Meet Eden Rousso of Franklin Village

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eden Rousso.

Hi Eden, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was always a theater kid. I grew up performing in over 40 plays and musicals in and around San Jose, CA… 90% of those being cast in the ensemble. I played multiple inanimate objects, including a bush in the Jungle Book and a horse in Cinderella. I eventually realized I probably wasn’t going to Make It as an actor, or at least as an engenue. So I started directing theatre in high school, and writing skits for my friends. In typical Hollywood fashion, just as I was ready to give it all up, the temptress of performing pulled me back in. I won a scholarship for singing & acting at the regional Thespian festival. I put that towards my undergrad Theatre Arts degree at LMU. Ever the pragmatist, as an LMU freshman I started as a Theatre major/math minor, thinking I could fall back as a theatre / math teacher if my Broadway dreams didn’t work out. But after a year of 8am calculus classes, I realized I was simply too young for a fallback plan! I met with the film school (SFTV) and declared a second major in Screenwriting. Throughout my LMU career I met incredible fellow writers, some during my semester abroad at the Budapest Film Academy, many of whom I still collaborate with today. I also landed my first big internships, at CBS in current programming and at Disney TV Animation in casting. The Disney team hired me full time after I graduated, thus launching my unexpected animation career.
After a year with Disney casting I moved into production on Dana Terrace’s Peabody award winning show “The Owl House.” After that show wrapped, I moved to Nickelodeon on their newest (and newly Emmy- and Annie-nominated) big kids’ series “Wylde Pak” as writers’ assistant / script coordinator. I got my first professional writing credit writing the second half of the mid-season finale (which just premiered Jan 2) and my personal favorite episode, “Camp Chuck” which premiered back in June 2025 right after the Kids’ Choice Awards. You can watch Wylde Pak on all Nickelodeon channels.
I also joined The Animation Guild while at Nickelodeon. I’m a proud IATSE 839 member, and co-chair of the TAG writers’ committee.
In the meantime, I couldn’t stay away from performing. Oops! I joined the Pack theater’s house sketch team “VOGUE” (fka Popwich); our next performance will be at SF SketchFest January 22-23. I’ve performed in a ton of live & sketch comedy plus plays and musicals around LA. Like any hustling creative you can also find me doing side hustles like celebrity impersonations (Charli xcx is my fav), faking it as a PR bitch on red carpets (Oscar’s are next!), testing reality show games… you name it.

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?
Girlllll the road has been bumpy AF. But I’m a skiier and I’m not afraid of some moguls! One of the hardest things I’ve worked through is jealousy and comparison. It’s frustrating seeing people you went to school with do “better than you.” But everyone has their shit, as my grandpa always said. My wise mentee Cody Walzel told me: success will come if you drop your timeline. (This is also my plug for mentor/mentee relationships. It’s never too early to become a mentor or too late to gain one!) It’s a struggle always hustling for your next gig. Sometimes I have no work, and then all of a sudden I have five projects due in a week.
Another struggle is prioritizing life vs. work. I love LA’s hustle culture. I feel like I do my best work here. I like feeling surrounded by other hard working people. Everyone’s chasing their big dream. But sometimes that makes you forget there are other important things in life: family, health, love, friendship. Shoutout to my therapist Veronika for helping me live a values-based lifestyle.
My biggest struggle is my invisible disability. In 2020 I began having chronic pain in my neck and shoulders which hasn’t left me since. At the start of 2021 I was diagonsed with hEDS (Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). It causes chronic pain, joint fatigue and dislocation, frequent injuries that heal extremely slowly, and chronic fatigue. But I’m an optimist. My diagnosis also led me to take control of my health. I’m now physically and mentally stronger than I ever was before. I know how to handle a dismissive doctor. I know how to say “no” and prioritize projects that actually matter to me.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love comedy. All comedy. Character driven sitcoms, weird sketches, cringe videos, satires, parodies, songs… if it’s funny, I’m down. My niche is spoof / comedic songs. I’ve been writing spoof songs with my mom since I was a kid. We wrote them for friends’ parties and special occasions. Now I write them professionally. I wrote the song in the newly Emmy- and Annie-nominated Nickelodeon series Wylde Pak’s midseason finale/half hour special, “The Journey to the Otter Side.” In the special, the kids go on a Splash Mountain type water ride so my head writer and I agreed there had to be a song and I was all over it. I actually wrote two different songs and recorded demos for both so my showrunners could pick their favorite. They ended up picking the chorus from one and the verses from the other. It makes sense because the verses from the first song got pretty dark. Going along with the “Journey to the Otter Side” theme I wrote verses all about death and how there’s no afterlife and how it doesn’t matter what kind of life you lead, we all go to the same place when we die which is nowhere. But in a fun kid friendly way of course! But they still felt the other version — meeting a few friendly and feisty otters — was more Nick friendly and attuend with the Splash Mountain vibe and I agreed. You can check out this episode which just aired Jan 2nd on Nickelodeon.
While that was an original song, I also enjoy writing spoofs. I wrote “Wegovy!” a spoof on “Loathing” from Wicked to great success for my Pack sketch team. This sketch was chosen to be one of four performed at our SF Sketch Fest debut in a few weeks — you can check us out performing that sketch and a few others in SF Jan 22 & 23.
Most of all I am proud of my working relationships. I love making comedy and art with my friends.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’m an only child and I’ve always been extroverted. Looking back at pictures of me from truly any age — birth, elementary school, etc — you can see I really haven’t changed. I was born with a full head of hair and a big old personality and since then my hair’s grown a bit but that’s about it. As an only child I have always valued my long term friendships as the sisters I never had. I’m overly protective of my besties. Some of them will say that’s cause I’m a scorpio. Whatever just don’t f with them Okurrt??? I’ve alwayssss loved theatre and TV. I never thought about it as a career till college though. When I was growing up I loved the radio. I wanted to be a radio DJ growing up. I did become a DJ as a recent side hustle (DJ babyeden) so we are actualizing our childhood dreams OK! I also dreamed of being on American Idol because I am a singer. Sadly by the time I was old enough to audition the show was a bit irrelevant. I also always loved fashion. I grew up on ANTM, Project Runway, Fashion Police etc. I learned to sew when I was a kid and even had the Project Runway Brother sewing machine which I still have and use!
Most of all I watched a ton of TV. I remember often waking up early to watch cartoons before school and on Saturday mornings. So it makes sense that I’m writing them now.
I always loved performing. I was in 40 plays and musicals growing up. My first musical was “The Velveteen Rabbit” at age 6 at CMTSJ. It starred My’Hala Herrold who now stars in HBO’s Industry. She was a star even then. I had a sassy featured ensemble role with one salty line which tracks.

Pricing:

• Freelance writing – contact for pricing
• Performing (Singing, Characters, Impressions, Comedy) – contact for pricing
• DJ’ing – priced per event
• Bartending – priced per event

Contact Info:

• Website: http://edenrousso.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edenrouss0/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@edenrousso
• soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/babyeden
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8180267/

Image Credits
Pickleball – Jake Gratto Vogue – Jasper Lewis UCB – Angela Giovann Giarratana