BIOGRAPHY

Ashanti is a GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter, actor and author, who burst onto the music scene with her critically acclaimed, self-titled debut album Ashanti. The album landed the #1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts and is the fastest selling female debut album in Soundscan history with a whopping 504,593 units sold in its first week. This fete granted Ashanti a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, which she still holds today.  Ashanti has released six studio albums and received eight Billboard Awards, a GRAMMY, two American Music Awards, two Soul Train Awards, six ASCAP Awards, and many more awards and illustrious honors. Ashanti has continued to reign at the top as one of Billboard’s “Top Females of the Decade from 2000-2010” and continues to break Billboard records as having a Hot 100 entry in the 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s. Ashanti has sold more than 30 million albums to date.

In 2005, Ashanti made her telefilm debut starring as Dorothy in The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, opposite Miss Piggy and Kermit. She also starred in the Disney animated series The Proud Family and continued to receive roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Army Wives, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and portrayed Dionne Warwick on NBC’s American Dreams. She has also played herself and performed on the hit TV series, Vegas. 

In her feature film debut in Coach Carter, Ashanti co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson, and the film was a #1 box office hit. Ashanti’s other film credits include Resident Evil Extinction, John Tucker Must Die and Bollywood film Bride & Prejudice. Ashanti executive produced, starred in the musical drama and feature film STUCK, released April 2019.  She also executive produced the feature film Mothers and Daughters, starring Sharon Stone, Susan Sarandon, Mira Sorvino and more.

Ashanti recently starred in Honey Girls, in partnership with Build-A-Bear Entertainment and Sony Pictures’ rom-com The Plus One, that she executive produced and starred in, alongside Cedric the Entertainer, and was released in September 2023. Ashanti will also star in No Address, a film about a group of people that are experiencing homelessness and realize they must bond together as a family if they are going to survive, to be released in February 2025. 

Ashanti has built her brand with several major partnerships and has her own fragrance, “Precious Jewel” with AMC Beauty, American Express, Shea Moisture, Marc Jacobs and Ciroc, to name a few. Her endorsements include Herbal Essences, where she is the first African American to land a national campaign, and Candies Apparel. She launched her clothing line, in collaboration with Miss Circle, and partnered with Pretty Little Thing to create her own swimsuit line, “Ashanti.” 

She wrote her first book of poetry, through Hyperion, titled Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections on Love and released her first children’s book, My Name Is A Story, with Harper Collins on July 12, 2022. My Name Is A Story was voted, “2023 Best Children’s Book” by the African American Literary Awards.

Ashanti is the Ambassador for the Jumpstart Reading Program and became the “Youth of the Year” Ambassador for the Boys and Girls Club of America in 2009 and was also inducted into their Hall of Fame. She became a member of their “BE GREAT” Campaign with Denzel Washington and was also a part of the “Let’s Move” campaign with Michelle Obama.

To celebrate her contributions to music and recording, Ashanti received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 7, 2022.