Anna Leigh Ashford

Annaleigh Amanda Ashford is an American actress singer and dancer. She began her Broadway career performing in musicals, including Wicked Legally Blonde, as well as Hair. Her role as Essie Carmahiel in You Can't Take It With You as Essie Carmahiel earned her the Tony Award in Best Featured Female Actor in a Play. Annaleigh is a Tony Award winning actress and director, has spent the majority of her career working with well-known directors and actors in film and on television. Ashford will be next seen alongside Kumail Nannjiani as part of Robert Siegel's Hulu Limited Series Welcome to Chippendales premiering November 22. Ashford is currently engaged in the production of Searchlight Pictures' horror film Dust with Sarah Paulson alongside Ebon and Moss Bachrach. The film will stream through Disney's DTC platforms, as well as Hulu Original. Ashford will return to Broadway in March 2023, with the role of Josh Groban opposite Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. The production takes place located at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Thomas Kail, director and producer of Hamilton is the director of the show. Ashford's most recent performance was Paula Jones on Ryan Murphy FX's American Crime Story Impeachment. The series is based on a national scandal which involved Paula Jones Monica Lewinsky, and Linda Tripp. She starred in two seasons on the cult CBS comedy B Positive. The show was written by Marco Pennette, Chuck Lorre and Linda Lavin. The show also had Ben Vereen and Elizondo. Additional Broadway credits for Ashford includes Sunday in the Park, as George Wicked legally Blonde, and the role of Lauren in Kinky Boots. For this performance, she was awarded an Tony Award nomination. Ashford lives in Los Angeles & New York. Her birthplace was in Denver and grew up there.