It was about 5 a.m. when the ghost started haunting .
She was straight off a much-delayed flight from Los Angeles and eager to finally get some sleep in her Manhattan hotel room. Alas, the supernatural world had other plans. The door suddenly swung open on its own, making the actor bolt upright in bed.
“I don’t even believe in this stuff!” Ashley laughs later that day when we meet for fettuccine, fries, and espresso martinis—the “comfort food” she needs. “I swear something was there. It scared the crap out of me.
” That’s saying something, because at this point, you’d think it would take a to frighten Ashley. . She won over Broadway’s notoriously picky audiences as , nabbing a Tony Award nomination in the process.
She’s endured auditions where the only feedback was “No, you’re Asian” and held her own onscreen with Meryl Streep and ( ), Ali Wong ( ), and Sherry Cola ( ). And this past January, . Doctors thought she might die; instead, she got out of bed and filmed the ( , where it remains one of the platform’s most-viewed shows ever).
Through it all, Ashley has publicly transmitted an unrelenting “happy but chill” aura. Her halogen smile, glossy hair, and sunny-yet-structured style (pink Balmain tweeds and black Nina Ricci ruffles mixed with everygirl athleisure) are the visual version of a “Trust me, I’M FINE” text. On anyone else, this vibe would come off annoyingly fake.
On Ashley, it somehow feels refreshingly natural—because it�.