Ashlee Simpson may be in the shadow of her older sister Jessica Simpson, but it’s doubtful that she’ll remain there much longer. With two platinum albums, a reality show, and a film on her resume, Ashlee is proving herself to be much more than Jessica's baby sister.
Born on October 3, 1984 in Dallas, Texas, Ashlee’s performance career began early with classical ballet lessons at the age of 3. She quickly exhibited impressive capabilities, and at age 11 was the youngest person ever admitted into the School of American Ballet in New York City. However, the family soon moved to Los Angeles where Ashlee appeared in television commercials and was often a backup dancer for her sister, whose career exploded in 1999 with the release of her first album. After a few small film and television roles, including a regular part on the WB’s hit teen show "7th Heaven", Ashlee dropped her debut album in mid-2004. The rock-influenced album, "Autobiography", was a departure of sorts from her sister’s girl-pop sound. Her raspy voice and pseudo-punk image proved popular with teenage girls, and the album went triple platinum, equaling the success of Jessica’s smash hit third album "In This Skin".
Ashlee has shown a remarkable ability to bounce back, releasing a solid second album after an embarrassing appearance on Saturday Night Live in October 2004 that received enormous media attention. Caught lip-synching the second song of her performance, Ashlee was publicly lambasted for the incident, even after explaining that she was ill and delivering a string of solid shows in the months afterwards. Her second album, "I Am Me", was released in late 2005 shortly after her major role in the film "Undiscovered", which failed miserably at the box office though Ashlee did receive decent reviews for her appearance. "I Am Me" didn’t match the success of her first release, but it has still sold over a million copies in the United States. The MTV reality series "The Ashlee Simpson Show", a companion program to Jessica’s popular "Newlyweds", ran for two seasons and received favorable ratings. Ashlee continued to receive arguably unfair attention from her SNL incident months after it occurred, but her flurry of activity in 2005 showed the world that she’s back at the top of her game, and going strong.