Brittain Ashford

Brittain Clare Ashford-Trotter is an American actress, singer, and songwriter who grew up in Seattle, Washington, where she attended Roosevelt High School before going on to study at the University of Washington, Seattle. In addition to her stage work, Ashford has fronted the band Prairie Empire and pursued a parallel career as a recording artist.

Ashford's theatrical career has been closely tied to composer Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, in which she originated the role of Sonya Rostova. Her first performance in that role came in 2012 with the Ars Nova production, and she remained with the show through subsequent incarnations at Kazino and the American Repertory Theater. When the production transferred to Broadway's Imperial Theatre in 2016, Ashford made her Broadway debut, reprising the role she had carried through every prior staging. Her sustained commitment to the character earned her nominations for multiple awards across the show's various runs. Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote in a 2017 Tony Awards preview piece that Ashford "should have been nominated" for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Ashford also performed in Malloy's song-cycle Ghost Quartet, contributing vocals alongside autoharp, keyboard, and percussion. The production traveled to multiple venues across the United States, including the American Repertory Theatre in Boston, before reopening at Next Door at NYTW, the black box component of New York Theatre Workshop, in October 2017. A cast recording from the production was released in 2015, followed by Ghost Quartet: Live at the McKittrick in 2016.

As a recording artist, Ashford released her debut solo album, There, But for You, Go I, in 2008 through the Parisian label Waterhouse Records. In June 2012, she released the self-titled debut record of Prairie Empire, recorded in Portland, Oregon with members of the band Harlowe on the Trailer Fire Records label. The band's second album, The Salt, followed in July 2016. Ashford's third solo album, Trotter, was released on May 19, 2023, through Pittsburgh-based Misra Records. Work associated with that album was supported by a grant Ashford received through the NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre Fund.