Childhood & Early Life
Ashley was born on August 9, 1983, in Camarillo, California, US, to Clifford Johnson and Nancy Spruiell Johnson. Her father was the captain of an exploration ship, and her mother was an independent film producer. She is their youngest daughter.
Her father bagged a new job when Ashley was just nine days old, leading the family to relocate to Franklin, Michigan. At 15, Ashley completed her high-school graduation. In July 2000, she lost her father to Hepatitis C and cancer.
Her family has rich musical roots. She is the granddaughter of noted concert pianist Evelyn Taft, also known as Evelyn Johnson. Ashley is trained in classical piano and can play the ukulele and the guitar, too.
She has an elder brother, Chris, who appeared in the TV series ‘The District.’ Her elder sister, Haylie, is also an actor, best known for her work in the American children's TV program ‘Kids Incorporated.’
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Career
Ashley ventured into acting when she was 6 years of age. She played ‘Christine Ellen "Chrissy" Seaver,’ as part of the main cast of the ‘ABC’ sitcom ‘Growing Pains.’ She performed in a total of 47 episodes of the series, from 1990 to 1992.
She earned three ‘Young Artist Award’ nominations for her role of ‘Chrissy’ in ‘Growing Pains,’ in 1991, 1992, and 1993. She later reprised the role in the two American made-for-TV reunion films based on the series, ‘The Growing Pains Movie’ (2000) and ‘Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers’ (2004).
Meanwhile, she bagged the role of ‘Nicole Gaultier’ in the action film ‘Lionheart,’ appearing alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brian Thompson, Lisa Pelikan, Deborah Rennard, and Harrison Page. The film released on January 11, 1991, and became a huge commercial success.
She portrayed ‘Mary Margaret Doolan’ in all 22 episodes of the American sitcom ‘Phenom,’ which aired on ‘ABC’ for a season, from September 14, 1993, to May 10, 1994.
The ‘ABC’ sitcom ‘All-American Girl,’ which aired from September 14, 1994, to March 15, 1995, featured her as ‘Casey Emmerson’ in 12 of its 19 episodes.
The hit romantic-comedy film ‘Nine Months,’ which released on July 14, 1995, and had Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore in lead roles, saw Ashley playing the role of ‘Shannon Dwyer.’
She essayed the role of ‘Gracie Wallace’ in the ‘ABC’ sitcom ‘Maybe This Time,’ which aired from September 15, 1995, to February 17, 1996.
Apart from creating her niche as an actor, with different TV and film productions, Ashley also ventured into voice acting. One of her notable initial voice roles was that of ‘Peter Shepherd’ in all three seasons of the animated TV series ‘Jumanji,’ which was broadcast from September 8, 1996, to March 11, 1999.
While working on ‘Jumanji,’ she landed up doing the voice role of ‘Gretchen Grundler,’ a child prodigy, in the American animated series ‘Recess,’ which aired for six seasons, from August 31, 1997, to November 5, 2001.
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She also played ‘Alex Marshall,’ alongside Mel Gibson, in the romantic comedy ‘What Women Want.’ The film released on December 15, 2000, and became a sensational hit, grossing $374 million against a budget of $70 million.
In 2001, she reprised the role of ‘Gretchen’ from ‘Recess’ in the animated comedy ‘Recess: School's Out’ and in the direct-to-video animated ‘Disney’ film ‘Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street.’ In 2003, she essayed the same role in the direct-to-video animated films ‘Recess: All Growed Down’ and ‘Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade.’ She played the same role in the animated TV series ‘Lilo & Stitch: The Series’ in 2006.
One of her notable voice roles was that of ‘Gwen Tennyson’ in the animated TV series ‘Ben 10: Alien Force,’ aired on ‘Cartoon Network’ for three seasons, from April 18, 2008, to March 26, 2010. She also reprised the role in other versions of the ‘Ben 10’ franchise, including ‘Ben 10: Ultimate Alien’ (2010–2012) and ‘Ben 10: Omniverse’ (2012–2014).
Over the years, she has lent her voice to many other productions, such as the TV series ‘Teen Titans’ (2004–2006), ‘Pound Puppies (2011–2013), ‘Teen Titans Go!’ (2013–2016), and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (2015–2017).
Since September 2015, she has been appearing as ‘Patterson,’ an ‘FBI’ special agent and the head of the ‘FBI’ forensic science unit, in the ‘NBC’ crime-drama TV series ‘Blindspot.’
Other notable TV projects featuring Ashley include the series ‘Kelly Kelly’ (1998), ‘Dirt’ (2008), and ‘The Killing’ (2011–2012). She has also been part of many notable films, such as the 2009 sex comedy ‘Spread,’ the 2011 period drama ‘The Help,’ the 2012 superhero film ‘The Avengers,’ and the 2012 black-and-white romantic comedy ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’
She appeared as ‘Ms. Taylor’ in the 2008 drama ‘Juveniles.’
Her upcoming films include ‘Weight,’ which is scheduled to be released in June 2018.
She has also appeared in the web series ‘Spooked’ (2014) and ‘Force Grey: Giant Hunters’ (2016). She is part of the ongoing web series ‘Critical Role,’ which featured her as ‘Pike Trickfoot’ from 2015 to 2017 and presently features her as ‘Yasha.’
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Since mid-2000, she has also lent her voice to several video-game characters. She played the role of ‘Terra’ in ‘Teen Titans’ (2005). She also appeared as ‘Gwen Tennyson’ in ‘Ben 10: Alien Force’ (2008), ‘FusionFall’ (2009), ‘Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks’ (2009), ‘Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex’ (2010), and ‘Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction’ (2010). She appeared as ‘Spider-Gwen’ in ‘Marvel Heroes’ (2015). She also appeared as ‘Beth the Waitress’ in ‘Lego Marvel's Avengers’ (2016).
She won the ‘BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer’ twice, for portraying ‘Ellie’ in the ‘PlayStation’ exclusive ‘The Last of Us’ (2013) and in its downloadable content, ‘The Last of Us: Left Behind’ (2014). The former also earned her the ‘VGX Award’ for the ‘Best Voice Actress.’
