.
In 2020, she also collabed with another icon in the comedy world, Ayo Edebiri, on the Comedy Central web series, “Ayo and Rachel Are Single.” They played themselves in stories inspired by their dating lives in New York City, which leaves no room for boredom, as you can imagine.
The second time I saw Sennott in a movie was A24’s “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,” where she showcases this trait as well. It was this particular film where I truly began to appreciate her genius. Do not get me wrong, I adored that movie for everything it gave, but I really felt like Rachel made the film what it was. In it, she plays Alice, a slightly self-absorbed podcaster, who is also kind of real at the same time. The character almost felt like she was just playing herself, and I loved it so much. Sennott just embodies the certain Gen-Z humor that really gets me; she really just has a certain reliability about her. One of my favorite scenes of hers in that film is when they are all arguing over who the killer may be (the plot basically is a Clue-type scenario), and Alice is defiantly defending her mysterious, older boyfriend. Her friends try to pin the label of killer on him because he is the only “vet” there who served in the military, to which Alice responds, “He’s a veterinarian.”
Sennott also has frequently collabed with her friend Emma Seligman, who wrote “Shiva Baby,” and the pair co-wrote “Bottoms,” a raunchy high-school comedy. The two of them clearly seem to strike gold when working together, and I believe “Bottoms” really began to give Sennott some well-deserved attention. Both women are so talented, and I cannot wait to see what more they produce, together or separately.
Sennott’s latest project is something that I have been very excited about since its announcement. “I Love LA” is the HBO series that she created, wrote, executive produced, directed and starred in. I mean, the woman can do it all. The cast is full of some of my favorites, including Josh Hutcherson, Odessa A’zion, Jordan Firstman and True Whitaker. The series follows two best friends in their twenties, in— you guessed it— Los Angeles. It is just Rachel Sennott in her prime. It is funny, self-aware and overall just an honest portrayal of the negatives and positives of LA, along with the process of coming to terms with who you are.
I have deeply enjoyed Sennott's career so far, and I cannot wait to see what future roles Sennott brings to life as a representative of a new generation of comedy.
Editor: Sydney Annis
Graphic: Sanjana Karanth