Ashley Michele Greene was born on Feb. 21, 1987 in Jacksonville, FL. Her father, Joe Greene, was a U.S. Marine and concrete business owner and her mother, Michele Greene, worked in insurance. Midway through Greene’s senior year at Samuel W. Wolfson High School, the 17-year-old decided to pack her bags and move to Los Angeles. She initially wanted to become a fashion model, but after getting turned down for her petite 5’5” stature, Greene was encouraged to take up commercial modeling instead. It was during this time when she discovered her love for acting taking classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, named after the man who had pioneered “Method Acting.”
At the beginning of her acting career, Greene booked minor roles on television shows such as “MADtv” (Fox, 1995- ) and “Crossing Jordan” (NBC, 2001-07). One of Greene’s first appearances was playing herself on a 2005 episode of Ashton Kutcher’s prank-themed series “Punk’d” (MTV, 2003-07) with celebrity “targets” Justin Long, Macy Gray and DJ Qualls. The actress then landed a recurring role in the short-lived telenovela, “Desire” (MyNetworkTV, 2006).
Greene’s Hollywood career started slow, but picked up speed at a record pace after landing a role in the much anticipated film, “Twilight.” The actress was at home with her family for the holidays when she received the call to play Alice Cullen, a precognitive vampire who befriends the main character of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) in the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel, “Twilight.” As soon as production began in Portland, OR, Greene was so dedicated to her role that she wore a short wig, contacts, and stayed out of sunlight to get her character’s pale, “undead” look. She also learned how to pitch like a professional baseball player for a climactic scene in the movie. Meyer herself praised Greene’s transformation and commitment to the role, telling The Los Angeles Times that when she first saw Greene’s photo, she exclaimed, “You found Alice!”
“Twilight” became a phenomenal blockbuster. Fueled by the book series’ rabid tween fan base – who called themselves “Twi-hards” – along with the young and good looking cast lead by British heartthrob Robert Pattinson, the film grossed over $382 million worldwide. In March 2009, Greene treated the film’s fanatics to a surprise appearance in Hollywood for the midnight release of the “Twilight” DVD, which ended up selling over $150 million during its first year. That same month, Greene reunited with her castmates and began filming “New Moon,” the second book in the Twilight series. This time, Alice had a more instrumental role in the sequel, bringing Bella to Italy to save Edward Cullen (Pattinson) from surrendering to the Volturi, an evil vampire clan. Anticipation for “New Moon” reached a record high, with presale tickets to the November 2009 release selling out months before.
At the height of her success during the “Twilight” phenomenon, nude photos of Greene surfaced on the Internet in August 2009. It was reported they were taken when she was 19 years old and pursuing a modeling career. The blogosphere did not waste any time posting the leaked photos on entertainment news and gossip sites, but they were immediately removed after Greene took legal action. Her attorney released a statement, declaring the photos in question to be illegal and unlawfully displayed.
With the nude photo controversy resolved, Greene focused on several non-“Twilight” projects in 2009. She played a young woman terrorized by a family of serial killers in the thriller “Summer’s Blood” and starred in the 1980s coming-of-age film, “Skateland.” Greene reunited with her “Twilight” co-star Kellan Lutz in the drama, “Warrior,” about a self-destructive and hotheaded Lacrosse player (Lutz). She also landed a supporting role opposite singer Alanis Morissette in the sci-fi drama, “Radio Free Albemuth.” In 2010, Greene would reprise her role of Alice Cullen in “Eclipse,” the third and most action-packed chapter in the “Twilight” saga, in which her character has a vision that a vengeful vampire has returned to their hometown with an army of “newborn” vampires to kill her human friend, Bella.