Bio
Ashley Taylor is a South African actor, voice artist, television presenter, MC and motivational speaker best known for his role as Clinton Lamberti in the SABC3 soapie Isidingo, from 1998-2003.
Ashley was born in East London, South Africa in 1968. He grew up in sight of the sea, with a brother and sister and two parents.
He attended Selborne Primary and College, the latter established in 1879. This traditional school, with its vast history (many of its pupils fought and died in both world wars) provided the inspiration and backdrop for an avid interest in the arts, music and literature.
A relentless reader, an unstoppable performer and a natural musician, Ashley spent most of those years developing the talents that would eventually become a career. He completed school at 17, and was chosen for the Rotary exchange programme.
He spent 1985 studying in Australia and promoting South Africa, a difficult task in the turbulent eighties. Enriched and inspired, he returned to South Africa and enrolled at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
He spent four years there and completed a Bachelor of Arts and an Honours degree in the Dramatic Arts, under the tutelage of such writers as Andre Brink and playwright Reza De Wet.
He performed lead roles at the Grahamstown Festival over that time in productions such as Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, The Crucible and Midsummer Nights Dream. A bursary allowed him another year of study, at the University of Cape Town, where he completed a Higher Diploma in Education.
Though his passion for the Arts was paramount, he indulged his love of teaching the following year by teaching English at Selborne College. He opened a Drama school in 1993 in East London, The A.R.T Studio, which gave inspiration to over 120 budding young actors and musicians.
The lure of stage and screen was too strong though and Ashley packed the proverbial suitcase and set off to Johannesburg to find fame and fortune.
A soap star, voice over artist, writer and comic, his portrayal of an everyman mine captain in the award-winning soap Isidingo led to a best actor nomination.
He has toured locally and internationally with theatre productions like Hair, The Buddy Holly Story, Mojo and African Tales. He has appeared all over the world in some of the biggest international advertising campaigns.
He has performed lead roles in international television series such as Soldier Soldier, The Black Velvet Band and The Switch.
A prolific voice over artist, with National Geographic and Discovery channel narration credits to his name, he has become one of the countries leading voices, in both radio and television.
He has starred in a number of commercials covering television, cinema, magazines and billboards, both locally and abroad, and has become a household face with his comedic creations in a series of Outsurance infomercials.
Feature films he has acted in include Stander, Prey Everyman's Taxi and Invictus. He presented the M-Net reality competition series The Block in 2004 and has acted in numerous television series including Binnelanders, Pale Toe, Rhodes, Going Up, Flat 27, The Principal, Black Velvet Band, The Swop and Hidden City.
In 2012 he was a main cast member of the Mzansi Magic sitcom S.I.E.S., playing the role of incompetent consultant Bob Johnson.
In 2016 he created, wrote, dorected and narrated the SABC3 cooking reality series Jou Ma se Chef.