Simone Ashley & Hero Fiennes Tiffin Leading Prime Video Rom-Com ‘Picture This’

{ Written by Sarah on March 22 2024 }

Prime Video is in post-production on UK Original romantic-comedy, Picture This, starring Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (After).

Further cast includes Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso), Nikesh Patel (London Has Fallen), Adil Ray (Citizen Khan), Sindhu Vee (Matilda: The Musical), Anoushka Chadha (You), Kulvinder Ghir (Bend It Like Beckham) and Luke Fetherston (Still Up).

Directed by Prarthana Mohan (The Miseducation of Bindu) and written by Nikita Lalwani, Picture This is based on the Australian Original movie Five Blind Dates, written by Shaung Hu and Nathan Ramos-Park. The UK movie update is produced by 42’s Ben Pugh and Erica Steinberg, with 42’s Josh Horsfield and Kari Hatfield serving as executive producers.

The official synopsis reads: “Single and without a man on the horizon, Pia (Simone Ashley) runs a failing photography studio in London with her best friend Jay (Luke Fetherston). As her sister Sonal (Anoushka Chadha) prepares to get married and her mother Laxmi (Sindhu Vee) urges the resolutely independent Pia to partner up, a spiritual guru at Sonal’s engagement party predicts Pia will meet the love of her life among the next five dates she goes on. As her family intervene, setting her up on a series of increasingly desperate blind dates, Pia begins a hilarious but heartfelt quest for real love.”

The movie will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in the UK and Internationally.

“We’re really excited to bring this brilliant new and original London set romantic-comedy to Prime Video customers”, said Tara Erer, Head of Northern European Originals, Prime Video. “Picture This has a fantastic cast, with the wonderful Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as our leads, as well as a brilliant filmmaking team, we know our audience are going to absolutely love, and laugh a lot, with this film.”

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Simone Ashley To Topline Indie Thriller ‘This Tempting Madness’

{ Written by Sarah on January 06 2024 }

After breaking out with her lead role in the second season of Netflix’s smash hit series Bridgerton, Simone Ashley has moved on to star in This Tempting Madness, a new indie directed by Jennifer E. Montgomery, from her script written with husband Andrew M. Davis, which just wrapped production in Los Angeles.

Inspired by a true story, This Tempting Madness is an elevated psychological thriller about a young woman (Ashley) who awakens from a coma grievously injured, memory fractured, her husband arrested. But as she puts together the pieces of her past, she starts to question her own actions — and her perception of reality.

Producers include Montgomery and Davis for their Smoke Jumper Films; Mango Monster Productions; Jessica Malanaphy and Marcei Brown for CatchLight Studios; and William Day Frank. Coming from a background as a cinematographer, Davis will also be lensing the film.

In the second season of Bridgerton, based on the hugely popular Julia Quinn romance novels, Ashley was introduced as Kate Sharma, who’s courted by Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) upon her arrival in London from India. For a moment snatching the record of the most-watched English-language series in Netflix history, with 251.7M hours viewed in its first seven days, the season was celebrated for breaking a race barrier with Ashley’s character, whose ethnicity was changed from the books so that her family would be of Indian descent.

Set to reprise the role in Season 3, Ashley has also recently appeared in Disney’s live-action reimagining of The Little Mermaid, as Ariel’s sister, Indira. Otherwise best known for her role as Olivia on Netflix’s BAFTA-winning series Sex Education, she also boasts credits including Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Warner Bros), Broadchurch (BBC America) and C.B. Strike (Cinemax), to name a few. The actress is represented by Identity Agency Group, CAA, and Myman Greenspan Fox.

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Simone Confirmed to Appear in Live-Action Little Mermaid Film

{ Written by Sarah on March 30 2022 }

In an interview with the Times, Simone is confirmed to appear in Disney’s upcoming live-action version of the Little Mermaid. It also states that she will begin filming season 3 of Bridgerton this summer.

This summer Ashley will be filming the third series of Bridgerton, and there is a small part in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid coming up. She has her sights set on Hollywood. “I love Amy Adams’s career — she’s incredible, so versatile. That’s something I wish for myself. But I don’t want to make my whole life my career,” she says.

‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Star Simone Ashley Signs With CAA

{ Written by Sarah on January 13 2022 }

Simone Ashley, soon to be seen as the new female lead in Netflix’s hotly anticipated second season of Bridgerton, has signed with CAA.

The British actress, who had a recurring role in another of Netflix’s hit U.K. shows, Sex Education, moved to CAA from the Gersh Agency. She continues to be repped by the Identity Agency Group in the U.K., Derek Kroeger at Myman Greenspan, and Rogers & Cowan PMK.

Set to air in March, the second season of Bridgerton will see Ashley star opposite Jonathan Bailey, with the two effectively taking over from Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor in Shondaland’s hit Regency-era period drama. Page and Dynevor, of course, became global stars as Simon and Daphne in the first season.

Round two will chronicle the pursuit of a suitable marriage for the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony (Bailey), with Ashley playing his romantic interest Kate Sharma, a headstrong young woman newly arrived in London. In a continuation of the reimagined multiracial world of early 1800s British high society, Sharma’s family was conceived by the Bridgerton producing team as being of Indian descent.

Alongside Sex Education and Bridgerton, Ashley, whose first credit was the teen fantasy drama series Wolfblood, has appeared regularly in British TV over the past few years, with credits including Neil Cross’ limited series The Sister and the third season of hit drama Broadchurch.

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News & Rumors

‘Bridgerton’ Sets March Premiere Date

{ Written by Sarah on December 28 2021 }

Dear readers, I know my absence has only made your hearts grow fonder; however, you will not have to wait much longer. Bridgerton Season 2 debuts March 25, 2022, only on Netflix 💐 pic.twitter.com/4awxEAcSCo

— Bridgerton (@bridgerton) December 25, 2021

Bridgerton Wraps Filming of Season Two

{ Written by Sarah on November 22 2021 }

Filming wrapped on the second series of Netflix smash period drama Bridgerton over the weekend, with the show set to air next year.

Creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen posted a photo of himself of himself hugging leads Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley, declaring a “wrap on season two.”

“So proud of this cast and crew who brought their A-games to work each and every day in this very challenging year,” he wrote. “And these two in this photo with me right here. Words are not enough. Coming in 2022.”

Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, also posted a photo of himself at the wrap party on Instagram, saying his “heart was full.”

The season two premiere has already aired for cast and crew, according to another of its stars, Nicola Coughlan, earlier this month.

The eight-part series will pick up with a fresh set of scandals following the conclusion of season one, which became Netflix’s most-watched show of all time and has only recently been eclipsed by Squid Game. A third and fourth series of Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland drama have already been commissioned.

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Simone to Appear in Netflix’s Global Fan Event – TUDUM

{ Written by Sarah on September 18 2021 }

You can see her briefly in the trailer here:

Simone for Loewe Perfume

{ Written by Sarah on July 11 2021 }

PHOTOSHOOTS > 2021 > SESSION 05

Simone Ashley Lands Female Lead In Season 2 Of Netflix Hit From Shondaland

{ Written by Sarah on July 04 2021 }

EXCLUSIVE: Bridgerton has found its Kate. Simone Ashley (Sex Education, Because the Night) has been tapped as the female lead opposite Jonathan Bailey in Season 2 of Netflix and Shondaland’s hugely popular Regency-era period drama series based on Julia Quinn’s romance novels.

The second season will chronicle the pursuit of a suitable marriage for the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony (Bailey), as chronicled in the second book of Quinn’s Bridgerton series, The Viscount Who Loved Me.

Ashley will play Anthony’s romantic interest, Kate Sharma. Newly arrived in London, Kate is a smart, headstrong young woman who suffers no fools — Anthony Bridgerton very much included.

In Season 2, Bridgerton continues to break conventions on race. Anthony’s love interest (named Kate Sheffield in Quinn’s novel) and her family were conceived by the series’ producing team as being of Indian descent in a continuation of the reimagined, multi-racial world of early 1800s London high society created in Season 1, which included several major Black characters, including the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel).

As Season 2 leads, Bailey and Ahsley will succeed Page and Phoebe Dynevor, who became global stars as Simon and Daphne, the couple whose sweeping romance was at the center of Season 1. (Page is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend.)

British actress Ashley was already on Netflix’s radar; she is probably best known for her role as Olivia Hanan on the streamer’s popular series Sex Education. She is one of several cast additions for Season 2 of Bridgerton, which will start filming this spring in London.

“We have a bunch of new characters we are going to be introducing,” creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen said in announcing the Season 2 renewal on Today with Hoda & Jenna last month. “Anthony is going to have a love interest next season, and I think it’s going to be as sweeping and moving and as beautiful as viewers of the first season have come to expect from the show.”

The focal point of Season 2 was teased in the final minutes of the Season 1 finale when Anthony revealed to Daphne and Simon his plans of “finding and promptly declaring my intentions to my new viscountess” after the heartbreaking end of his relationship with opera singer Siena.

“We left him at the end of the first season at a bit of a crossroads, so I’m looking forward to jumping in and discovering how he fares on the marriage market,” Van Dusen said in the interview, noting that his hope is for Page and Dynevor to return.

With its vibrant mix of Jane Austen-meets-Gossip Girl and its contemporary storytelling redefining the period drama and romance genres, Bridgerton has captivated audiences around the world to shatter Netflix’s viewership records. It became the streamer’s biggest series ever as 82 million households globally watched the first season (partially or in its entirety) in the first four weeks.

The series also stars Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton), Ruby Barker (Marina Thompson), Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton), Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton), Ruby Stokes (Francesca Bridgerton), Will Tilston (Gregory Bridgerton), Florence Hunt (Hyacinth Bridgerton), Ruth Gemmell (Lady Violet Bridgerton), Bessie Carter (Prudence Featherington), Harriet Cains (Philipa Featherington), Polly Walker (Lady Portia Featherington), Ben Miller (Lord Featherington), Sabrina Bartlett (Siena Rosso), Martins Imhangbe (Will Mondrich), Kathryn Drysdale (Madame Genevieve Delacroix) and Lorraine Ashbourne (Mrs. Varley).

Van Dusen executive produces with Shondaland’s Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers.

Ashley had a major recurring role on Neil Cross’ 2020 ITV limited series The Sister. Her resume also includes an arc on Season 3 of Broadchurch. Ashley is repped by Gersh, Identity Agency Group in the UK and attorney Derek Kroeger at Myman Greenspan Fox.

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