Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley C. Williams.
Ashley, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started around age ten when my mom took me to an audition for the play Peter Pan in my home town of Charlottesville, Virginia. I think I must have driven her nuts, so much energy, always putting on wild theatrics in the house with my siblings. I ended up getting the part of Tiger Lily and I was like “oooo the one that gets captured! cooool!”. I immediately fell in love with being on stage, the energy from the audience, it made me feel so alive. From then on I think I did like ten musicals and plays in Charlottesville including the title roles of Annie and Anne Frank. I knew right away that that’s what I wanted to do in life. Fortunately, I grew up with parents who are very supportive of the creative arts. They allowed me the freedom to figure out who I was or wanted to be, instead of pushing me in a certain direction.
After finishing high school, I got into The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I felt completely in my element there. It was a place where you had to leave everything you’d ever learned outside the door and walk in with a clean slate. It was a two-year conservatory and from there I was invited to join their third-year Repertory Class after receiving their highest honor – The Charles Jehlenger Award. The one downside of that school is that they gave you the technique, but they didn’t prepare you for the outside world—the Industry.. Hollywood, Broadway, auditioning, agents, casting directors, how to navigate all of that, how not to quit after you get rejected a gazillion times. But honestly, you have to experience it for yourself to figure it out. But I just had this pure will, drive, and crazy passion.. and of course the Universe guiding me to where I was meant to go, or not.. because next thing I landed my first film role which would forever change my life. One year after graduating acting school, I got the lead in The Human Centipede.
Being a part of that movie is a massive story in and of itself, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but basically, it was a big career shift for me and an even bigger risk. I had no idea if it would work, but I figured well if the movie’s shit no one will see it and I’d be fine. But what happened is it was actually a pretty good movie and the ENTIRE WORLD SAW IT OR AT LEAST KNOWS ABOUT IT! After starring in some new off-Broadway shows, co-founding a theater company and dabbling in some small indie films, I landed the lead role in the psychological revenge thriller JULIA – which not only changed my career again but also my life. I won 8 Best Actress awards from film festivals all over the world and I fell in love with the writer/director of the movie and we’re now married with two kids.
I’ve since gone on to do two more movies with my husband, playing the lead female roles in his two subsequent feature films, ALBANIAN GANGSTER, which just had its World Premiere and actually there’s this crazy cool New York Time feature on it and how it came together.. and then we’re now in postproduction on another gangster film also set in the Albanian criminal underworld. All of this while have our two baby boys and moving back to LA, so it’s been a pretty insane ride.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not. I think living in New York City as a budding actress was the biggest struggle. I mean I was every cliche you can think of, even convinced I (like everyone else) had something special to offer. I was homeless for a week in New York. My parents would always say “come home come home” – which I understood from their perspective as worried parents, but I was too stubborn and always listened to my heart. I knew I needed to stay and keep going. Anytime someone told me to quit that only fueled my desire and this strength would come in. If someone says I can’t do something, my tendency is to go and prove that I can. In all aspects of my life.
Another pretty crazy – and very unusual – struggle was during my husband’s prep for ALBANIAN GANGSTER when I was pregnant with our first child. He was out researching ALL NIGHT and coming home at 6am and ‘having fun’, while I was home and having trouble getting enough sleep, worrying about being a new mom, worrying about whether or not my husband would actually make it home in one piece.. there’s enough stories here for a whole book, but I’ll leave it there.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m an actress, known for The Human Centipede (First Sequence), revenge thriller JULIA, and the new crime drama Albanian Gangster. I’m most proud of my work in JULIA. For me, it was a role of a lifetime. It was certainly the most memorable time too as it’s where I met my husband to be and we just had such an incredible time on set and throughout the entire universe of that movie. I’m also very proud of being a part of Albanian Gangster. It was a smaller role than JULIA but I lived and breathed my husband’s entire process of making that film from the research through World Premiere and up to the present as the insanity continues.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
California, in general, has a very special place in my heart. I’ve lived in and out of LA for the past six years and every time I’m here, I always look forward to the Mexican Food, the dry desert air, hiking the mountains and plunging in the Pacific. I prefer finding the non-touristy secluded beaches more up north, where it’s more rocky and unique. When I first moved to LA, I lived in Venice beach and loved the lifestyle there. I felt a sense of community and this small beach town vibe where everyone was super healthy, fit and stylish! I definitely vibe more towards that lifestyle. I eat plant-based foods, have been doing yoga forever, and would prefer to walk around barefoot with a boho-style dress. One thing that was tricky when I first moved here, I had a hard time making friends, I just had this feeling that it was always about, what can I do for you and vice versa. But now everything has shifted. Of course I’m a mother now and also further along in my career, so I just feel pretty ecstatic being back on the ground here. We found a dream home in Ojai at the foot of the mountains with like a 14-mile trail out of our back yard.. the perfect place for me to exercise my nature and deep inner Amazon Goddess Cosmic Wolf nature. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SubversiveFilms.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/AshleyCWilliams
Image Credit:
Bjoern Knechtel, Sam Zacherich
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