Ashley Reshaye Chrisman was born in Oakland, California and raised on the south side of Chicago. She developed a strong passion for the arts at a young age and has worked to cultivate and mold this passion into her focused disciplines of theatre and film. Chrisman completed her undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University, and received her M.F.A in Film and Television Production from USC. While at USC, she produced several projects that have been screened at festivals around the world. Her goal is to shed a different light on the everyday representations of minorities, and to find new and innovative ways to bridge the gap between community activism and filmmaking. Chrisman currently resides in Los Angeles and is developing her first feature, The Corruption of Vance Carter.