• Home
• /
• Entertainment

Ashley's star shines

Before, there was only one star in the Gruenberg family: her brother Polo (Ravales). Now, there are two, as 17-year-old Ashley Gruenberg joins showbiz as a cast member of the new youth-oriented series, Posh.

Ashley, a freshman Financial Management student at Miriam College in Quezon City, is the younger sister of Polo Ravales, whose real name is Paul Patrick Gruenberg. Ashley is the only girl among the five Gruenberg siblings, besides being the middle child.

When Polo found out that his sister was joining showbusiness, he was disappointed. One of Polo's biggest frustrations in life was that he never finished his studies on time because of his showbiz career, and he didn't want the same thing to happen to his sister.

Even Ashley's parents were against her going into showbiz for the very same reason.

But Ashley, who started receiving offers to appear in television commercials when she was only 13 years old, had her heart set on it and wouldn't allow herself to be discouraged from pursuing her dreams. “I really wanted it [a showbiz career] even when I was young, but my parents wouldn't let me since I was still in school,” she says.

But as fate would have it, the agency that manages her for TV commercials heard of a soon-to-be launched TV series that was looking for new faces, and sent Ashley to be tested for it. She arrived from a vacation in the US on May 28, the exact same day that the workshop was to be held. Ashley proceeded directly to the workshop from the airport, but told no one that she was Polo's younger sister.

“Nobody knew, and I purposely didn't tell them because if I landed the role, I didn't want people to say that I only got it because of my brother,” says Ashley, who is now a part of the Posh cast and a talent of Viva Artists Agency (VAA).

Since then, Ashley has appeared on Posh, SOP, S-Files and Startalk on GMA-7 and QTV-11, a sister station of GMA.

But even now that she's officially in showbiz, Ashley would still rather be known as herself rather than as Polo's younger sister. Not that she isn't proud of her brother; it's just that she prefers to be recognised for her own merits.

“There's a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from being able to do what I want to do,” points out Ashley.

Her brother checks on her from time to time. “Sometimes, he'll talk to the people I work with and ask them, 'How's my sister doing?' He also gives me constant reminders, and I make sure I follow them.”

Ashley's idols are Sharon Cuneta, Anne Curtis and Angel Locsin, whom she admires for being “so down-to-earth”.

One day soon, we just might see Ashley's name up there, with the rest of them.