HAPPY FACE: Annaleigh Ashford to Star in New Paramount+ Series Based on Podcast

Annaleigh Ashford will star in the new Paramount+ drama HAPPY FACE, the streamer announced. Jennifer Cacicio will showrun the series, which is also executive produced by Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer, Melissa Moore, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, Michael Showalter (who will direct the first episode), and Jordana Mollick.

Ashford will play Melissa in the show, which is inspired by the true-life story of Melissa Moore, the Happy Face podcast, and the autobiography “Shattered Silence.”

According to the streamer, “at 15, Moore discovered that her beloved father was the prolific serial killer known as ‘Happy Face.’ As an adult, she has changed her name and guarded her secret while her father has been serving life in prison.”

“Jumping off from Moore’s true-life story, in HAPPY FACE for Paramount+, Melissa’s father contacts her to take credit for another victim, pulling her into an extraordinary investigation of her father and his crimes. As she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families, she must face a reckoning of her own identity.”

Ashford has recently been seen on TV in WELCOME TO CHIPPENDALES, B POSITIVE, and IMPEACHMENT: AMERICAN CRIME STORY. She previously worked with the Kings on THE GOOD FIGHT and EVIL.

HAPPY FACE will begin production this year and is set to premiere on the streamer in 2025.

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