Simone Ashwini Pillai (born 30 March 1995), known professionally as Simone Ashley, is a British actress. She is known for her breakout role in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

period drama ''

Bridgerton ''Bridgerton'' is an American historical- romance streaming television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. It revolves around the epony ...

'' (2022–present) and ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

'' (2019–2021).

Early life

Born Simone Ashwini Pillai to

Indian Tamil Indian Tamils may refer to: * Tamil people from or living in India * Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Malayaga Tamilar, Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country ...

parents Latha and Gunasekharan Pillai, Ashley is from

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and has an older brother. Ashley has spoken about how despite growing up in a household of academics, she was always drawn more towards the creative fields. Her parents were hesitant about her inclination to the arts. "My parents were quite protective over me," she told '' Glamour''. "They're first generation. They came from India to this country, so they didn't really have a life where they could choose to be whatever they wanted." Ashley grew up singing classical music, opera, and playing the piano. Ashley's family later moved to

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

where she attended

Beaconsfield High School Beaconsfield High School (commonly known as Becky High) is a girls' grammar school in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The school takes girls from the age of 12 through to the age of 18 (A-levels). In order to gain admission into Beaconsfield High ...

and later

Redroofs Theatre School Redroofs Theatre School is an independent part-time theatre training school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. The school was established in 1947 in London and moved to Littlewick Green in 1964 into a house that was once the home of Ivor Novello ...

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

for sixth form. She spent some of her teen years in California where she has relatives, and went on to train in acting at

Arts Educational School Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school based in Chiswick in the London Borough of Hounslow. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in mus ...

in West London.

Career

Early work (2016–2021)

Ashley's first acting role was in two episodes of fantasy teen drama

Wolfblood ''Wolfblood'' is a fantasy teen drama television series targeted at a young audience. Created by Debbie Moon, it is a co-production between CBBC and ZDF/ZDFE. The television series revolves around the life of the species known as wolfbloods. T ...

as Zuhra. This was followed by appearances in thriller series ''Guilt'' (2016), and crime drama ''

Broadchurch ''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV for three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote all 24 episodes and produced by Kudos in assoc ...

'' (2017)''.'' She made her

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

debut in 2018 with a small role in '' Boogie Man'' as Aarti, and a more prominent role in ''

Kill Ben Lyk ''Kill Ben Lyk'' is a British comedy thriller film written by Jean-Christophe Establet, Oliver Maltman and Erwan Marinopoulos, produced by the latter, released 2018 before a French release on VOD in 2020. In London, in two days times, three p ...

'' as one of the many characters named Ben Lyk. From 2019–2021 Ashley played the recurring role of Olivia Hanan in the

comedy-drama ''

''. She also appeared in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

psychological thriller miniseries '' The Sister'' as Elise Fox in 2020.

Breakthrough

Ashley was named one of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

s 2021 Brits to Watch. Having auditioned in 2020, it was announced in February 2021 that Ashley would star as leading lady Kate opposite

Jonathan Bailey Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor. Known for his comedic, dramatic, and musical roles on stage and screen, he is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award and a nomination for a Evening Standard Theatre Award. Ba ...

as Anthony in the second series of the

Shondaland Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first s ...

-produced Netflix romance period drama ''

'', based on the second novel in

Julia Quinn Julie Pottinger (née Cotler; born 1970), better known by her pen name Julia Quinn, is a best-selling American author of historical romance fiction. Her novels have been translated into 41 languages, and have appeared on ''The New York Times'' Be ...

's ''Bridgerton'' series,''

The Viscount Who Loved Me ''The Viscount Who Loved Me'' is a 2000 historical romance novel written by Julia Quinn, first published by Avon. It is the second novel of Quinn's Bridgerton series set in Regency England and tells the story of Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton wh ...

''. The series was released in March 2022. She is set to reprise her role for the third series. In 2022, Ashley featured in the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 list in European entertainment, the ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' 100 Next, and ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

s Great British and Irish Film and TV Breakouts. She will play Indira, a sister of Ariel in 2023 film), live-action film adaptation of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Simone Living people 1995 births 21st-century English actresses British actresses of Indian descent Actresses from Buckinghamshire Actresses from Surrey English people of Indian Tamil descent People educated at Redroofs Theatre School People educated at the Arts Educational Schools People from Beaconsfield People from Camberley