Ashley Blaine Featherson is an actress who was born in Washington D.C. and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Her breakout role came as Joelle Brooks in the Netflix original series Dear White People which was adapted from the movie of the same name. In fact, Featherson held a smaller role of “Curls” in the film adaptation.
Before the first season of Dear White People was released, there were some skeptics and critics because of the name of the show. However, despite there being controversy leading up to its release, Featherson knew it was something she wanted to be a part of because of the impact it could make.
“Who wants to be a part of things that don’t matter, that don’t cause conversation or that people aren’t talking about or that doesn’t rile people up? If anything, [the backlash] got me excited because this is exactly what we want people to do,” Featherson said in an interview with Rolling Out.
“Dear White People, just the name alone, ignites conversation. [The backlash] did inspire six million to watch the concept trailer, which wasn’t even the official trailer for the show, and 500,000 people pushed the like button so that means we’re doing something right.”
Once the show released, it was met with overwhelming praise and Netflix wasted no time picking up for a second season which dropped in May 2018.
You can watch Dear White People seasons 1 and 2 currently on Netflix.
