Bashy
Bashy at theMOBO Awards in 2025
Born	Ashley Thomas Hammersmith,London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Education	BRIT School
Occupations	Rapper songwriter actor
Years active	2002–present
Musical career
Also known as	Bashy
Genres	Hip-hop British hip-hop alternative hip-hop grime
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	2002–present
Musical artist
Website	bashy.com

Ashley Thomas, also known by the stage nameBashy,^[1] is a British rapper and actor.^[2]

Ashley Thomas was born inHammersmith, West London. His mother is ofJamaican heritage and his father is ofDominican heritage.^[1]

He attended St. Mary's of the Angels RC Primary School. Aged 8, his family moved toKensal Rise, in north-west London. He attendedCardinal Hinsley High School,^[1] where he excelled in drama studies. He was later expelled from school and sent to live with his grandmother in Dominica.^[3]

Thomas went on to join theBRIT School for Performing Arts as a theatre student.^[1]

Before finding acting and music success, Thomas worked as aLondon bus driver during his early twenties.^[3]

By his late teens, Thomas was a part of the UK’s emerginggrime scene, rapping on pirate radio stations.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, he released the song "Black Boys".^[3] With frequent reports of shootings and stabbings on news bulletins, and with the media focusing on the lack of role models in black communities, Thomas felt that the British inner-city youth could be reminded they had a number of positive role models they could look to for inspiration.^[3]

In 2008, Thomas started working onAdulthood.^[3]Noel Clarke, the writer and director ofAdulthood, first encountered Thomas when he was passed a copy ofThe Chupa Chups Mixtape, which contained samples from Clarke's previous film,Kidulthood.^[4] Clarke was impressed with what he heard and disregarded concerns around the copyright infringement instead finding a way for Thomas to work on the official soundtrack forAdulthood.^[4] Thomas delivered the film's theme songKidulthood to Adulthood.^[4]

Thomas released his debut album,Catch Me If You Can in 2009.^[3] The album was nominated for the 2009 MOBO Award for Album of the Year.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Thomas featured on the song "White Flag" byGorillaz, from the critically acclaimed albumPlastic Beach.^[3] The song saw Bashy feature alongside UK rapperKano and theSyrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music.^[3]

In 2013, Thomas stepped away from music to focus on his acting career full time.^{[citation needed]}

Thomas released his first full-length album in 15 years,Being Poor is Expensive, on 12 July 2024.^[5] The album received critical acclaim and won the 2025MOBO Award for Album of Year. Bashy also won the MOBO Award for Best Hip Hop Act that same year.^[6] His songHow Black Men Lose Their Smile was nominated for anIvor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.^{[citation needed]}

Thomas landed his first role in 2010 as Rager in British filmShank,^[3] an independent action film set in a decaying future London. He then went on to feature as Smoothy in the movie4.3.2.1. that same year.^[3] In April 2010, BBC Learning launched Off By Heart Shakespeare, a recital contest for secondary school pupils,^[7] and Thomas was asked to play the role of Shylock fromThe Merchant of Venice.^[7]

In 2011, Thomas played the part of Mental Mickey inCockneys vs Zombies.^[8] Later that year, he played Tyrone Jones inThe Veteran.^[8] His first television role came in the winter of 2011, in theEmmy award-winning seriesBlack Mirror, byCharlie Brooker forChannel 4 as Judge Wraith in the episode "Fifteen Million Merits".^[7]

In 2012, Thomas played the lead role inThe Man Inside, oppositePeter Mullan,David Harewood andMichelle Ryan. His next film wasMy Brother the Devil,^[8] which received critical acclaim, winning awards at both theSundance Film Festival andBerlin Film Festival.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, he played the recurring character Jermaine Newton inTop Boy, a role he reprised in 2019 after it was announced thatNetflix was to revive the British drama series.^[7]

Early in 2015, Thomas guest-starred in theBBC seriesThe Interceptor. Thomas' next TV appearance would be as Gil in the short-lived fantasy dramaBeowulf: Return to the Shieldlands forITV in January 2016. Thomas signed up to the ensemble cast of A Hundred Streets released the same year.^[7]

Early in 2016, it was confirmed Thomas was to appear as Calvin Hart in theHBO limited seriesThe Night Of directed byJames Marsh andSteve Zaillian.^[9] In March 2016, Thomas was set as a lead role in the20th Century Fox Television reboot of franchise series24 as Isaac Carter.^[10] Early in 2018, Thomas played the brother of Luca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) in the legal dramaThe Good Fight, airing onCBS All Access.^[7] Later that year Thomas starred inSkin, the film won theAcademy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the91st Academy Awards.

In 2019 it was announced Thomas would co-star in theNYPD Blue reboot.^[11] That same year Thomas was set to headline the Amazon Prime horror seriesThem;^[12] for his performance he received anIndependent Spirit Award nomination.^[13] In 2021, Thomas starred in the British limited seriesThe Ipcress File onITV. In February 2022, the cast for theSteven Knight's adaptation ofCharles Dickens'Great Expectations for theBBC was announced,^[14] withOlivia Colman cast asMiss Havisham,Fionn Whitehead cast as Pip and Thomas cast as Mr Jaggers, becoming the first black actor to play the role; for his performance he received aRoyal Television Society Programme Award nomination.^[15] Later that year, Thomas had been cast as the male lead in theHulu drama seriesBlack Cake oppositeAdrienne Warren andMia Isaac.^[16]

In 2023 Thomas joined the cast ofThe Serpent Queen asAlessandro de Medici.^[17] In March 2024, Thomas was cast in theNetflix political television seriesHostage as Dr Alex Anderson, alongsideSuranne Jones. Filming began that month with the working titleThe Choice.^[18] In November 2024 it was announced Thomas had been cast in theChannel 4 crime thriller drama seriesIn Flight.^[19]

• Ur Mum Vol One (2005)
• The Chupa Chups Mixtape (2007)
• Bashy.com (2008)
• The Fantasy Mixtape (2010)
• The Crunchie Mixtape (2011)
• The Great Escape EP (2012)
• Mixtape LegendCompilation (2013)

• "Clones" – 2006 (byAkira the Don)
• "Time Is Right Remix" – 2009 (by Frisco, also featuringJme andBlack the Ripper)
• "She Likes To" (England Top 10) – 2009 (byWiley)
• "White Flag" fromPlastic Beach – 2010 (byGorillaz, also featuringKano)
• "Dead Butterflies" –Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (by Gorillaz, also featuring Kano and Roxani Arias)
• "4,3,2,1" –4.3.2.1 OST (Bashy featuringPaloma Faith andAdam Deacon)
• "It's All Love" (Remix) – 2012 (byScorcher, also featuringTalay Riley, Kano andWretch 32)
• "Bad Boys Don't Cry" – 2013 (byLoick Essien)

• Official website
• Bashy atIMDb

• 1985 births
• English people of Dominica descent
• Black British male rappers
• Black British rappers
• 21st-century British male rappers
• 21st-century British rappers
• Grime music artists
• English male film actors
• Black British male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• English male television actors
• Rappers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
• Rappers from the London Borough of Hounslow
• People from Chiswick
• Actors from the London Borough of Hounslow
• Male actors from London
• People from Hammersmith
• People educated at the BRIT School
• Living people
• English people of Jamaican descent
• Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
• Bus drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from June 2018
• Use British English from April 2014
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2026