Aubrey Peeples, Actress
Aubrey Peeples may play a hot mess on ABC's Nashville, but in real life, she has her act together. After appearing in commercials and smaller parts for nearly a decade, the actress landed the breakout role of teen starlet Layla Grant just a year out of high school. (The hit show's new season, its fourth, marks her first as a cast regular.) America will get to know another side of Peeples as she steps into the shoes of Jerrica Benton, the titular character in this month's Jem and the Holograms, a big-screen reboot of the 1980s cult cartoon.
Coast to coast: Peeples grew up in Lake Mary, a suburb of Orlando, and was a classically trained vocalist for 11 yearsthough she admittedly was more focused on acting. She booked her first gig at the age of 13 (in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.) and stayed at her private school in Florida through graduation. Peeples moved to L.A. at 18 to pursue her dreams and, after a year, got the call for a part on Nashville, which brought her to Music City. In her downtime, she's been writing music of her own and hopes to release an album in 2016.
Studying up: Considering she wasn't even alive when Jem originally aired, Peeples had some catching up to doi.e., watching the entire series on Netflixbefore slipping into Jerrica's pink wig and sequin-and-leather duds. 'We broke [Jerrica] down and created this character that's very shy, doesn't want to be in front of the camera, and is put in this position where she can help her family monetarily,” she says. 'It was such a passion project, so everyone there was really in love with what we were doing.”
Weird science: Peeples is the first to admit she has a dark side. She's drawn to entomology; her collection started with butterflies and has since expanded to include a number of different insect and animal specieseven a mummified bat. 'I started watching Oddities on the Science Channel when I was in high school, and many of my skeletons have come from the shops that the show is about,” she says. 'I've always found science fascinating, especially biology. One day, I hope to have a human skull.”
Life imitating art: Though Peeples made her Opry debut two years ago and her eighth appearance last month, she's been filming there since joining Nashville in season two. She says it's 'so meta” that she now gets to perform on the iconic stage where many pivotal scenes from the show are shot.
Role play: While she doesn't fully identify with her melodramatic TV character, Peeples is having fun playing a role with split personalities. 'It seems that the writers love to throw all the crazy hysteria my way,” Peeples says. 'Each episode with Layla is a surprise: In one scene, she'll have a screaming tantrum and in the next, she'll be really sweet.” She adds that in real life, she falls somewhere in between her Jem and Nashville characters. 'Layla is so driven and will screw anyone over in order to get there,” she explains. 'I'm definitely not camera-shy [like Jem] and have always been super driven [like Layla] to get to the next step, but Layla would poison someone to beat them out. I hope I'm in that healthy medium!”