Biography

Ashley Spencer Taylor Villegas Argota-Torres (or as she refers to as "the longest name ever") started acting at five years old. She appeared in multiple television shows including "The Division", "MAD TV", "The Wayne Brady Show", and "The Shield". At only 10 years old, she became the youngest performer ever to win five times in a row at "Amateur Night at the Apollo", which led to her becoming a Star of Tomorrow at "Showtime At The Apollo". At 11 years old, she toured in Disney's hit Broadway musical, "The Lion King", as Young Nala. She was also a semi-finalist on the Arsenio Hall hosted "Star Search" in 2003, where Ben Stein commented, "This girl has the best stage presence out of any young performer I've ever seen."

Shortly after guest starring on Nickelodeon's "iCarly", Ashley starred as the loyal, quirky, fun-loving assistant, Lulu, on the hit Nickelodeon show "True Jackson, VP". The show ran for three seasons. Directly after filming that show, she booked her second starring role in another Nickelodeon show where she played Kelly in "Bucket and Skinner's Epic Adventures". After filming, she briefly attended her dream school, New York University, before returning to Los Angeles for work. As soon as she came home, Ashley worked on her debut album with songwriter Rebekah White. Her debut single, Limitless, is available on all digital platforms.

Ashley was also fortunate enough to return to her first love, musical theater, in the Lythgoe Family musical production of "Aladdin and His Winter Wish" as Princess Jasmine alongside Ben Vereen and Bruce Vilanch. After that, she filmed a recurring role on Disney XD's number one show, "Lab Rats", where she played the evil bionic soldier, S-1. Her Disney Channel Original Movie, "How To Build A Better Boy", premiered shortly after that to 4.6 million viewers, and became the number one event on the Watch Disney Channel App, with one million people tuning in before the premiere.

After shooting small spots on Freeform's "Chasing Life" and NBC's pilot "Cabot College", produced by Tina Fey, Ashley recurred on Freeform's "The Fosters" as Lou, the lead singer of the band Someone's Little Sister. Due to the amount of fans asking for the music they heard Ashley performing in multiple episodes, Freeform surprised fans (and Ashley!) by releasing a "Someone's Little Sister EP", which included the four songs she sang on the show in her first season. The EP shot to number 18 on the iTunes Alternative chart and broke the Top 100 on the iTunes overall chart.

In between filming more television shows (such as Disney's "Girl Meets World", a series regular role as Abigail on "Liberty Crossing") and films (Sony Pictures "The Cover Versions" as Amber), Ashley has starred in many live stage productions in Los Angeles. For four years, she originated and played the role of Juliet in the Bradley Bredeweg/Rockwell Table and Stage production of "Romeo & Juliet: Love Is A Battlefield" (now known as "Invincible"), a modern take on the classic story of Romeo & Juliet, set to the epic anthems of Pat Benatar. She has also starred in multiple productions at Rockwell Table and Stage in their "Unauthorized Musical Parody" series, playing Regina George in "UMPO: Mean Girls", Allison in "UMPO: Hocus Pocus", Becca in "UMPO: Bridesmaids", Biana Stratford in "UMPO: 10 Things I Hate About You", and Cher Horowitz in "UMPO: Clueless".

In 2019, Ashley and her husband, Mick, started Mismo Productions and released their podcast, also named "Mismo". They interview creatives about their day to day lives in the business to show everyone that no matter where someone is in their careers, we are all uniquely the same-- we're all Mismo. The podcast is has more than 16,000 listens. Mismo Productions also released their first short film, "The Last Flight", a parody of the Michael Jordan documentary, "The Last Dance". It was directed, produced, and edited by Ashley and written by, produced by, and starring Mick. More information about Mismo can be found here.

Ashley often teaches acting classes at Actors Giving Back in Los Angeles, CA and is on the Advisory Committee for The Actor's Fund's "Looking Ahead Program". She is also Taco Bell's number one fan.

- IMDb mini biography by: S.A.