Biography
Zawe Ashton is a British actress and playwright. Born Zawedde Emma Ashton on 25 July 1984 in Hackney, London, she attended the Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of six and was a member of the National Youth Theatre. She later gained a degree in acting from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Ashton gained recognition for her role as Vod in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Fresh Meat (2011–2016) and for her performance as Joyce Carol Vincent in the film Dreams of a Life (2011). Her other film roles include Nocturnal Animals (2016), Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) and Greta (2019). In 2023 she portrayed Dar-Benn in the Marvel Studios film The Marvels.
She has written plays and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her stage work includes the 2019 West End and Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal.
