Meet Annie Laurie Daniel of Highland Park, Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Laurie Daniel.

Hi Annie Laurie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started acting professionally when I was eleven, signing with my first agency. A few years later I booked a multi-spot regional commercial campaign, which moved me to Los Angeles, where I kept working in film, TV, and commercials while training in every youth program I could find. By the time I turned eighteen, I had worked consistently across independent film, network television, and commercial sets, and I knew I wanted deeper, more rigorous training.
I earned my BFA in Acting from CalArts, where I was introduced not only to classical and contemporary acting technique but to devising and experimental performance. During my summers I kept expanding my practice: studying documentary filmmaking at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where I wrote and directed Dick Art: Rape Culture and Misogyny in the LA Music and Art Scene (2016); devising original theater in Berlin and studying poetry at NYU Paris. All of these experiences pushed me toward interdisciplinary, international work.
After CalArts, I continued creating across mediums, eventually beginning an MA in Fashion Studies at Parsons Paris with the intention of merging fashion and performance. While I loved the research and the proximity to fashion spaces, I kept turning my academic projects into live performance—most notably a gallery presentation at Fondation Fiminco in Romainville in 2021. That experience clarified everything: I didn’t want to theorize performance, I wanted to be onstage. I left the program to return fully to my artistic practice.
Since then, I’ve focused on experimental theater, solo performance, and alternative comedy. I premiered my first solo show, Bedwetting, in 2024, which quickly gained a cult following. My second show, International Party Girl, had a sold-out run at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn in August 2025 and continues to evolve.
Today, I split my time between Los Angeles and New York, performing regularly in experimental spaces throughout both cities.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The life of an artist is anything but linear, and my path has reflected that from the very beginning. I graduated into the chaos of the pandemic, at a moment when live performance was suddenly impossible and the world I’d trained for felt completely inaccessible. That period forced me to slow down, shift directions, and explore other creative mediums: writing, fashion, anything that let me keep making when stages were dark.
At times, those detours felt like setbacks. I took space away from performance to figure out how I wanted to work and what I wanted to say. I had to rebuild a sense of trust in my voice and find new ways to stay connected to my artistic community. Looking back, each fork in the road was essential. Every pause, pivot, and redirection shaped the artist I’ve become.
Those years taught me resilience, flexibility, and the value of letting my practice expand beyond one discipline. They pushed me toward the kind of performance work I make now immersive, interdisciplinary, deeply personal, and gave me the perspective I needed to step back into my craft with clarity and purpose.
It hasn’t been easy. But every challenge has fed my work, and the twists and turns have become a defining part of my artistic journey.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Should we have a cig, or crash out? Annie Laurie Daniel’s solo show International Party Girl gets to the heart of the matter at The Elysian Theater on Friday, December 12th at 10pm in The Skunk Room. International Party Girl is a dark comedy and immersive theatrical experience that dives into loneliness, club culture, fake friendships, and the isolating search for connection. At its center is IPG, the ultimate party girl, trapped in the smoking section of a nightclub, teetering between the DJ booth and a breakdown. Developed with devised techniques, this high-energy performance takes audiences on a wild ride through IPG’s desires, ambitions, addictions, and heartbreaks. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, International Party Girl will leave you laughing, crying, and maybe reaching for a drink of your own.

In addition to live performance, Annie Laurie is a published poet, who’s work can be found in Dream Boy Book Club’s Series 7.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @annielauriedaniel
• Twitter: @annielaurie_wow

Image Credits
Steven James Meidenbauer
Ian Abernathy
Gus Frank
Abigail Gorden