# Ashley Austin Morris

Ashley Austin Morris (born Ashley Morris) is an American comedian, playwright, and stage, television, and film actress. She is best known for her role as Francine Carruthers in the revival of the PBS Kids children's series The Electric Company, which ran from 2009 to 2011.

## Career

Morris was born in San Antonio, Texas. After finishing high school, she joined a comedy troupe called "Viva La Vulva!" and contributed to the group's writing and sketch comedy. The following year, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and co-starred in a production called Be Good, Daniel, a short comedy romance. She also wrote Libido Limbo, a play about Lady M, Nora, Blanche, and Medea being trapped in purgatory and being saved by Hillary Clinton, which was a finalist at Atlanta's Young Playwrights Festival.
Morris moved to New York City after graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and landed roles in off-Broadway productions, first as Edith in Die, Mommie, Die! and then in Paper Dolls. She also performed stand-up comedy and starred for three seasons as Francine Carruthers, the leader of the Pranksters and a character with a very high opinion of herself and the power to generate violet word balls, in the 2009-2011 revival of The Electric Company, an educational children's program that employed sketch comedy and other entertaining devices to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills and shown on the Public Broadcasting Service .
While performing on The Electric Company, Morris continued to also act on stage, including in the New York City off-Broadway productions Isabel and Bees, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and In the Daylight, and appeared in episodes of the television shows Ugly Betty, The Good Wife, and Gravity.
After The Electric Company stopped making new episodes, she joined the rotating cast of Reading Under the Influence, and appeared in episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Desperate Housewives.
She was also in the video for "K.I.A. (Killed in Action)" from the album Shaka Rock by Jet, and had roles in the movies Premium Rush, Art Machine, Generation Um..., Putzel, Joke Writer, and Sully. She has also continued to perform stand-up comedy routines, mainly in New York City.

## Selected appearances
### Film

| Date of U.S. Release | Name | Role | Notes |
| May 28, 2004 | Be Good, Daniel (short) | Maggie | North Carolina School of the Arts |
| August 24, 2012 | Premium Rush | receptionist | Columbia Pictures |
| October 12, 2012 | Art Machine | brunette | Pie Face Pictures |
| May 13, 2013 | Generation Um... | girl date | independent |
| April 8, 2014 | Putzel | Naomi | Stouthearted Films |
| October 18, 2014 | Joke Writer | Jess | independent |
| September 9, 2016 | Sully | Emily | Warner Brothers |
| July 13, 2018 | Dead Sound | Alexa | Adler Films |

### Stage

| Date | Name | Role | Production Company/Notes |
| October 10, 2007 (previews) October 21, 2007 (official) – January 2008 | Die, Mommie, Die! | Edith Arden | |
| August 13, 2008 – August 23, 2008 | Paper Dolls | | Lively Productions and Métropole Ink New York International Fringe Festival Fringe Award for Outstanding Ensemble |
| September 8, 2009 (preview) September 20, 2009 (official) – October 11, 2009 | In the Daylight | Charlotte Fontaine | |
| June 30, 2010 – July 25, 2010 | Love, Loss, and What I Wore | | also performed in San Jose, Cal. during 2013 |
| April 6, 2011 (previews) April 16, 2011 (official) – May 29, 2011 | Reading Under the Influence | Kerry | |

### Television

| Date First Aired | Name | Episode | Role | Network or Production Company |
| October 23, 2008 | Ugly Betty | "Granny Pants" (season 3, episode 5) | Harmony | ABC |
| January 19, 2009 | Electric Company | 3 seasons, 52 episodes | Francine Carruthers | Children's Television Workshop (PBS) |
| May 7, 2010 | Gravity | One Cold Swim Away (season 1, episode 3) | Naomi | Starz |
| November 16, 2010 | The Good Wife | Bad Girls (season 2, episode 7) | Corey Lutz | CBS |
| August 28, 2011 | I Just Want My Pants Back | pilot | Jocoby | MTV |
| November 10, 2011 | The Big Bang Theory | The Ornithophobia Diffusion (season 5, episode 9) | Laura | CBS |
| March 25, 2012 | Desperate Housewives | Any Moment (season 8, episode 18) | Mary Beth | ABC |
| February 15, 2013 | It Could Be Worse | What's Your Secret? (season 1, episode 3) | Lisa | Four A.M. Productions |
| March 4, 2013 | Gracious Café | Detox (season 1, episode 3) | Ansley | |
| November 10, 2013 | Think Tank | Job Creation (episode 1) Panda Copulation (episode 3) Prostitution (episode 4) | Hannah | A&E (web site) |
| March 5, 2017 | Time After Time | pilot | | ABC |
| January 26, 2018 | High Maintenance | Fagan (season 2, episode 2) | Carrie | HBO |
| January 28, 2018 | Divorce | Worth It (season 2, episode 3) | | HBO |
| April 10, 2018 | The Last O.G. | Bobo Beans (season 1, episode 2) | Maggie | TBS |
| October 4, 2018 | Murphy Brown | I (Don't) Heart Huckabee (season 11, episode 2) | Addie Abrams | CBS |
| October 14, 2019 | The Deuce | This Trust Thing (season 3, episode 6) | Cheryl | HBO |