Ashley Rickards: Smart Girls Like Her

Smart Girls Like Her

Ashley Rickards may be known for playing Awkward, but this brainy and beautiful actress is anything but. 

By Jane Helpern

It’s safe to say Ashley Rickards knows something that the rest of us don’t—several things, actually.

The 21-year-old actress is a member of MENSA—the most prestigious IQ society in America—and just inked her first book deal with Harlequin. The forthcoming tome, Get Your Sh!t Together (due in 2015), is a candid and snarky manual on achieving self-acceptance. “It’s for all girls, from the bitch in the front of the class making fun of the awkward girl, to the wallflower who nobody notices,” Rickards says excitedly from the makeup chair at her Aritzia photoshoot. “This isn’t the kind of book where you’ll be, like, ‘Mom, look what I learned!’ But she’ll notice the changes. I’m sharing my private journey so that other girls can use that as a template of sorts.”

As the breakout star of Awkward (the third season picks back up on October 22nd), MTV’s edgy and relatable coming-of-age series, Rickards plays the perfectly imperfect Jenna Hamilton: a well-meaning anti-heroine tackling the trials and love triangles of life as an everyday teenager.

Contrary to her fictional role, the black-haired beauty’s own high school experience was anything but conventional—especially considering the fact that she graduated when she was just 15. But when asked if she ever feels like she missed out on being a “regular” teenager, she replies with exactly zero hesitation: “Hell no. I escaped all that. Every time the director yells ‘cut,’ I have to pretend to be glamorous for a second, because that [scene] was a horrible crash of reality. And by glamorous, I mean go to craft services to get a donut.”

Rickards stands out in the mass of blasé, been-there-done-that Hollywood transplants. “I believe in the power of naiveté!” she shares. “That’s sort of my business slogan.” Rickards moved to Los Angeles from Florida eight years ago to realize her dream of becoming an actress, and figured out her own key to success by process of elimination: “You hear a lot about what people don’t do anymore, such as sending out headshots to random casting directors. I thought, if nobody’s doing that, then maybe I’d stand out if I did.”

Rickards’s no-holds-barred, down-to-earth approach certainly worked in her favour. In addition to her role on Awkward, her film credits include Behaving Badly opposite Selena Gomez and Struck By Lightning with Rebel Wilson, plus a guest starring role on One Tree Hill, A People’s Choice Award, and now the aforementioned book deal. But the actress remains a hippie at heart, spending her free time hiking with her boyfriend (“On a secret trail! It’s not even on the trail websites!”), juicing, and hanging out with her cat, Trinny, who she loves to show off. “I have to say, I’m super popular at Whole Foods,” Rickards says with a laugh. “I drive there in my Prius, I bring my juice from home and my post-consumer recycled plastic, and I talk about my three-legged cat. You just don’t get more popular than that!”

Not surprisingly, Rickards still finds space in her life to study filmmaking—her favourite directors are David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowski—and she’s currently hard at work on some scripts of her own. “They’re dark, they’re stories of suffering, of learning how to swim in the metaphorical sea of life,” she explains. “My hope is that once I die, someone will make them.” Given the speed of Rickards’s rise, we’re guessing they’ll be made long before that. “I don’t limit myself to things that people tell me I can do and the past careers of other people that I admire,” she says, before stepping in front of the camera. “There is something to be said for just going for something because you want it, and not having any idea about all the ‘no’s’ that you’ll hear.”

Roger
Make sure to keep an eye out on Ashley in Behaving Badly. She's playing an aspiring Playboy playmate and a part-time stripper. Her role required nudity. The movie was shot sometime ago. Some problems with the script. Changes were made including on casting side to the chagrin of the original author. She also tweeted about getting her boobs out....