Editor\u2019s note: This article originally appeared in<\/em> Vogue Germany<\/em><\/a>. Read the translated and edited version below.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy German isn\u2019t good, but I love speaking German with you,\u201d says Vogue<\/em> Germany\u2019s May 2026 cover star Simone Ashley<\/a>, speaking the language with startling clarity and smiling into her Zoom camera. It quickly transpires that the actor is something of a Germanophile\u2014she even met her best friend, Pia, in Munich.<\/p>\n A few weeks after the magazine\u2019s cover shoot in London, Ashley is hopping on a video call wearing a gray hoodie\u2014her sporty look is because she\u2019s going straight to strength training after our call, in order to prepare for the Brooklyn Half Marathon<\/a>, which she is running in late April.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a big month for the actor and musician: On April 10, she released her debut EP, Songs I Wrote in New York,<\/em> and on April 20, she attended the world premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2<\/em><\/a>, in which she stars as Amari, an assistant to Meryl Streep<\/a>\u2019s Miranda Priestly.<\/p>\n Fitted jacket with a peplum and gold buttons, mini skirt, and plaid pumps\u2014all by Christian Dior.<\/p>\n <\/span>Photographed by Frederike Helwig, Vogue Germany,<\/em> May 2026<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n It was Ashley\u2019s role as Olivia Hanan in the popular Netflix series Sex Education<\/em> that first put her on the map\u2014and led to her big break as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton,<\/em> starring alongside actor Jonathan Bailey. Her performance in Bridgerton<\/em> sent Ashley\u2019s career stratospheric, earning her a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and Time 100 Next, in addition to numerous award nominations.<\/p>\n But today, at 31, Ashley seems to be embarking on a new chapter\u2014and below, she tells Vogue<\/em> Germany all about it.<\/p>\n Vogue<\/em> Germany: You can\u2019t share much about your role yet, but can you tell us what it was like to work with all those film legends?<\/strong><\/p>\n 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<\/em> offices, and then we went to Milan. I learned so much from just observing how everyone worked. They\u2019re just masters of their craft; they\u2019ve been doing this for years and years and years.<\/p>\n 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<\/em>. Because it is a very specific kind of world\u2014fashion in New York City, and that kind of hyper-real, but ever-so subtle and chic, tonality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Vogue](\"https:\/\/assets.vogue.com\/photos\/69e677617bb706f44d55ed19\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/OK_260221_VOGUE-GERMANY_SA_07_0001_RGB.jpg\"\/)
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