Ashton Cline

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.