Simone Ashley
Simone Ashwini Pillai (born 30 March 1995), known professionally as Simone Ashley, is a British actress. She is best known for her roles in the Netflix series "Sex Education" (2019–2021) and "Bridgerton" (2022–present). Early life and education. Born to Indian Tamil parents Latha and Gunasekharan Pillai, Ashley is from Camberley, Surrey and has an older brother. Ashley has spoken about how despite growing up in a household of academics, she was always drawn more towards the creative fields. Her parents were hesitant about her inclination to the arts. "My parents were quite protective over me," she told  Glamour Magazine. "They're first generation. They came from India to this country, so they didn't really have a life where they could choose to be whatever they wanted." Ashley grew up singing classical music and opera and playing piano. Ashley spent some of her teen years in California, where she has relatives. The family later moved to Beaconsfield whilst Ashley attended Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead for sixth form. She went on to train in acting at Arts Educational School in West London. Career. Ashley made her feature film debut in 2018 with a small role in "Boogie  Man" as Aarti and a prominent role in "Kill Ben Lyk" as one of the characters named Ben Lyk. In 2019, Ashley began playing Olivia Hanan, a member of Ruby Matthews' clique the Untouchables, in the Netflix comedy-drama "Sex Education", a role she would reprise in its second and third series. She appeared in the ITV psychological thriller miniseries "The Sister" as Elise Fox. Having auditioned in 2020, it was announced in February 2021 that Ashley would star as leading lady Kate opposite Jonathan Bailey as Anthony in the second season of the Netflix romance period drama "Bridgerton". She  will appear in the 2023 live-action film adaptation of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" in an undisclosed role.