A Salute to Rising Stars

It’s that time again to salute those actresses who are on the move, actresses who deserve a little extra attention for their latest work, those actresses who are rising stars. Landing that crucial role in a TV movie or guest appearance in a successful show or film makes all the difference for aspiring actors.

Let’s take a look at the next group of actresses who viewers should keep their eyes on:

Ashley Reyes

Ashley Reyes grew up on Long Island, New York, and went on to graduate from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She is not only an actress but also an alto/soprano singer who has been trained in classic voice.

She was painfully shy as a young girl but appeared as Dorothy in a festival presentation of The Wizard of Oz when she was little, and there was no going back, “acting (was) her life” from that moment. She was recently seen on Broadway in The Play That Goes Wrong, and made her first professional TV appearance as Cordelia in the now defunct Starz series American Gods.

She followed that role with that of the part of Hannah in the Hulu spin-off series How I Met Your Father; and most recently she took over the lead female role in The CW remake of Walker, playing Cassie Perez. Ashley took over for the departing Lindsey Morgan, who left the show near the start of the drama’s second season.

Ashley loves to cook, is a “constant learner” and the mom of an incredible rescue dog.

The next new episode of Walker is expected to air on The CW on Thursday, June 2 at 8/7c.

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Crystal Clarke

Crystal Clarke was born and raised in Essex County, New Jersey to Caribbean born parents. She spent part of her childhood in Tennessee, but she graduated from Newark Arts High School before leaving the US to pursue acting, graduating from the Royal Conservatorie where among the several plays for which she appeared in included Macbeth and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?.

She made her theatre debut in the role of Hester Worley in the London revival of A Woman of No Importance; and had supporting roles in two Star Wars movies: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. She has appeared in the movies Assassin’s Creed, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and the Pierce Brosnan-led film The King’s Daughter.

Her TV roles have included the BBC mini-series Ordeal by Innocence, an episode of Black Mirror and the first two seasons of the PBS period drama Sanditon, where she plays Georgiana Lambe. Sanditon will return for a third season at some point (possibly) later this year.

She was cast in the next Sam Mendes film Empire of Light that will be a love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s. The film will star Colin Firth, Olivia Colman and Toby Jones.