Ashley Benson

**Ashley Victoria Benson** (born December 18, 1989) is an American actress, model and singer. She is known for her role as Hanna Marin in the teen mystery-drama series *Pretty Little Liars* (2010–2017). She has also portrayed Abigail Deveraux on the NBC soap opera series *Days of Our Lives*, Mia Torcoletti on the supernatural television series *Eastwick*, and Brit in the 2012 crime thriller film *Spring Breakers*.

## About Ashley

Ashley has starred in films, including *Bring It On: In It to Win It* (2007), Christmas Cupid (2010), *Spring Breakers* (2012), *Ratter* (2015), *Chronically Metropolitan* (2016), *Her Smell* (2018), and *Private Property* (2022). She has received various accolades, including four Teen Choice Awards, a Young Hollywood Award, as well as three People's Choice Award nominations.

### 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.
 She started dancing competitively in ballet, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical at age four.

## Career

In 1999, Benson started pursuing an acting career. She began working and appearing in a number of commercials, but quickly made the transition into film and television acting. In 2004, Benson signed a three-year contract with the NBC daytime soap opera *Days of Our Lives*, and on November 12, 2004, began her role as Abigail "Abby" Deveraux, the oldest child of supercouple Jack Deveraux and Jennifer Horton, until May 2, 2007. She explained that, because of the number of episodes filmed a day, "you can't really mess up; you have to know all of your lines", and that she did not get a break from work.

She played a witch disguised as a cheerleader in a 2008 episode of the CW series Supernatural. In films, she was one of the Six Chicks in *13 Going on 30* (2004), and appeared as Carson in *Bring It On: In It to Win It* (2007), the fourth installment of the *Bring It On* franchise. To land the lead role, she had to end her contract with *Days of our Lives*.

She recalled working on a movie 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 [her], because [she is] afraid of heights." Nonetheless, she was "glad" to do her own stunts, even though she "wasn't expecting for it to be so hard." 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 the part of head cheerleader Brooke of the Fab Five, which is based on a true story which took place at McKinney North High School in Texas. She "loved" working 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.

Benson starred in ABC-TV's 2009 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. Her character, Mia, was the teen-aged daughter of Roxie Torcoletti (Rebecca Romijn). The series was short-lived and only lasted thirteen episodes before ABC cancelled the series due to low ratings but has since gained a cult following.

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. She is the "diva" and it-girl of the group, having taken Alison's place as the most popular girl at Rosewood High in Alison's absence. Prior to Alison's death, Hanna was a bulimic girl who Alison frequently mocked due to being overweight. Her parents divorced, Hanna lives with her mother. The series premiered to 2.47 million viewers with Benson's performance being praised by critics. In 2010, Benson starred in the television film Christmas Cupid with 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.

### Personal life

Benson and former co-star and friend Tyler Blackburn briefly dated while working together on *Pretty Little Liars* but they ultimately remained "good friends". From 2018 to 2020, Benson was in a high-profile relationship with English model Cara Delevingne. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

## References

1. ↑ Anaheim Hills teen stars in cheerleading movie (December 17, 2007).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters **archiveurl** and **archivedate** must be both specified or both omittedLoggins, Emma (December 10, 2007). Interview: Ashley Benson from Bring It On: In It To Win It. FanBolt. Retrieved on December 29, 2016.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ashley Benson: Biography. *TV Guide*. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved on February 15, 2023.
4. ↑ Interview with Ashley Benson, October 2007. *TheStarScoop.com* (October 2007). Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved on September 4, 2010.
5. ↑ Ashley Benson: Learning New Things. *MyLifetime.com*. Archived from the original on July 31, 2010. Retrieved on September 4, 2010.
6. ↑ *Eastwick* TV series cast. *PopTower.com*. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved on February 15, 2023.
7. ↑ Eastwick TV series bios: Character: Mia Torcoletti. *ABC.go.com*. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved on February 15, 2023.

## External links

* Ashley Benson links at FreeOnes
* Ashley Benson at Babepedia
* Ashley Benson at Boobpedia—Encyclopedia of big boobs
* Ashley Benson on  Famous Birthdays
* Ashley Benson on  Famous Fix