beauty with bite

By Laura Prudom

At 5'5" and possessing a soft-spoken manner, Ashley Greene could strike you as an unassuming figure, but the
actress is not so easily passed by. Greene is part of Twilight, one of the most recognized movie franchises in recent history,with an army of fans and paparazzo avidly scrutinizing her every move. "The fans are great, the paparazzi, not so great," the actress says with a laugh. "But then again, you do want people to know who you are rather than not - I walk into a lot of rooms and talk to a lot of people because, unfortunately, it's about who knows you and not what you can do. Talent does play a part in it, but so does publicity."

Twilight provided Greene with the breakthrough role of Alice Cullen, adopted sister of the mysterious and brooding vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) who captures the heart of the human teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Although Twilight introduced audiences to Alice-whom Greene describes as, "the most positive, good vampire" to exist in all of vampiric lore - kind of like a, "darker version of Tinkerbell"-the actress insists that the second movie will provide a much larger role for her character. "I got to do a lot more in [New Moon]," Greene explains. "All the stunt-work in terms of the fights in the second one I did and the third one's a little more intense. There's a huge battle and so they're letting us do as much as we possibly can, but it's a lot of work. We're actually taking stunt classes and personal training and making sure we're in the best physical form we can be to do it."

Born in Jacksonville, Florida to an ex-Marine father and a mother who works in insurance, Greene never considered a career in acting, initially dabbling in modeling as a teen. Greene reasons that her mother enrolled her in modeling classes to help her learn self-confidence. Her experience in commercial acting encouraged Greene to pursue acting and she never looked back. Though Greene was fortunate enough to attract an agent and manager before moving to L.A., the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle didn't come so easily,"I shared a bedroom with somebody, I had a twin bed and no furniture and no couch and I ate popsicles and lean cuisine for a good year," she laughs. "I was living in Glendale and decided to move into Hollywood, and I took up modeling again to try and make some cash." Finally, her big break came in the form of Twilight, the adaptation of a romantic, angsty vampire novel aimed at young adults. Greene admits that the hardest part of her newfound fame is how difficult it has become to see her friends and family back home in Jacksonville, "I'm very close with my mom, my dad and my brother and they live in Florida, and I have a couple of very close friends in Florida as well as in California, so it's kind of hard," she sighs, explaining that she works six days a week with photo shoots often scheduled for the weekends.

After wrapping production on Eclipse, she'll be moving straight into promoting New Moon ahead of its November 20th release. So how does Greene spend her rare time off? "The hiking is really nice [in Vancouver] and I'm gonna go kayaking and stuff. When I was back in Florida I used to surf a little bit, but the beach in LA is an hour away from me so it was hard to commit to that between auditions. I really just hang out with my girlfriends and do movie nights, just enjoy the time off," the actress says. Greene also found time during shooting the third movie to serve as a fashion correspondent for MTV's Video Music Awards. "Oh my gosh, that was so much fun!" she gushes, citing her appearance on several ‘Best Dressed' lists (including MTV's) as well as the impending release of New Moon as the catalyst that got her the gig. "I was like, ‘um, yeah!' and then I got a little nervous and realized, ‘oh gosh, wait, there's gonna be fashion icons there, who am I to interview them?' but it ended up being really fun. Nobody's called me up yet and told me I sucked, so I think it went well!"

When asked to describe her signature style, Greene seems to have a firm grasp on what works for her, and she intends to stay true to it. "I tend to lean towards very clean lines and classic cuts - I always wear black," she confesses. "In my everyday life I'm into very plain clothing and then just add some type of statement piece, whether it be a purse or shoes or a belt or a necklace." Greene cites style icons such as Audrey Hepburn and Gwyneth Paltrow, women who are adept at mixing femininity and sex appeal without ever being trashy. "I always think, if you wear something and it's timeless you're never gonna look back and go ‘oh my god, what was I wearing?'" Greene laughs softly, "So you give a little and you keep a lot; that's the vibe I'm definitely trying to stick on."

PHOTOGRAPHED BY LUKE DUVAL
STYLED BY ERYKA CLAYTON
HAIR BY RICHARD COLLINS
MAKEUP BY VANESSA SCALI
STYLIST ASSISTANT ALEXIS WALKER
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS CHRISTINA VENEZIA & VICTORIA PRICE
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