Ashley Spencer

Ashley Marie Spencer, born March 8, 1985, is an American actress, singer, and dancer whose Broadway career spanned from 2002 to 2011. Before establishing herself on Broadway, she served as the understudy for Barbie in the Barbie in Fairytopia tour, a production in which she performed both singing and ballet. Her ballet training would later become a defining characteristic when she competed on the 2007 NBC reality series Grease: You're the One that I Want!, where she was nicknamed "Ballerina Sandy." She advanced to the finals of the competition, finishing as runner-up to Laura Osnes.

Spencer made her Broadway debut in July 2007, stepping into the role of Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray, replacing Brynn O'Malley. She remained with the production for approximately one year, giving her final performance in the Broadway company on July 13, 2008, and was succeeded in the role by Aubrey O'Day. Later that same month, on July 22, 2008, Spencer began her run as Sandy in the Broadway production of Grease, having been announced as the replacement for Laura Osnes on June 25, 2008. She performed opposite Derek Keeling, who played Danny and had also been a runner-up on Grease: You're the One that I Want. That production closed on January 4, 2009.

Spencer returned to Broadway in 2011 as one of the Divas in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which opened at the Palace Theatre in March of that year. The production had previously held a pre-Broadway tryout beginning October 12, 2010, at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. She subsequently took over the role of Sherrie in the Broadway production of Rock of Ages from Emily Padgett on May 10, 2012, and held the part until January 2013, when she was succeeded by Kate Rockwell, another alumna of Grease: You're the One that I Want.

Alongside her Broadway work, Spencer maintained an active regional career. She reprised the role of Amber Von Tussle in The Muny's production of Hairspray in St. Louis, which ran August 3–9, 2009, and again at Pittsburgh CLO's production from July 20 to August 1, 2010. At Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera she also played Éponine in Les Misérables from July 7–19, 2009, Niki Harris in Curtains from June 22–27, 2010, and Ulla in The Producers. She additionally performed the role of Ulla at Paper Mill Playhouse. In 2014, she returned to Pittsburgh CLO to play Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain, and from November 7, 2017, to January 14, 2018, she portrayed Polly Baker in Crazy for You at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.

In her personal life, Spencer married theatre actor Jeremy Jordan on September 8, 2012. The couple have a daughter, Clara Eloise Jordan, born April 21, 2019.