Delaney Rowe Is Ready to Take Her Comedy Chops Mainstream

It started with a rainy day in Los Angeles. Actor and writer Delaney Rowe was hanging out in her Echo Park apartment thinking about how she preferred rainy days over normal days because it meant she didn’t have to go outside. She cringed as soon as the thought entered her mind, but then, she had an epiphany. Maybe she had something here. The thought felt all too familiar, like a line from an indie movie where the female protagonist hasn’t been fully developed by the writers. Rowe set up her camera and launched into a monologue, riffing on the specific character trope. She filmed it in one take and posted it to TikTok. In a matter of hours, the video racked up millions of views, and fans flooded the comment section praising her uncanny performance. ("I would eat up this movie tho,” "Someone cast her!!!,” and "Oscar-worthy performance” were a few responses she received.) Rowe had a viral hit on her hands and a new recurring character that had everyone talking, including Hollywood insiders. It wasn’t long before she was landing on numerous "ones to watch” lists, such as Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood Impact List. So what’s next for the rising star? Going mainstream.

Rowe enters our Zoom chat wearing her signature Ciao Lucia Liliana sweater. I clock the piece right away. The oversize ivory cotton pullover with black stripes has, at this point, become a piece of iconography for the 28-year-old, appearing in many of her recent videos. Technically, the cozy knit is a newish replacement for an older, albeit similarly famous, striped sweater she stole from an ex-boyfriend. She might replace this one soon, too, but for now, it’s her go-to, often styled with a pair of boxers or sweatpants. She describes the look as her "house clothes.”

When it comes to fashion, Rowe lives between two extremes: pajamas until 5 p.m. and cocktail attire. "I don’t have hangout clothes,” she laughs. Her after-5 p.m. style, she tells me, is very ’90s. Think Gwyneth Paltrow in Great Expectations or a modern-day rock star’s girlfriend. "That’s what I always want to look like, like I’m dating Harry Styles,” she says. Long silky skirts, halter tops, and sleek dresses like the one she wore to the Streamy Awards last month are on repeat. A vintage connoisseur, she can be found scouring the racks at L.A. favorites Jet Rag and Mohawk General Store and occasionally perusing the latest from Reformation. "I go for something that feels a little old school but at the same time very timeless,” Rowe says.

Rowe has a similarly low-key approach to what she wears in her videos, hence the signature sweater. She’s found the lo-fi aesthetic really resonates with her 2.2 million-and-counting followers on TikTok. That and her signature brand of cringe-inducing, on-the-mark comedy. 

Rowe grew up in Boise, Idaho, and was a natural performer from a young age. She regularly participated in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival during the summer months and had dreams of attending Juilliard or NYU to become a theater actress. But the universe had other plans. "Nobody wanted me in New York,” she says self-deprecatingly. Begrudgingly, she changed course and applied to programs in Los Angeles, attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. She eventually succumbed to L.A.’s charms and found her love for mainstream film and television. 

In typical working-actor form, Rowe spent a few years juggling auditions with a side gig as a private chef to pay the bills. But nothing was clicking. She was reading for a lot of the same leading-role types in young adult TV shows and films, but she wasn’t booking anything. "I watched Gossip Girl growing up, but when it came down to auditioning for those types of things, I was so not right for it,” she recalls. While her team saw her as an ingénue, she knew in her heart she was more of a comedian and would be better off as the weird best friend. "It’s so my instinct to be making things a little more unusual and a little more comedy-centric, so going into these auditions, I’m riffing, and I’m improving and doing a stand-up set, and they’re like, ‘Can you stick to the script?’” Rowe says. She eventually parted ways with her team and started making her own content to show people that she could be funny.

Rowe soon found her niche on TikTok, steadily building a loyal fan base with incredibly accurate situational humor and POV skits. Each video plays out like an audition self-tape with her writing and acting chops on full display. Recurring characters, like the aforementioned insufferable female lead and the girl who’s convinced you’re obsessed with her, quickly took off. Fans may be quick to draw parallels, but Rowe promises she isn’t going after specific projects, writers, or actors. "By the way, I love these movies that I make fun of,” she says. "I love this archetype. I think it’s so fantastic, and it’s almost my homage to it rather than a parody.”

It may seem ironic that the characters Rowe has gained notoriety for masterfully portraying are the same ingénue types she wasn’t booking in Hollywood casting rooms, but that’s kind of the point. Rowe is doing them well as satire. Not to mention, she has a lot of experience with the material. "People are like, ‘Why is this so accurate? Why is the writing so spot-on?’ I’ve been reading sides for these kinds of shows for 10 years. I know how these scenes go,” she says.

Rowe is an impressive one-woman show, writing, performing, and editing all of her own content. She occasionally films with her assistant but describes herself as "the most private, solo, lonely worker ever.” The process isn’t without its ups and downs either. Once she uploads a video, the emotional roller coaster begins. She’ll obsessively check how it’s performing for the first 10 minutes. (It’s at the 10-minute mark when she can really gauge how successful a video is going to be.) After the first 10 minutes, she doesn’t look at it again for exactly one hour—down to the minute. At that point, she’ll go back in and respond to comments and then will leave it for the rest of the day. "It’s funny. When a video is doing well, you just feel like, ‘I’m never gonna die!’ And then when it’s not doing well, you’re like, ‘I need to start applying for other jobs. I need to get a LinkedIn now,’” she says.

All the hard work and mental gymnastics are not for nothing. Following the success of her content, Rowe signed with a new talent team that appreciates her for exactly who she is, "They were like, ‘You’re going to be you, and that’s your ticket into the industry,’” she says. She has also connected with producers, writers, and actors who are fans of her work. Perhaps most notably, one of her comedic idols, Seth Rogen, started following her on social media. "That was crazy for me because I really am self-conscious about all my work and am self-conscious about my humor,” she says. "I don’t necessarily even think I’m funny. To have somebody else like that follow me and validate me in that was really huge.” 

But TikTok is just the tip of the iceberg for Rowe. She’s currently writing a book—a collection of essays based on personal experiences, like the one time she formed a relationship with a guy over one long weekend. It’s a different type of writing process that has been fulfilling for Rowe, especially since it’s not about getting a million views on the internet. There’s also her acting career. Earlier this year, she starred in her first feature, The List, with her sights set on doing more film and television. The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have stalled things for the moment, but when that ends, she plans to dive back in full force.

For now, though, she’s looking forward to relaxing a bit and having a more meaningful personal life, which in recent years has taken a back seat to her work. For the first time in a long time, she’s ready to have her relationships take priority. "Maybe not ahead of my work, but at least right up there,” she says with a smirk. "I think it’s so funny when people ask you about your future. Everybody only answers with work goals, but I just think about it holistically. When your romantic life or friendship life is going really well, I think it makes everything better.”

Lucky for us superfans, Rowe’s always got something intriguing up her sleeve, a fresh story to write, a new viral character just around the corner.