Rowan guest-starred in television series 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 television movie Adrift. In 1995–96 she played Matty Shaw, a funeral parlor operator and gun smith, in the TV series Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years. In 2002, Rowan guest-starred in four episodes of Boomtown, playing "Marian", the deceived wife of David McNorris (Neal McDonough). In 2003, she was cast as Kirsten Cohen, a recovering alcoholic mother on The O.C., a Fox television series. In 2006, she won a Prism Award for this role. From 2012 to 2015, she starred as Natalie Vincent in the TNT series, Perception.
