Ashley Taylor

Ashley was born in East London, South Africa in 1968. He grew up in sight of the sea, with a brother and sister and two doting parents. He attended Selborne Primary and College, the latter established in 1879. This traditional school, with its vast history (many of its pupils fought and died in both world wars) provided the inspiration and backdrop for an avid interest in the arts, music, and literature. A relentless reader, an unstoppable performer, and a natural musician, Ashley spent most of those years developing the talents that would eventually become a career. He completed school at 17, and was chosen for the Rotary exchange programme. He spent 1985 studying in Australia, and promoting South Africa, a difficult task in the turbulent eighties. Enriched, and inspired, he returned to South Africa and enrolled at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He spent four years there, and completed a Bachelor of Arts, and an Honours degree in the Dramatic Arts, under the tutelage of such writers as Andre Brink, and playwright Reza De Wet. He performed lead roles at the International Grahamstown festival over that time in productions such as Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, The Crucible and Midsummer Nights Dream, A coveted bursary, allowed him another year of study, at the University of Cape Town, where he completed a Higher Diploma in Education. Though his passion for the Arts was paramount, he indulged his love of teaching the following year by teaching English at Selborne College. He opened a Drama school in 1993 in East London, The A.R.T Studio, which gave inspiration to over 120 budding young actors and musicians. The lure of stage and screen was too strong though, and Ashley packed the proverbial suitcase and set off to Johannesburg to find fame and fortune, just eight short years ago. His success in that time has been remarkable. A soap star, voice over artist, writer, and natural comic, he has captured the attention of critics and fans. His recent portrayal of an everyman mine captain, in the award winning South African soap, Isidingo, led to a best actor nomination. A prolific writer, his hilarious advertising campaigns, in which he portrays atypical characters from South African society, has had the nation in stitches for over five years. He has toured locally and internationally with theatre productions like Hair, The Buddy Holly Story, Mojo and African Tales. He has appeared all over the world in some of the biggest international advertising campaigns, and is renowned for his delicate and measured character portrayals. He has performed lead roles in international television series such as Soldier Soldier, The Black Velvet Band, and recently, The Switch. A prolific voice over artist, with National Geographic and Discovery channel narration credits to his name, he has become one of the countries leading voices, in both radio and television. He has completed a novel, and a screenplay, and is confident of their success in the months to come. His biggest film credit thus far, is Stander (2003), a lead role which can only further an already outstanding career. He hopes to make New York his home in 2004.