Ashley Rickards

Ashley Nicole Rickards born May 4 1992 height 5 3¾ 162 m is an American actress known for her role in MTVs Awkward as Jenna Hamilton and as Samantha Sam Walker a troubled young girl taken in by Brooke Davis who becomes her fostermother in The CW teen drama series One Tree Hill She also starred in the 2011 independent drama film Fly Away as Mandy a severely autistic girl Rickards grew up on a horse farm that catered for children with special needs She attended a local Montessori school where at age 13 she had her first taste of acting in an opera production Rickards graduated from high school at age fifteen and is a member of Mensa After attending a local talent showcase organized by Lou Perlman Rickards traveled to Los Angeles where she eventually gathered a team of representatives Upon graduating Rickards began to appear in a number of minor roles as child labor laws restricted the number of hours she was able to work After making a number of guest appearances and shorts she landed the role of Samantha Walker a runaway foster child in One Tree Hill for the 20082009 season Although not aware of the show before auditioning Rickards found that she learned so much from acting techniques to different ways of shooting thingsHer character did not return the following season while in the same year she had a bit part in her first feature film Gamer Rickards spent much of 2009 attending auditions while a proposed leadrole in the film Dirty Girl fell through In 2010 she appeared opposite Jimmy Smits in an episode of the legal drama Outlaw while she also auditioned for the leadrole in Awkward Initially rejected her manager Adam Griffin sent the producers a tape Rickards had made for Fly Away to show how she can do anything The actress landed both roles and filmed the pilot for the MTV series prior to Fly Away a feature where she played a severely autistic girl A former competitive equestrian she helped to launch the Project Futures Somaly Mam Foundation 2011 which works to prevent and end human trafficking and sexual slavery in Southeast Asia Rickards writes poetry scripts and enjoys painting in her spare time She also appeared in The Frays video for How to Save a Life and also in The Formats video for She Doesnt Get It