Ashley and David Eckstein
Ashley and David Eckstein

In the 13 years since I last interviewed actress-entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein, she sold her groundbreaking fashion line to Hot Topic and the Star Wars animated character she originated made the leap to live action. On Tuesday, she returns to Orlando Family Stage — where her career first started — with her husband, MLB All-Star David Eckstein, for the simultaneous releases of his memoir, Just Enough, and her new novel, Lucky 22.

Eckstein spoke with me ahead of their nearly sold-out event about her ever-expanding universe, touching on topics including …

Lessons she learned as an Orlando Rep “theater kid”:

I am very outspoken about how, if given the chance, every single kid should do something with theater. There are so many life lessons to learn from being a part of theater, starting with time management. As a child being involved in theater, my parents were very strict that if I didn’t keep up with my homework and my grades, I could not go to theater. Theater was my great love, so I had to figure out how to get everything done and still have time for rehearsal and plays.

I’m a big advocate for kids’ mental health, and specifically how the arts and how theater can positively impact your mental health. First and foremost, a sense of belonging. We all need to feel connection; connection is a basic need. Our bodies, our minds need to interact. Our phones are great [but] they’re not meant to replace in-person connection, and what theater does is it brings you together in person.

Seeing Rosario Dawson playing her ex-Jedi character, Ahsoka Tano:

Was I devastated actually that I wasn’t allowed to be a part of the live-action production in any way? Yes, I was, but I very quickly realized, thanks to the fans, that because the character has grown beyond animation, Ahsoka lives in all of us. … So I can be disappointed that I didn’t get to be a part of it, but I can also, at the same exact time, celebrate and have so much gratitude that her story continues. 

Ahsoka is bigger than ever, and it’s a good time to be an Ahsoka Tano fan. [Lucasfilm president] Dave Filoni promised me I’d always be the voice of Ahsoka in animation, and I’m very grateful that I’ve continued to voice Ahsoka all these years.

Changes in fandom fashion since she founded Her Universe in 2010:

Half of all sci-fi and fantasy fans are women and girls, and they weren’t making anything for us to buy and show off our fandom, so I badly wanted to create a safe space for female fans where we could show off our fandom and not be bullied for it.

Fast-forward to today, I would say it is an equal space, and it’s something I’m forever proud of because we were able to kind of blaze that trail.

Her “90% true” novel (co-written with Samantha Chase) inspired by her real-life romance:

How David and I met and fell in love is a chapter in his book, but I had a feeling people are going to want to know more, because whenever we tell the story of how we met, they’re like, “Oh my gosh, that’s a movie!” …  To my knowledge, it’s the first time a husband and wife have dropped books on the same day, and it really is interesting because we’re telling the same story, but from two different perspectives. 

You don’t have to know baseball to be inspired by either book, especially David’s. It’s really about family, faith — specifically faith in yourself — and never giving up. My book is also about hope and wishes, and believing that the best is yet to come. … I’m hoping that couples will read both, and basically share notes.

Being a proud member of Orlando’s arts community:

David and I are just so proud to be from Orlando. This is our hometown; we are products of Orlando, Florida, and we’re very proud of that, and that’s why we continue to make Orlando home. 

We don’t get enough credit for the arts and culture in our community. The talent that we have is astounding, [and] oftentimes we get overlooked by the big cities, by L.A. and New York. But we have Broadway-level and Hollywood-level talent right here in Orlando.

My next project is Disney’s first original audio drama. I get to executive-produce it, and I’m the voice of the lead character in it. We’re going to be recording as much as possible here in Orlando, so I’m just very passionate about doing as much work here as possible, and just telling people how great Orlando is.

(6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, Orlando Family Stage, 1001 E. Princeton St.; $40-$66; tickets available via Eventbrite)

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This article appears in Sept. 2-8, 2026.