Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Vogue Germany. Read the translated and edited version below.

“My German isn’t good, but I love speaking German with you,” says Vogue Germany’s May 2026 cover star Simone Ashley, speaking the language with startling clarity and smiling into her Zoom camera. It quickly transpires that the actor is something of a Germanophile—she even met her best friend, Pia, in Munich.

A few weeks after the magazine’s cover shoot in London, Ashley is hopping on a video call wearing a gray hoodie—her sporty look is because she’s going straight to strength training after our call, in order to prepare for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which she is running in late April.

It’s a big month for the actor and musician: On April 10, she released her debut EP, Songs I Wrote in New York, and on April 20, she attended the world premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2, in which she stars as Amari, an assistant to Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly.

It was Ashley’s role as Olivia Hanan in the popular Netflix series Sex Education that first put her on the map—and led to her big break as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton, starring alongside actor Jonathan Bailey. Her performance in Bridgerton sent Ashley’s career stratospheric, earning her a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and Time 100 Next, in addition to numerous award nominations.

But today, at 31, Ashley seems to be embarking on a new chapter—and below, she tells Vogue Germany all about it.

Vogue Germany: You can’t share much about your role yet, but can you tell us what it was like to work with all those film legends?

Simone Ashley: I was mainly with Meryl and Stanley. We shot the first half on the streets of Manhattan, which was crazy. We shot in the studios for the Runway offices, and then we went to Milan. I learned so much from just observing how everyone worked. They’re just masters of their craft; they’ve been doing this for years and years and years.

This movie changed my life in the sense that I had one of the best summers of my life, working with David [Frankel, the director] and Aline Brosh McKenna [the producer and screenwriter] and all the producers and the crew, and being in New York. It also felt like a bit of a masterclass in acting, just watching all of them, how they conveyed their characters, and how they blended into the world of The Devil Wears Prada. Because it is a very specific kind of world—fashion in New York City, and that kind of hyper-real, but ever-so subtle and chic, tonality.

Why do you think it was so crazy to shoot in the streets of Manhattan?

There were days it felt like a theater, with thousands of people watching. Also, it was summer in Manhattan. It was amazing. I’ve moved there now. I moved there in May or June, to start prep for filming, and never looked back. It was just the best summer of my life. It’s the center of the universe.

That’s exciting. What else gave you the impulse to move to New York, apart from this role?

I was making a lot of music there at the same time. I made loads of new friends, I had new experiences. My work is a big factor in my life, but it doesn’t consume my whole life. When I’m not making music, or making movies, or touring, or promoting, I still have a life outside of all of that. I want to make sure that I’m always challenging myself, and experiencing new things, and meeting new people. And I felt like New York was a great place to do that.

Your first EP came out on April 10, and your first album is set to be released in December. How long have you been planning on doing music?

Music was the first thing I did before acting. I trained in singing as a kid: classical singing, music theory, and piano. But then I fell into acting, and that took over. But I always, always wanted to make music. I think I just didn’t want it to seem like like it was a hobby. I wanted to make a body of work with a narrative, and I really wanted to take it seriously.

What can we expect from the EP?

The genre is like “soulful pop.” Because this is my first ever musical body of work that I’m releasing, I’m just really willing to let people interpret it however they want.

The title of it is Songs I Wrote in New York—and it’s about, it’s literally the title. It’s songs that I wrote in New York, apart from one [Editor’s note: it was a cover version of Sananda Maitreya's “Sign Your Name” from 1987]. It’s about my experience there. It changed my life, that summer. I experienced things there that made me feel so much, and I felt so much joy and happiness.

Happiness is something that, I think, can be addictive. We think we wish that we could experience it every day, all the time. But it’s a gift, it’s something that comes once in a while. Life is actually very normal. So when you have the days where you’re like wow, I can’t believe this is happening. I had that last summer, and I just wanted to document it in a way where I could just remember it forever. And I know that I will have experiences in life that are better than that. Who knows when, but yeah.

Your career has developed rapidly in recent years. Are there moments when you think: How did I end up here?

It’s more like, I definitely have moments of gratitude. I never take it for granted. To the world, it seems like it was something that happened very quickly. But for me, it’s something I’ve been working on since I was 18. Bridgerton was definitely a catalyst; things started moving really quickly. But it comes in waves. There are years where you kind of keep your head down and you work, and there are years when you’re more visible.

In terms of South Asian representation in Hollywood, many people look to you as a role model. How do you deal with the expectations that come with that?

The arts are a political industry—whether we like it or not, whether you want it to be or not, it is. And I think just me being there and doing my work is a political statement in itself. I think for me, just doing the work that I’m doing proves that women who look like me can have a seat at the table. I think there’s still so much room for work, but I see, slowly, more and more women, especially of diverse backgrounds, getting roles. But I think we still have a long way to go.

Your appointment as ambassador for L’Oréal Paris is also an important step towards more diversity in the beauty world. How important are beauty and skincare to you?

I think I’ve always taken care of my skin since I was a kid. That was something my mom always taught me, just always clean my face before I go to bed and take care of my skin. So I definitely try to take care of my skin as much as possible—but also, I try to leave it alone sometimes. For makeup, I like to do my eyebrows, contour my nose ever so slightly, and I like to put on lip liner. Sometimes less is more. But when I’m not wearing makeup, I have my L’Oréal lip glosses—so I’ll just put my lip gloss on, and then I feel put together.

What else do you like to do when you’re not working, to stay grounded?

I’ve been doing a lot of yin yoga lately. My friends in New York have also introduced me to different meditation places, so I’ve been doing that. Honestly, just going for walks with friends, both in London and in New York. I think I’m really trying to practice slowing down on my days off.

What do you miss about London when you’re in New York?

I miss driving! I drive everywhere in London. In New York, parking is just a nightmare. I miss the food in Europe in general. It just tastes different and feels different. I miss my best friends, but they come and visit New York all the time.

How would you describe the current chapter of your life?

I’ve been working so hard for the past year, I would say. It actually feels a bit emotional. Last year, I went through some personal stuff. Then I got The Devil Wears Prada 2, I moved to New York, and I was filming. In January, I was traveling for work, in eight cities within four weeks. I finished my music in February.

Now I’m promoting the music and the movie, and I’m on a different photoshoot every day. I’m filming a movie with A24 at the moment in New York [Peaked by Molly Gordon, with Emma Mackey, Laura Dern, and Dua Lipa]. Then I finish filming that, then the music comes out, and then it’s Devil Wears Prada. So it’s a lot at the moment.

What keeps you going?

I have to be really disciplined at the moment, and do it for myself—and really just enjoy it. I love my early thirties—I think there’s something really sexy about it. And this press tour, and this press release for the movie and the music is so different from anything that was as big, which was Bridgerton. This is just as big as the Bridgerton one. I was much younger. I feel like a different person.

My stylist, Rebecca, is putting her heart and soul into this press tour, because this is going to be such a fun one, fashion-wise. I’m going to be touring with my team, which I’m so excited about. I do think there’s going to be a great sense of relief [afterwards].

Ideally, I would love to just be in New York this summer and finish writing the rest of my album, and just have a very relaxed schedule. That’s gonna be hard some days; when you’re constantly going, it can be really overwhelming sometimes to have a quiet period, but I think I need that. I think it’s overwhelming in the sense that it’s: I’m a young, single woman living in New York in the summer. It’s not overwhelming, it’s just more: Anything can happen.