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Ashley Nicole Black

Emmy Award winner ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK was a UCSC theatre arts student from 2003-2007. She delivered a commencement speech at Theatre Arts graduation, which she thought was very good even though her dad fell asleep during it. While a student, she divided her time evenly between arguing theory with Peter Mostkoff, performing in the Barn, writing papers at the last minute, getting super woke, and walking through the redwood trees with a first generation iPod trying to look deep. She also spent a lot of time taking acting classes and trying to figure out how to a “real” actor, who could be onstage without automatically making people laugh at her… which turned out to be a waste of time. But taking all those dance classes wasn’t... she grew up to be a very graceful comedian. 
After graduating from UCSC, Ashley got a Masters degree from Northwestern University, dropped out of their PhD program, and started working at The Second City in Chicago. She’s now a writer/contributor on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, which is the number one late night show among millennials. Ashley never got a starring role in a production in college, so definitely follow your dreams no matter what!