Ashley Rickards rose to fame in the late 2000s after playing Samantha Walker aka “Sam” in The CW series One Tree Hill. She also starred as Jenna Hamilton in the MTV comedy-drama series Awkward, for which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination. What is she up to nowadays? Let’s find out.
About Ashley Rickards
Ashley Rickards grew up on a horse farm in Sarasota, Florida, At the age of thirteen, she participated in an opera production, which was also her first taste of acting. After graduating from high school, she traveled to LA, where she began to play various minor roles. Due to child labor laws, however, she was restricted on how many hours she could work.
After playing a number of minor roles, she landed a recurring role in the teen drama series One Tree Hill, playing the role of Samantha Walker, a runaway foster child. While she only appeared in one season, the experience taught her many acting techniques.
Landing Her First Lead Role On Television
From there, she made a couple of guest appearances in the series Entourage and Outlaw before landing her first lead role in the MTV comedy-drama series Awkward. Created by Lauren Lungerich, the show centers around Jenna Hamilton, a young teen (played by Rickards) who struggles with her identity after being mistaken for attempting suicide. Other cast members include Nikki DeLoach, Beau Mirchoff, Jillian Rose Reed, Molly Tarlov, Brett Davern, and Dexi Lydic.
Premiered on July 19, 2011, the series was well received upon its release, with many critics praising the show for its writing. In total, it ran for five seasons, ending in May 2016. For her portrayal of the lead character, Rickards received a Teen Choice Award nomination for Summer TV Star: Female and a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Comedy Actress.
In between seasons of Awkard, she also appeared in American Horror Story: Murder House and Robot Chicken.
Later in 2016, she landed a recurring role in The CW superhero series The Flash, playing the part of Rosalind Dillon, a metahuman who has the ability to induce vertigo via eye contact. She made her first appearance in the seventh season and later returned for the eighth season.
What’s Ashley Rickards Doing Now In 2024?
In 2017, she co-starred in the teen comedy film The Outcast, which follows a group of misfit teens who come together to overthrow the popular group at school. In it, she plays the part of Virginia Vanderkamp, a depressed loner who financially helps with the group’s plan. She’s joined by fellow actors Eden Sher, Victoria Justice, Claudia Lee, Katie Chang, and Peyton List.
That same year, she made a guest appearance in the film Antisocial.app.
From there, she joined the cast of Pretty Little Stalker, before landing a recurring role in the Emmy- Award-winning comedy series Ctrl Alt Delete, which centers around a women’s health clinic as well as its employees and patients.
And more recently in 2020, she played a supporting character in the slasher film Smiley Face Killers, which is based loosely on the Smiley face murder theory. The movie also stars Ronen Rubinstein, Mia Serafino, Crispin Glover, and Amadeus Serafini.
For more news on what the actress is up to, you can follow Ashley Rickards on social media.
Not only is she active on Instagram (@ashleyrickards), where she has over 358K followers, but she also tweets regularly under the same handle @ashleyrickards.
