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"With her glowing skin and swift sense of humor, it's hard to believe that 20-year-old Ashley Rickards plays Jenna Hamilton, high school outcast and the main character of MTV's hit show Awkward, so convincingly. \"In real life, my character and I are actually nothing alike,\" she admits. \"My character wakes up, throws on a hoodie, and calls it a day. She's a real girl&amp;amp;#8212not the Hollywood version of a teenager. If she tried to wear makeup to school, she'd probably just sweat it off in gym class. She never wants to draw attention to herself.\"\n\nAshley, on the other hand, is all for taking style risks. \"I think it's fun for girls to try out new trends, wear bright colors, and do unexpected things,\" she says. The supersmart Florida native, who graduated from high school early in just two years, says if she weren't in showbiz, she'd most definitely be a makeup artist. \"When I was younger, I taught myself about different products, brushes, and blending shades,\" she explains. \"I love giving makeovers!\" Although Ashley's day-to-day beauty routine is pretty low-maintenance (Lanc\u00F4me Absolue day cream with SPF and Neutrogena Healthy Lengths mascara are her must-haves), she likes to experiment on the red carpet. \"I love a cat eye and bold lips,\" she says. \"I've also been wearing a lot of black nail polish lately. But who knows? Next week I might want to wear neon green. It's fun to change it up.\" Learning how to take yourself\n\nLearning how to take yourself less seriously is one of the perks of growing up, believes Ashley. \"Jenna is a good example of a real teenager who finds ways to pick herself up after being knocked down and humiliated time after time,\" she says. \"Trying to see the humor in your imperfections is a struggle that everyone can relate to.\" At the end of the day, no matter how cool or pretty you are, she notes, there's a little bit of awkward in all of us."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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