Ashton Cline
- Actor
Born in Dallas in 1997, but reared in New Orleans, Ashton Cline is the
son of the late Alex Cline and Gnanse Nelson-Cline. He began acting in
school and church musicals at age four. Following Hurricane Katrina,
his elementary school principal suggested he pursue his craft more
earnestly as perhaps a way of healing (Cline lost both his father and
maternal grandmother soon after the storm). He began taking acting
classes and within a month he had an agent and began doing local
commercials. His first film was "Gauge" directed by New Orleans native
Banks Griffin, which screened at the 2008 New York Film Festival and
the 2009 Calgary Underground Film Festival. He has done a series of
videos for the "healthypeoplenow!" campaign, a health awareness program
aimed at students, as both an actor and host. He is also a musician
having studied piano, guitar, drums and voice. He plays first chair
drums in his school band. Cline has been a member of MENSA (the high IQ
society) since the age of nine and is in the Duke University TIP
program. He is in both the Gifted and Talented Theatre programs at his
school and has seven years perfect attendance, beginning in
Kindergarten. Cline is a Mayflower descendant on his mother's side,
descending from passenger Richard Warren, one of the Mayflower
investors.