About Me

 

Hi! Thanks for checking out my website!

 

My name is Ashley Griffin. I was born and raised in Los Angeles (I'm now bicoastal but primarily based in NYC).  I don’t come from an entertainment family, but I was that kid whose only rule growing up was “you can’t put on shows in the living room before 7am.” I’ve always loved, not just performing, but creating stories (I would boss family members/babysitters around when acting out fairy tales with them,  telling them what to say, what actions to perform and that they needed to “try it again”. Finally I was put me in an acting class, and I found my home. I started performing professionally when I was five years old (at my own behest.) My mom, who’s in no way a stage mom (after a minimum day of school one day she picked me up, told me I had an audition, but, she thought it would be fun to go to Disneyland. I said I would rather go to the audition.) She wisely made sure that I got actual training. As a result I was the kid who “knew what I was doing” and was who you call when you need a “serious actor” (I made my Shakespeare debut when I was eight.)

 

I also wrote my first musical when I was eight – for my third grade class to put on (having started acting when I was five, for a while I was convinced that I would never be able to be a professional writer as I’d “lost three good years of training that I would never get back.”) The whole time I was performing (in addition to film, T.V. and theater in L.A. I toured to London and Stratford and had the opportunity to train at the RSC and the National) I was still writing, and ultimately had my first play professionally produced when I was seventeen.

 

I went to college at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and then stayed in NYC (always knowing I wanted to work on Broadway.) I was fortunate that my acting and writing careers holistically grew together, and I’ve had the opportunity to work on Broadway (as well as in Film/T.V.) as a performer and a writer. As a writer my work has been produced/developed at New World Stages, MTC, Playwrights Horizons and more. I’ve worked as a Broadway ghost writer, and am known as a go to “show doctor.” I won the WellLife Network Award and a county commendation for my off-Broadway play “Trial” (directed by Lori Petty) which is gearing up for a new run helmed by lead producer Fred Rohan-Vargas (“Company”, “Parade”) which I will also be in. One review of the show said: “If this show were on Broadway it would win the Pulitzer.” I'm also the author of two bestselling novels. As a performer I've worked at The Gershwin Theater, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, MTC and in extensive NYC productions of musicals, classics and, my favorite, new work. I've performed in London, L.A., Chicago and have appeared in such films/shows as The Greatest Showman, Homeland, The Deuce and more and I am the first person to be nominated for a major award for both playing and directing "Hamlet" (for a theatrical production.) I have several projects in development (as a writer and performer) that would take up too much space if all listed here. Feel free to check out many of my projects under the "Writing" dropdown menu.

 

And in other fun trivia, just a couple weeks ago I was selected as one of the writers to have their work included (along with that of Shakespeare and other major authors) in collaboration with NASA on the Griffin-1 Lander’s Moon Capsule (yes, ironic name) which will remain on the lunar surface (at the lunar South Pole’s Nobile Crater) to archive and preserve Earth’s literary artistic achievements. 

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I was dubbed "The Theatrical Hermione Granger" by my teachers at NYU and the moniker has stuck. My "essence" is a unique combination of vulnerability and strength, intelligence and innocence. While I have written in many styles and genres I especially enjoy magical realism and heightened language. If you're looking for a "Joan of Arc" a "Little Mermaid" (the original, Andersen version) or a female Frodo Baggins - look no further!