Grace Rowe started her creative pursuits as an actress, studying drama at

the Orange County High School of the Arts and later receiving her B.A. in

Theater and Film from UCLA. After graduating college, Grace produced

and performed her one-woman show, THE GRID LIFE, a play about

seven vastly different Asian American women living in Los Angeles. From

a wannabe rapper to a new-age hippie to a piano prodigy-turned raver,

Grace performed her solo show at numerous theaters, including The HBO

Workspace, the Davidson/Valentini Theater, and at the Los Angeles Fringe

Festival.

 

Encouraged by the critical success of her play, Grace adapted The Grid

Life into the award-winning feature film script, AMERICAN SEOUL, which

won the Best Screenplay Award at the Asian American International Film

Festival in New York City, Top Finalist at the CAPE (Coalition of Asian

Pacifics in Entertainment) Screenwriting Competition, and First Runner-up

from the Cynosure Screenwriting Competition. Grace was also one of the

ten attendees chosen to participate in the Film Independent Filmmaker’s

Labs (both the FIND Producers' and Screenwriters' Labs) to develop American

Seoul. She produced, wrote, and acted in the short version of the film,

which became a festival favorite and screened at over a dozen film

festivals worldwide. American Seoul was also highlighted at the MTV TRL

Studios Filmmakers’ Reception at the Asian American Film Festival in New

York City. Janet Yang signed on to executive produce the feature version

of the film (The Joy Luck Club, The People Vs. Larry Flint), but the

project was ultimately unable to secure financing.

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Grace decided to take matters into her own hands and she wrote another

feature-length screenplay, I AM THAT GIRL, about a seemingly shallow

and materialistic party girl who discovers love and the beauty of nature

on a road trip to the Sierras. Grace starred in the feature film, and she

also served as the producer and main editor. She won the Best Actress
Award from the Yosemite International Film Festival, and the film was  nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the
L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival.

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Grace delved into directing with the sci-fi short film, THE SWEETENING,

based on the television series and feature film screenplay that she

developed. She wrote, directed, produced, starred in, and edited the film, which won the Best Live Action Sci-fi Short Film Award from the Atlanta Sci-fi Film Festival, the Best Cinematography Award from the Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival, and a Special Jury Prize from the Austin Asian American Film Festival. Acquired by DUST, an online sci-fi channel with over 3.1 million subscribers, it amassed over 65,000 views within a few short weeks of its premiere. Fast Company and Gizmodo both wrote articles about The Sweetening on their websites, with the former calling Black Mirror fans to watch the short.

 

The Sweetening television pilot landed Grace a semi-finalist position

(along with her Black Mirror spec) from the 2017 Disney Television

Writer’s Program, in which more than 3000 writers applied.

At the same time, her feature sci-fi thriller screenplay, THE 2ND LIFE,
was also a semi-finalist for the 2018 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.

 

Her second short film that she wrote, directed, acted in, and edited, was

BAG OF WORMS, a dramedy about a Halloween party that turns south when the issue of race comes up amongst friends. The short film was co-written by her husband, Michael Jaworski, and has numerous awards and accolades, including Best Comedy from the Georgia Shorts Film Festival, nominee for Best Director by the Atlanta Women's Comedy Film Festival, and Best Ensemble Cast from the Austin Comedy Short Film Film Festival. 

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In addition, Grace was recently selected as one of six finalists for the “New

Visions Award” for her soon-to-be published debut novel, PURE DESCENT, a sci-fi action thriller about the future of mixed race. Along with the numerous other feature screenplays and television scripts she has written, Grace continues to act professionally, and she's a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, both as an actor and writer/director. To see her full list of credits, please visit her IMDB profile here.

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Grace is currently prepping for her feature film directorial debut, MAD TIMES, a comedic social thriller that takes place at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.

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