Ashley Johnson (actress)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ashley Johnson
A woman in her early thirties with blonde hair smiles at something off-camera.
Johnson in April 2014
Born (1983-08-09) August 9, 1983 (age 38)
Occupation
  • Actress
  • voice actress
Years active1990–present
Partner(s)Brian W. Foster
(2012–present; engaged)
RelativesJonny Lang (brother-in-law)

Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born August 9, 1983) is an American actress and voice actress.

Johnson initially became known as a child actress for her role as Chrissy Seaver on the sitcom Growing Pains (1990–1992). As an adult, she had her most notable television roles as Amber Ahmed on The Killing (2011–2012) and FBI agent Patterson on the NBC series Blindspot (2015–2020). She has appeared in films such as Fast Food Nation (2006), The Help (2011), and Much Ado About Nothing (2012). She is also a cast member on the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role (2015–present) and became the president of the show's charity branch, the Critical Role Foundation, upon its launch in 2020.

Johnson has voiced animated characters such as Gretchen Grundler on Recess (1997–2001), Terra on Teen Titans (2004–2006), Jinmay on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2004–2006), Gwen Tennyson in the Ben 10 franchise (2008–2014), Shiseru in Naruto: Shippuden (2015), and Tulip Olsen and Lake on Infinity Train (2019–2020). Her video game voice roles include the voice and motion capture of Ellie in The Last of Us (2013), The Last of Us: Left Behind (2014), and The Last of Us Part II (2020), as well as the voice of Gortys in Tales from the Borderlands (2014).

Among other awards and nomations, Johnson is a two-time winner of the BAFTA Games Award for Performer, winning once each for her performances in The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind, making her the only person to have won the award more than once. She also received award nominations for her performance in The Last of Us Part II, which itself was critically acclaimed and broke the record for most Game of the Year awards received by a single game.

Early life[]

Ashley Suzanne Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, on August 9, 1983,[1] the daughter of former test pilot Nancy (née Spruiell)[2] and exploration ship captain Cliff Johnson.[3] She is of Norwegian, Scottish, and Swedish descent.[4] She has an older brother named Chris and an older sister named Haylie, both of whom have also worked as actors. Her sister later married singer and musician Jonny Lang.[5] Her father was often away for months at a time and would bring back souvenirs from countries such as Japan.[3] He started a new job nine days after Johnson was born and subsequently moved the family to Franklin, Michigan; they lived there for a few years before returning to California, where they settled in Los Angeles.[3] Johnson attended school in nearby Burbank and later studied violin and piano at the International School of Music in Glendale.[3] When she was 16, her father died of complications from liver and lung cancer and hepatitis C.[6][7]

Career[]

Johnson's career began at age 6, when she played the role of Chrissy Seaver on the sitcom Growing Pains from 1990 to 1992. The character's age was accelerated from a toddler between seasons for plotting purposes. By the time she was 12, Johnson had been in the casts of eight television series. She later reprised her role as Chrissy in The Growing Pains Movie and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. In the one season series Phenom (1993–94), she played the mischievous younger sister of a rising teenage tennis star. She appeared in the 1994 sitcom All-American Girl, which also lasted for only one season. She played DJ's overbearing girlfriend Lisa in the Roseanne episode "The Blaming of the Shrew". During the 1995–96 ABC lineup, she played Gracie Wallace in the sitcom Maybe This Time. She played Alex Marshall in the 2000 comedy What Women Want. In 2008, she became a regular on the drama Dirt as Sharlee Cates. In 2009, Johnson appeared in "Omega", the first-season finale of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.

In 2012, she appeared in The Avengers (also directed by Whedon) as Beth, the waitress who is saved by Captain America. She was intended to appear in future films as his newest love interest (as implied in a brief scene in the film), but that plan was shelved and instead actress Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter character became involved with Rogers.[citation needed] Although her role was minor, the Blu-ray edition of The Avengers contains some deleted scenes that expand her role in the movie and further her interactions with Rogers.[8][9]

As a voice actress, Johnson's earlier roles included Sean in the U.S. dub of The First Snow of Winter, Gretchen Grundler on Disney's Recess, Terra in the second and fifth seasons of Teen Titans, Jinmay on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! and Gwen Tennyson on Ben 10: Alien Force and future versions of the Ben 10 franchise. A major voice role came when she provided the voice and motion capture for Ellie in the PlayStation action-adventure game The Last of Us, which was released to critical acclaim and commercial success.[10] She won a video game BAFTA for Best Performer and a VGX Award for Best Voice Actress for her role in the game. On March 12, 2015, she won another BAFTA for Best Performer for the same role in the game's downloadable content, The Last of Us: Left Behind.[11]

Johnson appeared in several Geek & Sundry shows, including playing occult specialist Morgan on the web series Spooked, as well as Alhambra and Dead of Winter on the board gaming web series TableTop.[12][13] In 2015, she began playing Pike Trickfoot on the Dungeons & Dragons show Critical Role; in 2018, she began playing Yasha Nydoorin on the show.[14] After becoming hugely successful, the Critical Role cast left the Geek & Sundry network in early 2019 and set up their own production company, Critical Role Productions.[15][16][17][18] Soon after, they aimed to raise $750,000 on Kickstarter to create an animated series of their first campaign, but ended up raising over $11 million.[19] In November 2019, Amazon Prime Video announced that they had acquired the streaming rights to this animated series, now titled The Legend of Vox Machina;[20] Johnson will reprise her role as Pike Trickfoot.[21] In late 2020, Johnson was made president of the Critical Role Foundation, the studio's charity branch.[22][23] In June 2021, Johnson was added to the cast of Exandria Unlimited, a spinoff of Critical Role.[24][25][26]

Johnson previously had a photography company called Infinity Pictures, which she co-owned with Mila Shah, her childhood best friend who works as a production assistant and occasional actress. The two also co-hosted a podcast called Wildly Hot & Bothered, which ran for 13 episodes from 2012 to 2014.[27] In 2015, the two created and starred in Little Things, a show about two women living in Los Angeles and their habit of making awkward everyday situations even worse; the episodes were uploaded to YouTube in 2018.[28]

From 2015 to 2020, she played FBI forensic specialist Patterson in the NBC drama series Blindspot.[29] In 2015, she voiced Petra the Warrior in Minecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games and Mojang. In 2016, she voiced Tulip Olsen in the pilot for Infinity Train and reprised the role for the series in 2019, additionally voicing Lake and the Steward.

In 2020, Johnson reprised the role of Ellie in The Last of Us Part II. For her performance, she was nominated for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2020[30] and the 2020 BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role.[31] Her role as Ellie included acoustic guitar covers of "Future Days" by Pearl Jam, "Take On Me" by A-ha, and "Through the Valley" by Shawn James. Johnson and co-star Troy Baker (in character as Ellie and Joel) also performed a cover of Johnny Cash's rendition of "Wayfaring Stranger" over the end credits of the game.[32] The game itself was critically acclaimed and currently holds the record for the most Game of the Year awards received by a single game.[33]

Personal life[]

In 2012, Johnson began a relationship with poet, singer, and writer Brian W. Foster, who also hosted the Critical Role after-show Talks Machina from 2016 to 2021.[34] They announced their engagement in December 2018.[35][36]

Johnson is a keen singer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the guitar, piano, violin, and cello, and occasionally posts covers of songs on her SoundCloud page.[37]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Lionheart Nicole Gaultier
1995 Nine Months Shannon Dwyer
1998 Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 Josie Hemphill
The First Snow of Winter Sean McDuck (voice) Short film; U.S. dub
1999 Anywhere but Here Sarah
2000 What Women Want Alex Marshall
2001 Recess: School's Out Gretchen Grundler (voice)
Recess Christmas Gretchen Grundler (voice) Direct-to-video
Rustin Lee Wolford
2003 The Failures Lilly Kyle
Recess: All Growed Down
Recess: Taking the 5th Grade Gretchen Grundler (voice) Direct-to-video
2004 Killer Diller Angie
King of the Corner Elena Spivak
2005 Nearing Grace Merna Ash
2006 Fast Food Nation Amber
Grad Night Student
2007 The Brothers Solomon Patricia
2008 Columbus Day Alana
Otis Riley Lawson
2009 Spread Eva
2011 The Help Mary Beth Caldwell
2012 The Avengers Beth
Much Ado About Nothing Margaret
2015 When Marnie Was There Emily / Miyoko (voices) English dub
2016 Punching Henry Danielle

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1990–1992 Growing Pains Chrissy Seaver Main role (seasons 6–7)
1992 Kids Incorporated Girl in audience Uncredited; episode: "The Boy of La Mancha"
1993 Men Don't Tell Cindy Television film
The Town Santa Forgot Granddaughter (voice) Television special
1993–1994 Phenom Mary Margaret Doolan Main role
1994 All-American Girl Casey Emmerson Main role
1995 Annie: A Royal Adventure! Annie Warbucks Television film
Roseanne Lisa Episode: "The Blaming of the Shrew"
What a Cartoon! Mina (voice) Episode: "Mina and the Count: Interlude with a Vampire" [38]
1995–1996 Maybe This Time Gracie Wallace Main role
1996–1999 Jumanji Peter Shepherd / Robo-Peter (voices) 40 episodes
1997 Moloney Kate Moloney 3 episodes
Wings Rebecca Episode: "Ms. Write"
1997–2001 Recess Gretchen Grundler (voice) 129 episodes
1998 ER Dana Ellis 2 episodes
Kelly Kelly Maureen Kelly Main role
2000 The Growing Pains Movie Chrissy Seaver Television film
2001 What About Joan Jody Bradford Episode: "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Joan"
2002 Ally McBeal Serena Feldman Episode: "Heart and Soul"
The Guardian Betsy Fortunato Episode: "Sacrifice"
Lloyd in Space Violet (voice) 4 episodes
Providence Daphne Wallace 3 episodes
Roswell Eileen Burrows 2 episodes
Touched by an Angel Natalie Tate Episode: "Bring On the Rain"
2003–2004 Married to the Kellys Shari 2 episodes
2004 Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers Chrissy Seaver Television film
2004–2006 Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! Jinmay (voice) 12 episodes
Teen Titans Terra (voice) 7 episodes
2004–2010 King of the Hill Emily / Jamie (voices) 7 episodes
2005 The X's Kimla (voice) Episode: "License to Slumber/Three Days of the Coin Op"
2006 Lilo & Stitch: The Series Gretchen Grundler (voice) Episode: "Lax: Experiment 285"
2007 Heartland Rebecca Colton Episode: "Mother & Child Reunion"
Monk Susie the Maid Episode: "Mr. Monk Is at Your Service"
2007, 2014 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dreama Little / brothel girl 2 episodes
2008 Dirt Sharlee Cates Recurring role (season 2)
The Mentalist Clara Tennant Episode: "Seeing Red"
The Middleman Eleanor Draper Episode: "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation"
Raising the Bar Elise Denton Episode: "Hang Time"
2008–2010 Ben 10: Alien Force Gwen Tennyson / Cicely (voices) 45 episodes
2009 Cold Case Graces Stearns (1966) Episode: "The Crossing"
Dollhouse Wendy / Caroline / Hayden Leeds 2 episodes
2010 Funny or Die Presents Girlfriend 1 episode
Lie to Me Valerie Episode: "Beat the Devil"
2010–2018 Drunk History Various 3 episodes
2010–2012 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Gwen Tennyson (voice) 52 episodes
2011 In Plain Sight Sarah Collins / Sarah Peterschwim Episode: "Something A-mish"
2011–2012 The Killing Amber Ahmed Recurring role (seasons 1); special guest (season 2)
2011–2013 Pound Puppies Amelia / Toyo / Gina / Giblet / Kid #1 (voices) 6 episodes
2012 Drop Dead Diva Veronica Kramer Episode: "Road Trip"
Private Practice Kelly Episode: "The Time Has Come"
2012–2014 Ben 10: Omniverse Gwen Tennyson (voice) 21 episodes
2013 Masters of Sex Flora Banks Episode: "Fallout"
2013–2019 Teen Titans Go! Terra (voice) 6 episodes
2014 Garfunkel and Oates Jane Episode: "Speechless"
2015 Naruto: Shippuden Shiseru (voice) 6 episodes; English dub [39]
Stalker Stephanie Beekman Episode: "My Hero"
2015–2017 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Renet (voice) 6 episodes [38]
2015–2020 Blindspot Patterson Main role
2019–2020 Infinity Train Tulip Olsen / Lake / the Steward (voices) 20 episodes [40]
2021 Close Enough Kristen (voice) Episode: "Where'd You Go, Bridgette?"
Family Guy Lisa (voice)

Video games[]

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Teen Titans Terra
2008 Ben 10: Alien Force Gwen Tennyson
2009 Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks Gwen Tennyson
2010 Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex Gwen Tennyson
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction Gwen Tennyson
2011 Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion Gwen Tennyson
2013 Marvel Heroes Spider-Woman Uncredited
The Last of Us Ellie Voice and motion capture
VGX Award for Best Voice Actress
2013 BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer[38]
2014 The Last of Us: Left Behind Ellie Also motion capture
2014 BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer[41]
Infamous First Light Jenny [38]
Tales from the Borderlands Gortys / Hyperion System Voice "Hyperion System Voice" is credited as "Additional Voices"
Final Fantasy Explorers Additional voices English version
2015 Skylanders: SuperChargers Gadfly Glades Collector
Lego Dimensions Terra Uncredited
Minecraft: Story Mode Petra [38]
2016 The Witness Additional voices
Lego Marvel's Avengers Beth the Waitress [42]
2018 Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Narrator / Pike Trickfoot / Ydwin Critical Role DLC[43][44]
2020 The Last of Us Part II Ellie Voice and motion capture
Nominated for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2020[45]
Nominated for 2020 BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role[46]

Web series[]

Year Title Role Notes
2013–2015 Tabletop Herself 2 episodes
2015–present Critical Role Pike Trickfoot (campaign 1) / Yasha Nydoorin (campaign 2) RPG web series[47][48]
2020 Animal Talking with Gary Whitta Herself (voice) 1 episode[49]
2021 Exandria Unlimited Fearne Calloway 8 episodes[24][25][26]

References[]

  1. ^ "Behind The Voice Actors – Ashley Johnson". Behind The Voice Actors.
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20160116063942/http://theashleysuzanne.blogspot.com/2012/06/saint-barts-family-vacation-our-way.html
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kAeCN8UahAM
  4. ^ Cf. among others the death announcement for Ingvald Taft in Nordisk Tidende December 26, 1957, in which one of his grandsons, Cliff Johnson, was mentioned, as well as Nordisk Tidende December 11, 1941 (marriage of Cliff's parents Reuben Johnson and Evelyn Taft) and Nordisk Tidende January 5, 1950 (which among others tells that Ingvald Taft originally came from Arendal, Norway, while his late wife (Victoria Kristensen), came from Vanse outside Farsund, Norway). See also Victoria's christening in Vest-Agder county, Vanse in Vanse, Parish register (official) no. A 12 (1879–1903), Born and baptised 1887, Page 84, no. 20, cf. Victoria's petition for naturalization of September 22, 1922, Ancestry.com. New York, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794–1940.
  5. ^ Tribune, Steve Knopper, Special to the. "Jonny Lang: No looking back for blues guitarist". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  6. ^ "Local actress has far outgrown her 'Growing Pains' start". www.vcstar.com. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  7. ^ "Jonny Lang: Finding Peace in Amazing Grace". CBN.com - The Christian Broadcasting Network. October 17, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  8. ^ "The Avengers deleted scene sees Captain America as a man out of time". Flickeringmyth.com. August 30, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  9. ^ "Former 'Growing Pains' child star has small-but-important 'Avengers' role". Movies.yahoo.com. May 4, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  10. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (June 5, 2013). "The Last of Us review round-up: 'Easily Naughty Dog's finest moment'". Computer and Video Games. Future plc. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  11. ^ Harradence, Michael (March 13, 2015). "The Last of Us voice actress Ashley Johnson's BAFTA speech in full". Psu.com. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  12. ^ "Alhambra: Ashley Johnson, Shane Nickerson, and Dodger Leigh Join Wil on TableTop, episode 17". Geek and Sundry. January 3, 2013.
  13. ^ "TableTop: Dead of Winter". Geek and Sundry. February 19, 2015.
  14. ^ Duncan, Emily A. (March 9, 2021). "An Introduction to Critical Role: Prepare Your Emotions". Tor.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  15. ^ "Why Critical Role's D&D Streams Are So Popular". ScreenRant. September 12, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  16. ^ Hoffer, Christian (June 18, 2018). "Critical Role Teases New Content With Opening of New Studio, Twitch and Youtube Channel". Comicbook.com. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  17. ^ Phillips, Jevon (November 6, 2019). "They started out playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now they're coming to Amazon Prime". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  18. ^ Whitten, Sarah (March 14, 2020). "How Critical Role helped spark a Dungeons & Dragons renaissance". CNBC. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  19. ^ Whitten, Sarah (April 19, 2019). "'Dungeons and Dragons' Kickstarter breaks record with $11.3 million campaign". CNBC. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  20. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 5, 2019). "Amazon Orders Two Seasons of Critical Role's Animated D&D Series". Variety. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  21. ^ Burton, Bonnie (March 7, 2019). "New Dungeons & Dragons animated series breaks Kickstarter record". CNET. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  22. ^ "Critical Role Foundation Information Page". Critical Role - Foundation. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  23. ^ Puc, Samantha (September 24, 2020). "Critical Role Announces 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Foundation". CBR. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "Critical Role Stars Lift the Lid on Their New Show, Exandria Unlimited". Gizmodo. June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b King, Chris (June 10, 2021). "Critical Role's next campaign launches this month with a new Dungeon Master". Polygon. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b "Critical Role's next show is Exandria Unlimited". VentureBeat. June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  27. ^ https://mazandthegoodgirl.podbean.com/
  28. ^ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayurIF-BgxrZTQv37NrIlg
  29. ^ Petski, Denise (March 10, 2015). "Rachel DiPillo To Star In NBC Pilot 'Cuckoo'; Ashley Johnson Joins 'Blindspot'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  30. ^ Stedman, Alex (December 10, 2020). "The Game Awards 2020: Complete Winners List". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  31. ^ "2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  32. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=culhHcdh71M
  33. ^ Calvin, Alex (January 26, 2021). "The Last of Us Part 2 has more game of the year awards than The Witcher 3, the previous record holder". VG247. videogaming247 Ltd. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  34. ^ "Brian W. Foster on Instagram". Instagram. October 22, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  35. ^ "Ashley Johnson on Instagram". Instagram. December 17, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  36. ^ Mason, Aiden (2018). "10 Things You didn't Know about Ashley Johnson". www.tvovermind.com. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  37. ^ "AshleySuzanne". SoundCloud. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Ashley Johnson – 52 Character Images". Behind The Voice Actors.
  39. ^ ""Naruto Shippuden Set 23": The Allure of Power". ToonZone.com. January 19, 2016. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  40. ^ "Infinity Train – Minisode – Cartoon Network". Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  41. ^ "2015 Games Performer – BAFTA Awards". Awards.bafta.org. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  42. ^ "Four Reasons Lego Marvel's Avengers Might Be The Best Lego Game Yet". Game Informer.
  43. ^ "Obsidian #Deadfire on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  44. ^ Sawyer, Josh (May 8, 2018), Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, retrieved June 11, 2018
  45. ^ Awards, The Game. "Nominees | The Game Awards". Nominees | The Game Awards. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  46. ^ "BAFTA Games Awards 2021 Nominations Announced". IGN Southeast Asia. March 2, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  47. ^ Knox, Kelly (January 16, 2018). "Your First Look at the Official Art for the Second Critical Role Campaign". Geek & Sundry. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  48. ^ "Check Out Matt Mercer's New D&D Show | Force Grey: Giant Hunters". Geek and Sundry. July 11, 2016. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  49. ^ Animal Talking - Selena Gomez, Cory Barlog, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Shannon Woodward! (S02E07), retrieved July 10, 2021

External links[]

Retrieved from ""