Linden Ashby: Movies & Box Office

Clarence Linden Garnett Ashby III, known professionally as Linden Ashby, was born on May 23, 1960 in Atlantic Beach, Florida, the son of Eleanor Johnson, a civic organizer, and Clarence Linden Garnett Ashby Jr., a pharmaceuticals manufacturer. He attended the prestigious Bolles School in Jacksonville before enrolling at Fort Lewis College in Colorado, where he left during his junior year to pursue acting, later honing his craft at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Ashby’s on‑screen debut arrived in 1985 with a guest role on the ABC soap Loving, soon followed by a recurring part as Curtis Alden; his early television work also included portraying Lance Reventlow in the Golden Globe‑winning miniseries Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story. Leveraging his background in amateur boxing and karate—where he earned a blue belt—Ashby achieved cult status as Johnny Cage in the 1995 film Mortal Kombat, a role he later reprised in the 2021 video game Mortal Kombat 11. Throughout the late 1990s he became a familiar face on prime‑time drama, first as Charles, the estranged husband of Jo Reynolds on Melrose Place, and then as Brett Cooper during the show’s final two seasons. He continued to diversify his résumé with appearances in Wyatt Earp (as Morgan Earp), the CBS soap The Young and the Restless (as Cameron Kirsten), and the horror sequel Resident Evil: Extinction. In 2011 Ashby was cast as Sheriff Noah Stilinski on MTV’s supernatural series Teen Wolf, a role that spanned six seasons, earned him a Saturn Award nomination, and led to a reunion film released in 2023. His later work includes a cameo in Iron Man 3, a supporting turn in the Netflix romance Purple Hearts, and a return to The Young and the Restless in 2023‑2024, which garnered a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Performer. Ashby has been married to actress Susan Walters since 1986; the couple met on the set of Loving and have two daughters born in 1991 and 1992. Despite battling panic attacks early in his career, he remains a respected figure in both television and film, celebrated for his versatility and enduring on‑screen presence.