Rising Stars: Meet Rowan Niles of Los Angeles, CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rowan Niles

Hi Rowan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As long as I can remember, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for all things art. I felt extremely connected to the idea of expression through creating, exploring, and imagination. From a young age, I was particularly drawn to music. One of my earliest memories that I can recall was watching Britney Spears performing at an award show and quite literally feeling enchanted by her stage presence, her confidence, and performance. From that moment on I was banging on anything that even slightly resembled an instrument, I was writing little songs about every thought that would cross my mind, and “selling” tickets to my “fans” (my brother, mother and father) to have them come see me perform on a big stage (in our kitchen)

I moved around a lot as a kid. It felt like we never were in one place long enough for me to really make any friends, so I turned to art. I taught myself to play piano, guitar, and ukulele and really fell in love with songwriting. I was raised listening to popular country music artist’s like The Chicks, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Brad Paisley, and I always thought the way they could tell a story through a song was so magical. So I started doing that too.

Not long after I fell for music, I developed a deep affection for cinema. Watching classic movies became a full time hobby. I spent time familiarizing myself with some of the greats, challenging my brother to see who had a greater knowledge of film, and dreaming of one day moving to Hollywood and making a movie of my own.

I spent my high school summers at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan studying songwriting. Some of my most cherished memories come from my time spent there, I still reflect on them and feel emotional about the experiences I had there, the things I learned, and the friends I made who have remained with me til this day.

Eventually I went on to study and get my degree in music business and finally move out to the place I had always dreamed of going- Los Angeles, California. Living in LA has granted me courage and permission to explore all parts of my artistic expression. I am a firm believer that we never really stop learning, and through life we are supposed to explore and gain all types of new skills. When it comes to creating, I really want to do it all. I’ll always be the little girl who played guitar but since moving to LA I’ve started a career in acting, stand up comedy, podcasting, and directing. I’m always eager for the next adventure.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every journey certainly comes with its challenges. I’ve definitely faced a multitude of obstacles throughout my life, both personally and career wise. I think when you are pursuing a life in the arts, whether that is music, acting, etc. the biggest challenge is facing rejection. Rejection can often times come as a blessing though, whenever I don’t book that project I thought I reallllllly wanted, I just remind myself it was meant to go to someone else and my next opportunity is right around the corner. If you can become comfortable with rejection and allow it to motivate you rather than discourage you, you can really use it to your advantage. It’s really important to me that I use my time on this earth to truly learn, experience, and grow and I think a lot of obstacles I’ve faced in my life have been rooted in overcoming struggles within myself. I am a person who struggles with addiction, and my road to sobriety has not always been pretty, but I am proud to say I am sober today. I dealt with a lot of anxiety and confusion for years leading up to me finally coming out as gay, and often times used to feel like I was lying to myself and the people around me by not being my truest and most authentic self. Life will always be ready to throw me my next obstacle, but I as I’m getting older I’m finding it easier to believe that I can handle anything thanks to therapy, sobriety, art, expression, and an incredible support team surrounding me.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
These days I’m really focused on creating a lot of my own projects. I produce and co-host a podcast with my dear friend, Arasha Lalani entitled Spitball. It’s a comedy podcast that is intended to make our audience members feel as though they are right there with us and a part of the weekly conversation as we take on topics like dating, therapy, the life of actors, etc. I’ve spent the past few years really honed in on acting and as Im getting older I’m definitely developing a lust for writing and directing so I’m in the pre-production stages of some passion projects of mine I hope to see come to life soon. I’ve always had a passion for story telling, and whether I am able to fulfill that through our podcast, or my scripts, I am just my happiest when I am creating.

What were you like growing up?
I think if you looked up “annoying little sister” in a dictionary they would have my picture displayed. Growing up all I wanted to do was whatever my big brother was doing, I’m lucky he put up with me and taught me things like how to play video games, appreciate books and movies, build a lego rocket ship the RIGHT way. He’s very much still my best friend and I love him very much. I had a wild imagination, I loved the Calvin and Hobbes comics and read every single one ever printed and really identified with the way Calvin was able to build a world around him with just his imagination. I would pretend I was in a musical on a big broadway stage, or go outside in the rain to imagine I was doing a big dramatic scene in a movie. I think growing up I was really hard on myself, always striving for perfection and to be the best at every new thing I was trying out. As an adult now I try to stay connected with my inner child and just do my best to encourage her to keep dreaming, the way she always has.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @rowanniles
• Youtube: The Spitball Podcast
• Other: TikTok: @rowanniles

Image Credits
Easton Schirra