Ashton Whitty and Asia Argento

Ashton Blaise Whitty is an American actress who was born in Berkeley on the 1st October 1996. She is an actor, well-known for Choices (2010), The Heart and Other Small Shapes (2006) and Chrissie Mayr's Content House (2022).

Asia Argento was raised in Rome by a film and actor family. She pursued both professions her own. At the age of nine, she made her acting debut in Sergio Ciotti's film Sogni e Bisogni. In 1988, she played the leading role in the first feature of Cristina Comencini's film Zoo. She was also a part of Michele Soavi's cast in The Church. Red Wood Pigeon, the film that she played Nanni Moretti's daughter was released just a few years later. But it came from Close Friends by Michele Placido which saw Asia's acting career begin to take off. Cannes International Film Festival was a huge success for the film. She worked with her father for the very first time in Trauma which was directed by the acclaimed Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento. Her mother, Daria Nicoleli, is Argento's favourite actress, as she portrayed an orexic trying to track down the murderer of her parents. Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera is the third film she has made with her father, among them Trauma as well as The Stendhal Syndrome Asia's absorbed and intense acting style was well-used in Giuseppe Piccioni's Condannato a nozze . In 1993, she starred in Carlo Verdones Perdiamoci di vista where she played Arianna an athlete. This role was complex and demanding, earning the David di Donatello as best actor. In 1995 she worked with Michel Piccoli on Peter Del Monte's Compagna di viaggio. This collaboration earned her the David di Donatello prize as well as the Grolla d'oro. Asia began directing in 1994. She released two shorts and an episode from the movie De Generazione. In 1996 she directed an documentary on her father and AbelAsia, a film on the legendary director Abel Ferrara. In 1998, Asia directed AbelAsia, that was honoured by the Rome Film Festival. Asia produced her debut feature film Scarlet Diva (1999), in which she was both the lead actress and the author of its screenplay. The film premiered on May 20, 2000 throughout Italy, and in other countries. The Williamsburg Festival of Film in Brooklyn, New York awarded it with a top prize.