Dan Ashley

Born in Liverpool England, Dan Ashley grew up with a love for reading, writing, music and art, always wanting to be a writer, but despite good grades throughout high school, in 1996 he left nearly empty handed after relationship and financial troubles in the family and then bullying took their toll. Refusing to be beaten though he returned for a year to gain a GNVQ in Art & Design and an English GCSE and took that to Hugh Baird College to study and practice Special Effects Make-up in TV, Film & Theatre between 1997 & 1999, seeking to take his art in the direction of one of his film idols, special effects artist, stuntman, actor and director Tom Savini. He gained a National Diploma and took voluntary work in local theatre but couldn't find paid work in the industry or even like-minded film-makers to work with and he was also rejected by London's 'Jim Henson's Workshop' whom he approached while working at Associated Press Television News in 2000. Despite efforts to find smaller companies to work for, his efforts went unnoticed and he moved back to Liverpool. But he then got to put his writing skills to use writing plays for school drama groups while training for a qualification in Variety & Entertainment. He also took work as a television extra at Childwall Abbey, working on then popular soaps Brookside and Hollyoaks and received some mentoring from locally famed Liverpool historian Frank Carlyle. Taking Frank's advice on making the most of life, he wouldn't miss out the opportunity to follow his dreams when in 2002 he was asked to film a band at the Flying Picket and a year later was regularly filling in for the bass player. By 2004 he was doing it full time and regularly gigging in and around Liverpool popular live venues. In 2005 he left due to personal circumstances and fell into depression and ill health but decided to return to education in 2009 to study Media in order to bring his education round full circle and find a fresh direction. This led him to work on his first feature film 'Violet City' by director John Maxwell and writer Dave Jackson where he provided art direction, production, props management and special effects prosthetics where he met budding writer and director Amy Clarke. Months later he worked as Art Director on Clarke's 'Killing Off Eve,' returned to his music and also writing various projects novel and screenplay for the near future.