Ashley Benson – Family, Family Tree

Ashley Benson is known for her role, Hanna Marin, in the Freeform hit TV series, Pretty Little Liars. Prior to that, she also played the role of Abigail Deveraux in Days of Our Lives and Mia Torcoletti in Eastwick. Ashley’s work does not just stop in television series but she also stars in the big screen. She played Carson in Bring It On: In It to Win It and Brit in Spring Breakers.

Her career started out early when she was only ten years old. Since then, she has appeared in various productions, including music videos for different bands. Her first music video appearance was in Lil’ Romeo’s True Love and her latest was in 2012 for Hot Chelle Rae’s Honestly. She has also won several awards like Choice Summer TV Star – Female, Choice TV Actress: Drama, and Rockin’ TV Actress. She has also won awards for Pretty Little Liars together with her co-stars.

Personal Life of Ashley Benson

She was born Ashley Victoria Benson on December 18, 1989, in Anaheim Hills, Anaheim, California. She was born two months earlier than expected with a weight of 2 pounds 8 oz. The doctors told her parents that she would need heart surgery but her heart closed up eventually even without the surgery. She stayed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a month before going home at 4.5 pounds.

She spent most of her years in the Orange County before her recent move to New York in November 2016 after the filming for Pretty Little Liars wrapped up.

Ashley was passionate about performing. In fact, she has joined numerous competition for dancing hip-hop, ballet, lyrical, and jazz. Her competitive dancing ventures started out when she was still four. She also has made it in musicals too when she was at that age. She also has modeled since she was five and has appeared in dance catalogs, commercials, and more. She was under the management of The Ford Modeling Agency.

She has also taken acting classes when she was a teenager and met her future co-star, Vanessa Hudgens. Another side of Ashley that is not commonly seen in public is her geekiness for Harry Potter. She had shamelessly said that she “wore a cape and glasses and tights and boots” during the opening night of Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

Family of Ashley

Her family has supported Ashley since her career started. Her mother, Shannon Harte Benson, constantly posts photos of young and recent Ashley on her own Instagram page. Her posts also consist of stills from Ashley’s show and of her photo shoots. By her mother’s side is her father, Jeff Benson. In some posts of Ashley, she can be seen visiting her grandparents.

Furthermore, she was born to a Christian family and was homeschooled growing up. In one interview, she admitted that she has never experienced a prom and the closest thing to prom she had was the school dances in Pretty Little Liars. She was two dogs of her own, Walter and Olive, and shared dogs Daphne, Phoebe, and Chloe, with her family.

Sibling of Ashley

Ashley has one older sister, Shaylene Marie Benson. Shay, as what her family calls her, was born on August 25, 1988, just a year before Ashley, in Long Beach, California.

She graduated from Esperanza High School in 2007. She was a cheerleader for the NBA team Los Angeles Lakers from 2011 to 2012. Before that, she has danced for several WNBA shows and appeared in a couple of episodes in the TV series Dance Revolution as herself in 2006.

She then played a part of the made up cheer team “The Sea Lions” in the movie franchise Bring It On: Fight to the Finish in 2009. The following year, she appeared in an episode of The Nightlife as a dancer. She also teaches dancing lessons and has appeared in a few music videos and commercials. Since 2008, she has been a Certified Pilates Instructor. She has worked in Yoga Works, Equinox Sports Club, and Pure Barre as an instructor and a coordinator/manager.

Currently, she is the Pilates Coordinator and manager of the Equinox Sports Club in Newport Beach in California.