While we wait for new episodes of Pretty Little Liars, we’re taking a closer look at the Liars and their careers leading up to their breakthrough roles.  Let’s take a look at Ashley Benson.

Ashley started her acting career when she was 10 years old, starting with commercials before moving into television and film.  After appearing on TV shows such as The West Wing, The District, and Strong Medicine, her first major role was on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives.  Ashley played Abigail Deveraux from ’04-‘07, and was the third actress to play Abigail over the course of roughly 20 years.  Abigail’s storylines centered mostly on relationships with some of the other young characters, including a storyline in which Abigail’s boyfriend, thought to have been dead for years, returns to Salem.

Ashley continued appearing on various TV shows during her run on Days, including The O.C., 7^th Heaven, and Zoey 101.  Her first major film role came in Bring It On: In It To Win It, one of the direct-to-DVD sequels to the cult classic Bring It On.  In this installment of the cheerleading flicks, Ashley plays Carson, the leader of a squad who meets her match at cheerleading camp, and falls for a member of the rival squad.

Shortly after Bring It On, Ashley was cast in the prom-night indie comedy Bart Got A Room, which starred Steven Kaplan (Beware the Gonzo) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Whip It).  Ashley plays Alice, the platonic friend of main character Bart, who he wishes was more than just a friend.

Just before Ashley was cast as Hanna Marin on PLL, she was cast in the short-lived supernatural drama series Eastwick, based on the novel The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.  Ashley plays the daughter of lead witch Roxie Torcoletti (Rebecca Romijn).

Ashley appeared in a slew of other TV shows during the mid-2000s leading up to PLL, and continued to do so since.  One of our favorite roles Ashley played since being cast on PLL was her role as Carly on How I Met Your Mother. Carly is a very young girlfriend of Ted’s (Josh Radnor), a Williamsburg hipster type whose only saving grace is her love of Star Wars.  When the gang realizes that Carly is actually Barney’s (Neil Patrick Harris) seldom-seen half-sister, things get a bit complicated for Ted.

Make sure to check out the Pretty Little Liars fan appreciation special, “We Love You To DeAth,” which airs as part of ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween on Tuesday, October 21 at 8:00.

Contributed by Jordan Adams