American actress, model, and singer (born 1989)

Ashley Victoria Benson (born December 18, 1989) is an American actress, model and singer. She has received various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, two Teen Choice Awards and a nomination for the Capricho Award for Best International Actress.

Following child dance and choir roles, Benson made her acting debut in a 2002 episode of the crime drama series The District and eventually received her first film role with a small role in the Gary Winick fantasy romantic comedy film 13 Going On 30 (2004). She then gained the attention of casting directors who awarded her the role of Abigail Deveraux in the daytime soap opera series Days of Our Lives (2004–2007). In 2010, following supporting roles in the comedy film Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007) and the television drama Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal (2008), Benson received her breakthrough role as Hanna Marin in I. Marlene King's Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017)—a mystery drama series loosely based on the book series of the same name—and received critical recognition and multiple awards for her performance.

Following this role, she has starred in several other films; including Brendan Kramer's debut film Ratter, Chris Columbus' fantasy comedy Pixels (both 2015), Liza Johnson's Elvis Presley biopic Elvis & Nixon, the Xavier Manrique comedy-drama Chronically Metropolitan (both 2016), Alex Ross Perry's musical drama Her Smell (2018), Jimmy Giannopoulos' crime thriller The Birthday Cake (2021), and Chadd Harbold's romance thriller Private Property (2022); with her performance in Her Smell earning specific critical recognition. She has also made ventures into music, with featured appearances in G-Eazy's rendition of the Radiohead song "Creep", as well as singing for the soundtrack of Her Smell.

A teen idol and sex symbol, much of Benson's public and personal life has been frequently scrutinized by the media, mostly surrounding her personal relationships and sexuality. From 2018 to 2020, she was in a high-profile relationship with model Cara Delevingne, and has since been in a relationship with rapper G-Eazy. As of May 2022, she has over 22.6 million followers on Instagram.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 2000s: Early work and recognition
  • 2.2 2010–2018: Transition to drama and breakthrough
  • 2.3 2018–present: Focus on film and music ventures
• 3 Personal life
• 4 Filmography
  • 4.1 Film
  • 4.2 Television
  • 4.3 Web
  • 4.4 Music videos
• 5 Discography
  • 5.1 Songwriting credits
• 6 Awards and nominations
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Early life

Benson was born on December 18, 1989, in Anaheim Hills, California, to parents Shannon and Jeff Benson. She has an older sister, Shaylene.

Career

2000s: Early work and recognition

Benson began dancing compe*ively at age three, studying ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop. She began singing in choirs and musicals at a young age, performing a solo at her church at age four. When she was eight years old she signed with Ford Models, and appeared in a number of print ads.

Benson appeared on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives as Abigail Deveraux from 2004 to 2007.

Benson made her big screen debut with a bit part in the 2004 comedy 13 Going on 30. She starred as Carson in Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007), the fourth installment of the Bring It On franchise. The role required her to both overcome her fear of heights to perform the cheerleading stunts, and to end her contract with Days of our Lives:

I got off it, I mean I had talked with the producers about doing this film, and they weren't going to let me do it... I had just p*ed up so many opportunities where I could have done a film. So this big thing just came up, and I ended up getting to do this. I'm happier that I got off the soap though. I mean I give all my credit to them, because I have learned so much from being on soap operas and working with amazing actors who've been on there for like thirty, forty years. It was an honor to work with them. It's definitely given me all my background. But getting off the soap opera helped me a lot too, because I can move on to bigger and better things. So I am definitely thankful I got to be on a soap opera though.

She recalled working on a film set instead of a soap opera set "definitely weird", because she would spend days working on one or two scenes, whereas on the Days of Our Lives set, she filmed two or three episodes a day. For Bring It On: In It to Win It, she had to attend cheerleading practice, which was "hard for , because afraid of heights." Nonetheless, she was "glad" to do her own stunts, even though she "wasn't expecting it to be so hard."

In 2008, she appeared in the Lifetime original film Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, where she played head cheerleader Brooke Tippit, a character loosely inspired by Karrissa Theret of the Fab Five. The film is based on a true story which took place at McKinney North High School in Texas. She became good friends with her onscreen mother Tatum O'Neal, from whom she learned about acting. Furthermore, she was excited to land a supporting role in Bart Got a Room, which aired mainly on film festivals in 2008 before having a limited release in 2009, because it allowed her to work with William H. Macy. She also played a witch disguised as a cheerleader in a 2008 episode of The CW series Supernatural.

In 2009, Benson starred in ABC's short-lived supernatural comedy television series Eastwick. The show was based on John Updike's novel, The Witches of Eastwick, and the 1987 film adaption of the same name. The series only lasted 11 episodes before ABC cancelled the series due to low ratings but has since gained a cult following.

2010–2018: Transition to drama and breakthrough

Benson in 2012

In December 2009, Benson was cast as Hanna Marin in the ABC Family mystery-thriller teen drama series Pretty Little Liars, based on the novel series by Sara Shepard. Hanna is the "diva" and "It girl" of the group, having taken Alison DiLaurentis' place as the most popular girl at Rosewood High in Alison's absence. The series premiered to 2.47 million viewers with Benson's performance being praised by critics. She also received a number of awards and nominations. Benson reprised the role in the spin-off series Ravenswood in two episodes.

In 2010, Benson starred in the television film Christmas Cupid alongside Christina Milian and Chad Michael Murray, which also aired on ABC Family. In January 2012, Benson was cast in the film Spring Breakers, after Emma Roberts dropped out due to creative reasons. The film centers on four college students who are arrested and bailed out by a drug and arms dealer, who sends them out to do some dirty work on spring break. The film co-starred Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and James Franco. Filming took place in March and April 2012, and the film was released in March 2013.

In the January 21, 2013, episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Benson appeared as Carly Whittaker, Barney Stinson's half-sister who dated Ted Mosby. That same month, Benson became the face of eveningwear designer Faviana.

She starred in the 2015 independent horror thriller film Ratter, playing Emma Taylor, a girl who is stalked through her technological devices. That same year, she also appeared in Pixels as Lady Lisa, a fictional game character brought to life. In 2016, Benson appeared in the biographical comedy-drama film Elvis & Nixon as Margaret.

2018–present: Focus on film and music ventures

In 2018, it was announced that Benson would star alongside Cara Delevingne and Elisabeth Moss in Alex Ross Perry's music drama film Her Smell, and the film received generally positive reviews, with Benson becoming a contender for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. For the film's soundtrack, Benson did all her own vocals.

In 2020, Benson was featured on "Creep" by G-Eazy, a cover version of the Radiohead song. She also appeared in the music videos for NLT's "That Girl", One Call's "Black Light", and Hot Chelle Rae's "Honestly".

Personal life

Benson is bisexual. From 2018 to 2020, she was in a high-profile relationship with English model Cara Delevingne, and has since been in an on-again, off-again relationship with rapper G-Eazy. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Music videos

Discography

Songwriting credits

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Ashley Benson at IMDb:
• Ashley Benson at AllMovie
• Ashley Benson spokesmodel for Faviana