Ashley Liao is an American-born actress, who is perhaps best known for her appearance in the Netflix TV series “Fuller House.” She has appeared in various films including “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and “Jessica Darling’s It List.”
Age, Early Life, and Educational Background
Ashley Liao hails from Orange County, California, USA, and was born of Chinese and Taiwanese roots under the Libra zodiac sign on 21 October 2001, which makes her 22 years old as of early 2024. She spent her childhood in Orange County, growing up a very lively and outgoing child, which prompted her parents to enroll her in acting classes in a local community musical theater when she was 10 years old. Shortly afterwards, Liao was cast as Dorothy in the play “The Wizard of Oz.”
Liao trained in improv at The Second City Hollywood in California. In 2021, she began pursuing an associate’s degree and eventually graduated with a 4.0 GPA. Subsequently, she joined the University of California, Los Angeles to study Communications.
Hobbies and Interests
Liao is an avid animal lover. She occasionally posts photos of her pet dog Faithy, and cats Chia, Celine, Cleo and Chai on Instagram. Her adopted dog Cosmo, died in December 2019.
The “Fuller House” actress loves singing and listening to music; her best-loved songs are “Peace” and “This Is Me Trying” by Taylor Swift. She also likes watching anime whenever she’s not busy with school and work.
In her spare time, Liao enjoys baking, as seen on her social media platforms.
One of her favorite drinks is jasmine milk tea, with boba.
Liao is keen on traveling, and her acting career has seen her tour various international destinations including Berlin and Taipei, as well as traveling to several US states both for work and leisure.
Portraying numerous characters has seen Liao acquire a wide range of skills, including playing soccer, which has strengthened her dancing skills.
you love to remind me that you exist, don’t you pic.twitter.com/whrEzKWqzR
— ashley liao (lee-ow) (@ashleyjliao) September 6, 2021
Career Beginnings and Rise to Stardom: 2014 – 2019
Liao began her acting career portraying Mary in the 2014 episode “Nix the Fat Week” of the CBS (single-camera) sitcom “Bad Teacher.” In 2016, she portrayed Parker Zhao in seven episodes of the Amazon Prime Video teen sitcom “The Kicks,” and in the same year appeared in an episode of the ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”, and the Nickelodeon comedy series “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, & Dawn.”
Liao rose to stardom when she was cast to star as Lola Wong in the Netflix sitcom “Fuller House,” created by Jeff Franklin. The series revolves around the veterinarian and mother of three, D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure), who goes back to living with her dad in her childhood home after her firefighter husband tragically dies – while there, her best friend, Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) and sister, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) help her take care of her kids. Lola Wong is the best friend of Ramona Gibbler (Soni Bringas) who appears somewhat materialistic, in that her love interest, Jackson (Michael Campion), keeps ‘buying’ her love with gifts. Liao’s stint lasted for four years (2016-2020), and her performance saw her nominated for a Young Entertainer Award for Best Supporting Young Actress – Television Series in 2017.
Also in 2017, Liao appeared in two episodes of the sitcom, “Great News”, then between 2018 and 2020, she voiced Cola in six episodes of the Netflix animated series “Scissor Seven. Concurrently, in 2019 Liao made her film debut with the portrayal of the 15-year-old Sasha Tran in the romantic comedy, “Always Be My Maybe” The plot follows childhood lovers, Sasha Tran (portrayed by Ali Wong) and Marcus Kim (played by Randall Park) who run into each other in San Francisco after spending 15 years apart – although they still have feelings for each other, the duo soon finds out that they live in different worlds. In addition to Wong and Park, the film starred Keanu Reeves and Michelle Buteau.
Continued Sucess: 2020s
In 2020, Liao portrayed Princess Eleanor in the sci-fi fantasy superhero movie, “Secret Society of Second-Born Royals.” The Californian actress was next cast to star as Simone in the first season of the Apple TV+ comedy-drama series “Physical” in 2021, and in the same year, she landed the main voicing role as Jun Wong in the animated TV series “DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms”, adapted from the acclaimed film series “How To Train Your Dragons.”
In 2023, Liao was cast in the Francis Lawrence-directed dystopian action-adventure film “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes;” in an August 2023 interview with “Women’s Wear Daily,” Liao disclosed that landing the role of Clemensia Dovecote, a whip-smart, confident, classmate of President Coriolanus Snow (played by Tom Blyth), was a dream come true. She added that she grew up reading “The Hunger Games” novels, one of her favorite childhood books. The film, the fifth installment in “The Hunger Games” movie franchise, was a commercial success, and had a box office collection of around $338 million against a budget of $100 million. Liao shared the screen with the likes of Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth.
Other Works
Liao has signed with Innovative Artists, Skrzyniarz & Mallean, and Semler Entertainment. She has endorsed various brands including the Yurgut brand, GoGurt Tubes, the home improvement retail firm Lowe’s, and Intuniv.
Social Media Presence
Ashley is active on Instagram (@ashleyjliao) with around 210,000 followers – she uploaded one of her earliest posts when she was 13 years old on 31 January 2015. Ashley is also active on TikTok (@ashleyjliao) with around 370,000 followers and 11 million likes as of early 2024. She joined X (formerly Twitter) in December 2014, and has accumulated around 25,000 followers; Ashley uses X to update her supporters and fans about her recent and upcoming career endeavors.
Personal Life
Liao rarely speaks about her personal life. It’s rumored that she began dating her “Fuller House” castmate, Michael Campion, in 2016. The duo has neither denied nor confirmed the dating rumors. Liao is unmarried and without any children as of 2024.
Height, Weight, and Physical Appearance
Liao is of Asian ethnicity, and has dark brown eyes and long hair of the same color. She’s 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall and weighs approximately 120lbs (54kgs). Some of her distinctive features include a petite physical appearance ,and almond-shaped eyes.
Net Worth
Liao’s main source of income is her acting career from which she’s accumulated a net worth of around $300,000.
