BIOGRAPHY - ACTING
Ashley Williams is a versatile actress and brings her talents to both comedies and dramas in the mediums of film, television, and theatre. She has shot 200+ episodes of television, a dozen+ tv pilots, and two dozen tv movies. She’s been on Broadway, off-Broadway, and worked in regional theatre. She has a multi-year deal with Hallmark Media to star in, direct, write, and produce films for them. She also started a women’s directing initiative there called “Make Her Mark”.
Ashley stars on the Bonnie Hunt-created series AMBER BROWN for Apple TV+. She starred in THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW on Comedy Central, playing Jeannie Gaffigan, based on Jim’s real-life wife. Ashley appeared alongside Jessica Chastain and Oscar Issac in the critically-acclaimed film A MOST VIOLENT YEAR. She also starred in the Warner Brothers comedy SOMETHING BORROWED with Kate Hudson and John Krasinski. Her other film credits include J.C. Chandor’s Oscar-nominated indie drama MARGIN CALL, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and starring in SEQUIN RAZE, the short film by Sarah Gertrude Shapiro that won South By Southwest and played New Directors/New Films at MoMA. Ashley also stars in MEATS, a short film that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, which she also wrote and directed.
Ashley had a memorable, longtime recurring role on the CBS comedy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, as Victoria, “the cupcake girl that got away.” She was so popular on the show that she won an online poll as to whom fans would most like to see the as “the mother.” Her other television credits include recurring roles on the Holly Hunter TNT series SAVING GRACE, SyFy’s WAREHOUSE 13, Lifetime’s SIDE ORDER OF LIFE, Showtime’s award-winning HUFF, and NBC’s E-RING, as well as guest-starring roles on THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, CSI, MONK, THE MENTALIST, THE GOOD WIFE, PSYCH, LAW & ORDER: SVU, and HBO’s final season of GIRLS, to name a few.
Ashley first won over audiences as a teenager when she played Meg Ryan's daughter, Dani Andropolous, on AS THE WORLD TURNS. Later she starred alongside Mark Feuerstein on the NBC television series GOOD MORNING MIAMI and in the film MONTANA SKY opposite John Corbett. She starred in the two SNOW movies opposite Tom Cavanagh for ABC, as well as AT RISK and THE FRONT with Andie McDowell for Lifetime.
Born in Westchester, New York, Ashley studied at Boston University’s School of Theatre Arts and spent a year abroad at LAMDA and RADA in London. She was a member of the acting company at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her first job out of drama school was understudying both Rachel Weisz and Gretchen Mol in the Off-Broadway play THE SHAPE OF THINGS, which was written and directed by Neil LaBute. At various times during the run of the play, Ashley performed both roles opposite Paul Rudd. She also starred alongside Wendie Malick in the Off-Broadway play BURLEIGH GRIMES at the Dodger Stages and starred on Broadway opposite Tom Skerritt and Sebastian Arcelus in “A TIME TO KILL, based on the best-selling John Grisham novel.
Outside of her work as an actor, Ashley is also a semi-retired birth doula. A doula offers emotional, physical and informational support to mothers and their partners leading up to labor through childbirth, and postpartum. A Boston University alumna, she currently splits her time between Los Angeles and New York with her husband, producer Neal Dodson, and their two young sons.
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