Ben Ashby is an all around theatre maker: a director, actor, writer, and producer. Specialising in boundary pushing physical theatre. Originally from Ōtautahi/Christchurch and now living in Naarm/Melbourne.
Ben graduated from the acting course at Toi Whakaari, The New Zealand National Drama School in 2020, and became the Artistic Director of Long Cloud Youth Theatre. He directed and produced eight devised theatre projects with Long Cloud in two years, finding his voice as a theatre maker and acting coach passionate about building community and inciting change through hopeful, fierce art.
In 2021, he won a Wellington Theatre Award for “Artistic Leadership,” and in 2022, he won the PAYPA “Emerging Artist” award for excellence in creative vision and leadership.
On screen, Ben has featured in Wellington Paranormal and was honoured to play Tim Shadbolt in The Panthers.
Ben Ashby and Nadiyah Akbar created a2 Company, who made the award winning Running into the Sun in 2024, and are now touring it back to Aotearoa.