Ashley Williams
Ashley Williams
Ashley Williams is a versatile actress, producer, writer and director in film, television and theatre. She has amassed a long list of credits including 200+ episodes of television, a dozen pilots and numerous feature films.
In January 2025 it was announced that Williams is a member of this year’s esteemed DET ABC/Disney Directing program and she most recently directed an episode of The Rookie for ABC and has been invited back to direct an episode in Season 8. Williams has directed two full-length television movies in addition to having directed, written, produced and starred in Meats, a short film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Creative Coalition Spotlight Award and was also seen on Showtime as part of a series of short films. Shot by Roman Vasyanov (Suicide Squad, Fury), it has played 30+ film festivals around the world. In 2023, she launched the Make Her Mark initiative, a program that’s aimed to hire more female directors by providing mentorship and shadowing from current Hallmark directors.
As an actress, Williams was seen in Amber Brown, Apple TV+ for writer/director Bonnie Hunt, playing Sarah Drew's sister for season one. Previously, she starred in The Jim Gaffigan Show on Comedy Central, appeared alongside Jessica Chastain and Oscar Issac in the critically lauded A24 film A Most Violent Year and starred in Something Borrowed with Kate Hudson and John Krasinski for Warner Bros. Other credits include J.C. Chandor’s Oscar-nominated Margin Call and Sequin Raze, a short film by Sarah Shapiro that won South by Southwest and became the series UnREAL.
In recent years, Williams began producing movies for Hallmark Channel, debuting with Love on a Limb, in which she also starred and aired as part of the network’s Fall Harvest programming event to record-breaking ratings, She also conceived of Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday and its companion movie Sister Swap: Christmas in the City which marked the first time Williams acted with her real-life sister, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. In addition to their on-screen roles the pair also served as executive producers on the two interconnected movies. Next for Hallmark she is starring and executive producing two To Barcelona, With Love and To Barcelona, Forever, which were shot on location in Spain and kick off the network’s annual Passport to Love programming event. She recruited writer Julie Sherman Wolfe to bring her story concept to life and enlisted actress Alison Sweeney to star alongside her and executive produce.
In addition to ongoing behind-the-camera work developing projects both to act in and to direct, Williams starred in the Hallmark Original Movies October Kiss, Christmas in Evergreen, Northern Lights of Christmas, Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa, Holiday Hearts, Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing,Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater, Christmas in the City, Two Tickets to Paradise, Five More Minutes: Moments Like These and, most recently, Falling Together and Jingle Bell Run. Williams is host and executive producer of Small Town Setup, the network’s all-new dating show with a heartfelt twist, which debuted on Hallmark+ in January.
As a teenager, Williams played Meg Ryan’s daughter, Dani Andropoulos, on the long-running daytime drama As the World Turns. She starred alongside Mark Feuerstein in the NBC television series Good Morning Miami and in Lifetime’s Montana Sky with John Corbett. Williams also had a longtime recurring role on CBS’How I Met Your Mother as Victoria, “the baker that got away.” She was so popular on the show that she won an online poll as to whom fans most wanted to see the as “the mother.” Other credits include recurring roles on the Holly Hunter TNT series Saving Grace, SyFy’s Warehouse 13, Lifetime’s Side Order of Life, Showtime’sHuff and CBS’ E-Ring, as well as roles on The Good Doctor, FBI, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CSI, Monk, The Mentalist, The Good Wife, Psych, Law & Order: SVU and HBO’s Girls, to name a few.
Born in Westchester, New York, Williams studied at Boston University and LAMDA and RADA in London. She was a member of the acting company at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her first job out of drama school was understudying both Rachel Weisz and Gretchen Mol in the Off-Broadway play The Shape of Things, written and directed by Neil LaBute. During the run, Williams performed both roles opposite Paul Rudd. She starred with Wendie Malick in Off-Broadway’s Burleigh Grimes and starred on Broadway with Tom Skerritt in A Time to Kill, based on John Grisham’s novel.
Schedule
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Thursday, Nov 6
Sail-ebration7:00 PM - 8:15 PMPool Deck -
Friday, Nov 7
A Merry Conversation with The Stars
Presented by Balsam Hill7:15 PM - 8:15 PMPool Deck -
Saturday, Nov 8
Very Merry Variety Show Presented by Woosh Beauty | Show 17:00 PM - 8:00 PMPool Deck -
Saturday, Nov 8
Very Merry Variety Show Presented by Woosh Beauty | Show 210:00 PM - 11:00 PMPool Deck