- Today Online
Hometown actress stars in ABC sitcom
Updated: Feb 7, 2022
• Simsbury High grad reaches prime time
By Katherine Napier — Special to Today Magazine
Imagine a young girl putting on plays with her siblings — making them sign contracts and check in to rehearsal, plus all the logistics of an actual production.
Such an event was a Christmas tradition for the Sennott family of Simsbury. With this early interest in acting, it’s no surprise that Rachel Sennott, the young girl in charge of it all, has gone on to have a successful acting career.
Her mother, Donna Sennott, says that Rachel “always loved the stage.” During a first-grade play “she just loved being there,” Donna recalls.
Rachel graduated from Simsbury High School in 2014, and later from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In the following years, she pursued an acting career and appeared in the films Shiva Baby and Tahara as well as the TV series High Maintenance.
While Rachel’s mom knows being in the acting industry “isn’t going to be easy,” she is happy for her daughter when she sees her on TV.
Rachel’s newest project is ABC’s new sitcom Call Your Mother, alongside Emmy-winner Kyra Sedgwick as the show’s co-star.
The sitcom’s premise is that a lonely mother finds herself all alone while her children live their best lives thousands of miles away, and she decides to reinsert herself into their lives. Broadcast on Wednesday nights, the series premiered in January.
Rachel’s mother posted on the Simsbury Neighbors Unite Facebook page urging people to tune in to her daughter’s show. “I couldn’t resist promoting my daughter!” she says in the post.
During Rachel’s senior year at Simsbury High, she played Madame Thenardier in the school’s musical production of Les Miserable.
“That was the beginning of a great acting career,” says Simsbury First Selectman Eric Wellman.
"She had a very strong vision of her career [and] worked diligently to make that come true” — Simsbury High theatre director Stuart Younse
Stuart Younse, the Simsbury High theatre director who managed the 2014 Les Miz production, says Rachel was “really wonderful in her role in one of the strongest casts we have ever put on stage.”
Younse recalls that on opening night Rachel sustained a concussion as she was walking down the hall when someone threw open a door and inadvertently hit her. As a result, she missed the first weekend of shows.
The director describes Rachel as “talented, intelligent, creative and organized — she had a very strong vision of her career [and] worked diligently to make that come true.”
As she was raised in the Farmington Valley, Rachel participated in many acting and theater programs — such as the Simsbury Arts Academy summer program, the Ax Factory Players in Collinsville, Avon Summer Theater, and of course Simsbury’s middle school and high school productions.
Rachel’s mom says they were “really lucky to be in Simsbury” because there is “always something to be involved in.”
• Rachel couldn’t be reached for comment after multiple attempts
• This article also appears in the April 2021 edition of Today Magazine, our monthly publication
• Today Magazine covers the heart of Connecticut's Farmington Valley, recording the underreported upside of the Valley's five core towns — Farmington, Avon, Canton, Simsbury and Granby