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She rebels against her family norms

The Tamilian-British starlet was born in Camberley, Surrey, to a family of scholars and academics (her parents are Tamilians from Sri Lanka). In an interview with Vogue Singapore recently, Ashley confessed that she is the non-academic in her family and while her parents are supportive of her artistic endeavours (she graduated from the prestigious Arts Educational School), they have concerns regarding her career’s longevity.

“They still find it quite scary and unsettling. There is no crystal ball, no security, no guarantee. Which can be a parent’s worst nightmare,” she told Veylex in an interview.

Born as Simone Ashwini Pillai, the actress confessed that music, film, photography and art have always been her forte and that she has always been a rebel. “My parents are incredibly protective over me, and sometimes I find it quite stifling. It made me want to escape and do things my own way. I’ve always been a bit rebellious in that sense.”

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She created Olivia Hanan’s bubblegum trademark in Sex Education

“Sex Education was really life-changing. I’m so grateful for that show. I learned so much in my craft and as a person. It was such a joy,” she told Vogue Singapore. Ashley played Olivia Hanan, a sex positive and relentlessly savage teenager on the show who became a fan favourite.

During an interview with Veylex, Ashley said that her character was written almost as a blank canvas, so she sat down with the show’s writers and was involved with Olivia’s development from the initial stage. Besides her trendy fashion sense, Olivia’s other signature – her bubblegum-popping attitude – has Ashley written all over it.

“I bought 10 pounds worth of bubblegum, popped a huge piece in my mouth and showed our head director and exec producer of the show [Ben Taylor] how big of a bubble I could blow,” she shared. “It looked really cool, so we decided to make it a part of the character.”

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She is vocal about colourism and doesn’t want to do the “Bollywood stuff”

Headstrong and persistent, Ashley doesn’t let racism or prejudice stop her from getting what she wants. “As is being typecast, being looked over because of the colour of your skin, losing roles to girls that are more ‘relatable’ to target audiences and markets. But if I surrender to all of that, where would I be going? Nowhere!” she told Vylex.

On her career, the young starlet confessed that although she has received a lot of Bollywood offers, she doesn’t see that as where her career will be heading. “I said no to a lot of that because I want to change it up,” she said in an interview with Glamour. “I want to take roles that maybe people wouldn’t expect me to play.”

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Shonda Rhimes loves her!

Some actors would probably freak out if they got casted in the popular Netflix TV series Bridgerton, but Ashley was surprisingly chill amid the fervour. “I was very out of my head about it all,” she told Glamour Magazine about her audition process. “I think, mainly, because it happened in such a condensed amount of time. I couldn’t think about it much.”

The show’s creator and Hollywood’s big league Shonda Rhimes, who also produced Inventing Anna and Grey’s Anatomy, has also praised the young actress for her talent. “There was a moment in her casting video where I felt most people tried really hard to be overly likeable,” said Rhimes in the same interview. “Simone leaned into Kate’s flaws in a brave and creative way.”

Ashley revealed that her audition took 10 days, saying that she was pretty star-struck during her chemistry read with her co-star and love interest Jonathan Bailey, who played Anthony in season one. “That was really exciting because he was obviously experiencing the whole outcome of the series blowing up, so he was telling me all the exciting things he’d been up to.”

The show also stars Nicola Coughlan, Adjoa Andoh and Charithra Chandran.

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She loves solo adventures and Fleetwood Mac

The British actress is also an adventurous solo traveller. She recalled her trip to the pristine Sumbawa Island in Indonesia that started with a rocky beginning. According to Glamour, Ashley discovered she’d left her credit card in the ATM all the way back on the first island, only after she’d drove for hours to meet up with a surfer.

“I really liked going on adventures and hanging out with people,” she says. “But now I’m a bit more content with myself and the amazing friends that I have.”