Rowan attended playwriting courses at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has written her own play. She began modeling in her college years to earn extra cash, becoming involved in acting while working in commercials. Her acting career took off in 1980. Appearing in such movies as The Gate, Hook, Three to Tango, One Eight Seven, and A Girl Thing, Rowan remained a recognizable face without a well-known name for years, guest-starring in television shows such as The Outer Limits, Growing Pains, Da Vinci's Inquest, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Dallas. In 1993 She won a Gemini award for her work in the TV-movie Adrift.

In 2002, Rowan guest-starred in three episodes of Boomtown, playing "Marian", the deceived wife of David McNorris (Neal McDonough); she returned for one last episode in 2003. That same year, she was cast as Kirsten Cohen on the new FOX program, The O.C., alongside Peter Gallagher, Tate Donovan, Adam Brody, Benjamin McKenzie, and Melinda Clarke, with