Ashley Park is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is a Grammy and Tony Award-nominated theater artist, popular for her role as Gretchen Wieners in the musical Mean Girls. In 2020, she played one of the main characters “Mindy Chen” in the Netflix series Emily in Paris.
Wiki/Biography
Ashley Park was born on Thursday, June 6, 1991 as Ashley Jini Park (29 years old in 2020) in Glendale, California. She grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she participated in community children’s theater. She attended a local public high school and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in musical theater. After that, she moved to New York City in 2014 and made her Broadway debut in the musical Mamma Mia!
Ashley Park with her mother as a child
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 5″
Hair color: dark brown
Eye color: Black
Family and Race
Ashley Park has Asian-American ancestry.
Parents and siblings
Ashley Park’s father’s name is Andrew Park and her mother’s name is Sara Park. Ashley Park’s sister’s name is Audrey Park.
Ashley Parker and her mother
Relationships, husbands and children
We know very little about her relationships.
Profession
As a theatre artist
Ashley began her acting career as a theater actress in Michigan. In 2009, she was a member of the chorus in the musical Miss Saigon. Since then, she has starred in many plays such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2010), Jesus Christ Superstar (2010), Love Changes Everything (2011), etc., which earned her a membership card from the American Actors Equity Association. In 2014, she moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut in the musical Mamma Mia!, in which she was a member of the chorus. In the same year, she played the sweet and quirky stepsister “Gabrielle” in the play Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which was her first major role. In 2015, she came into the spotlight for her role as Tuptim in the play The King and I.
Ashley Park in The King and I (2015)
In 2017, she played another important role as Gretchen Weiners in the play Mean Girls. She received great acclaim for her role as Gretchen Weiners and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
In September 2017, she played the role of Korean pop star “Mwe” in the Drama Desk Award-winning drama “KPOP”. Later, she appeared in many dramas such as “Ladies in the Dark” (2019), “The Great Horizon” (2019), “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (2020), etc.
television
In 2014, she made her television debut in the TV documentary series My Dirty Little Secret, playing the role of Ann Racz.
Ashley Park in My Dirty Little Secret (2014)
Afterwards, she starred in the television series Nightcap (2017), in which she played the role of Olivia Cho.
OTT/Web Series
Ashley Park made her digital screen debut in Netflix’s Tales of the City where she played the role of Jennifer Ani Winter.
In 2020, she played one of the main characters “Mindy Chen” in the Netflix series Emily in Paris, starring alongside Lily Collins, Lucas Bravo, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Samuel Arnold and Camille Lazarte.
Movie
In 2014, Ashley made her film debut in Are You Kidding Me?, where she played a cameo as a date at a party.
Awards/Honors
- Willis Patterson Diversity Award (2013)
- Nominated for the 2016 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role in the play KPOP
- Won the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical for the drama “KPOP”
- Nominated for the Drama League Award (2016) for Outstanding Performance in a Play
- Nominated for the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Mean Girls
- Nominated for the Drama League Award (2018) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role in Mean Girls
- Nominated for Outer Critics Circle Award (2018) for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
- Nominated for the 2018 Chita Rivera Dance and Choreography Award for Outstanding Female Dancer on Broadway
- Clarence Derwent Award (2018)
- Marin Mazzie Empowerment Award for the Cancer Support Community (2019)
Facts/Trivia
- Park has been passionate about performing arts since she was a child. At the age of three, she enrolled at Oceanside Dance Academy and began studying piano at the age of five. Later, in middle school, she discovered musical theatre, a platform where she could showcase her dance and music skills.
- At the age of 15, Ashley Parker was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood cancer caused by an increase in the number of white blood cells in the body. Being diagnosed with this chronic disease made her ambitious about her acting career. In an interview, she said:
After that experience, I didn’t want to be seen as the sick girl anymore, so in my junior year of high school, two months after I was released from the hospital, I started rehearsing for the role of Millie in Modern Millie. I had a lot of fun doing it.”
- She is an active member of the acclaimed Musical Theatre Program at the University of Michigan. Parker is also the co-founder of Michigan Performance Workshop Outreach (MPOW), an organization dedicated to providing performing arts educational opportunities to urban youth in Detroit whose arts programs have been eliminated due to budget cuts.
- While most actors quit their jobs to earn extra income once they debuted, Park continued to work the 6 a.m. shift at Juice Press while starring in the Broadway show Mamma Mia!
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education