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Amazon Prime’s latest hit series is making noise for its disturbing themes and supernatural plot, but one of the leading actors has had journey to the top that is just as compelling.
Ashley Thomas, more commonly known as his stage name Bashy, stars as Henry Emory in Them: Covenant alongside Deborah Ayorinde.
This is a life that he says he never could have imagined for himself when growing up in London, working for Royal Mail and as a London bus driver to make money.
Growing Up
Ashley was born in Hammersmith and was the first born of a Jamaican mum and Dominican dad.
He attended St Mary’s of the Angels RC Primary School and grew up in Brunel Estate, around Westbourne Park. At the age 11 his family moved to Kensal Rise, North West London and he attended Cardinal Hinsley High School.
In an interview for the promotion for Them: Covenant, Ashley spoke on the humble beginnings to his acting career.
He was encouraged by his mum to start acting classes at the age of eight and quickly added rapping as another talent.
“My family didn’t have much, so I went to a free drama school,” speaking of his time at the BRIT School for Performing Arts as a theatre student. It was there that the young actor would hone his craft.
Famous former students include, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Tom Holland. However a career in acting didn’t take off immediately.
Hustling as a bus driver
Ashley’s first taste of stardom came as a rapper under the stage name Bashy. Grime fans will remember his early releases such 2004’s Ur Mum Vol.1 and 2005’s Chupa Chumps Mixtape which included popular songs such as ‘Black Boys’ and ‘How to Pick a Wife’.
During the release of the Chupa Chups Mixtape, Ashley was a struggling independent musician.
He worked for Royal Mail for a year to try and fund his music career. However, the slow progress led to him returning to full-time employment as a bus driver.
Speaking of his time behind the wheel, he said: “I used to be a postman and after that a bus driver. I think some people in society don’t want to work because everything seems to revolve around their image, which is what everybody worries about.
“Some people think it is uncool to work, but I just think if you need a job you should get one and not worry what people think.”
Success as a rapper
Before resigning from his job as a bus driver, he got swarmed by female fans after the release of the song ‘Black Boys’ in 2007, which has since gone on to be cultural anthem.
Routes such as the 183 from Pinner to Golders Green experienced delays as “people started to take pictures of me driving the bus,” he said.
Ashley was keen to help to address the themes discussed in the song and became a spokesperson against knife crime.
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The highlights of Ashley’s musical career include performing the theme songs for Noel Clarke’s films Adulthood and 4.3.2.1. and his incredible mixtape run from 2005 – 2012 (Ur Mum Vol One, The Chupa Chups Mixtape, Bashy.com, The Fantasy Mixtape, The Crunchie Mixtape and The Great Escape EP).
Acting Breakthrough
Ashley landed his first film role in 2010 in the British action movie, Shank. He then went on to feature in Noel Clarke’s 4.3.2.1. that same year.
Early in 2011 he secured the lead role in The Man Inside, opposite Peter Mullen, David Harewood and Michelle Ryan, before going on to play the role of Mental Mikey in Cockneys vs Zombies.
Ashley’s first television role came in the winter of 2011, in the Emmy award-winning Channel 4 series Black Mirror in an episode titled “Fifteen Million Merits”.
Things only got better from there for the young actor.
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His next film was the critically-acclaimed My Brother the Devil which, picked up awards at both the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival.
Ashley would also go on to appear in the hit Channel 4 show Top Boy in 2013, playing the character of Jermaine Newton.
The beginning of 2015, saw Ashley take another career leap forward. The Londoner guest starred in the BBC series The Interceptor and a year later starred in the film A Hundred Streets released in an ensemble cast which featured Idris Elba, Gemma Arterton and Franz Drameh among others.
Taking over Hollywood
2016 was the year when Ashley’s career took him across the pond.
He landed a role as Calvin Hart in the HBO limited series The Night Of. The series was an overwhelming success, receiving 13 Emmy nominations and winning five – including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Riz Ahmed.
Ashley would then go onto front the reboot of the popular franchise series 24. He played the leading role of as Isaac Carter.
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2018 was another year of major career breakthroughs for Ashley, he played the brother of lead character Luca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) in the legal drama The Good Fight.
Arguably, the greatest success of his long acting career has only just happened in the last weeks. Amazon Prime’s horror series Them: Covenant stars Ashley as Henry Emory, the husband of Lucky Emory (Deborah Ayorinde) and father their two daughters.
The series has received widespread attention for grappling with issues such a racism and migration.
Ashley’s career path may haver been far from conventional, but it has only served to make for an incredible backstory to one of Hollywood’s future leading men.
