Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson
Ashley Johnson at Wondercon 2014
Born	Ashley Suzanne Johnson (1983-08-09) August 9, 1983 Camarillo, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, voice actress, singer
Years active	1990–present

Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born August 9, 1983) is an American actress, singer, and voice actress. She is known for her roles as Chrissy Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains and for playing Mel Gibson's character's daughter in What Women Want. As a voice actress she is well known for the part of Gretchen Grundler in Disney's Recess as well as for Gwen Tennyson in the series Ben 10: Alien Force, and its two successors Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse and Terra in Teen Titans and its sequel series, Teen Titans Go!. In 2012, Johnson played a small role as the New York City waitress Beth who is saved by Captain America in The Avengers. In 2013, she played the role of Ellie in the video game The Last of Us.

Early life

Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, the youngest daughter of Nancy (Spruiell) Johnson, an independent film producer; and Clifford Johnson, who was the captain of an exploration ship. She is of Swedish, Danish, Irish, Scottish and Native American descent. When Ashley was nine days old, her father's job took him to Michigan. The family settled in the village of Franklin, among Detroit's affluent northern suburbs. Ashley graduated from high school when she was 15.

Acting career

Johnson had a prolific career at a young age. Before she was twenty-one years old, she had already been in the casts of eight different TV series. Her acting career began at age six, 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. In the one-season Phenom (1993–94), she played the mischievous younger sister of a rising teenaged tennis star. She appeared in the 1994 sitcom All-American Girl, which also lasted for only one season. She played DJ's girlfriend Lisa in a 1995 episode ("The Blaming of the Shrew") of Roseanne, and was Mel Gibson's character's daughter in the 2000 comedy What Women Want. In 2008 she became a regular on the drama Dirt as Sharlee Cates, a starlet whose character is based on pop singer Britney Spears. In 2009, she appeared in "Omega", the finale of the first season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. She also appeared in the show's unaired pilot, "Echo".

In 2012, she appeared in The Avengers (also directed by Whedon) as a waitress who is saved by Captain America. Though this was a minor role, the Blu-ray edition of The Avengers contains some deleted scenes that expand her role in the movie, and further her interactions with Captain America.^[1] Her "small-but-pivotal role" may lead to her returning in future movies as a friend or love interest for Captain America.^[2] The characters name 'Beth' may be a reference to the supporting character Golden Girl from the Captain America comics.

As a voice actress, she played Sean on the cartoon movie The First Snow of Winter in 1998. Gretchen Grundler on the Walt Disney TV animated series Recess, Terra in the Teen Titans animated series during the show's second season, Jinmay on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! and Gwen Tennyson on Ben 10: Alien Force and in future variations of the Ben 10 franchise. Three of her roles have love interests who are voiced by Greg Cipes (Chiro on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Kevin in Ben 10, and Beast Boy in Teen Titans). She co-starred in the PlayStation exclusive The Last of Us as the character Ellie, which was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. She subsequently 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, Johnson won another BAFTA for Best Performer for the same role in the game's downloadable content, The Last of Us: Left Behind.^[3]

Currently she can be seen playing occult specialist Morgan on the web series Spooked from Geek and Sundry and Hulu. Additionally, she appeared on Geek and Sundry's web series TableTop on two different occasions, playing Alhambra and Dead of Winter. ^{[4] [5]}

Personal life

Johnson attended the International School of Music, where she studied violin and piano; she also plays guitar and cello. When not acting or studying music, Johnson co-runs the photography company Infinity Pictures, with her friend, production assistant Mila Shah.^[6]

Johnson has an older brother, Chris, who worked on the television show The District. Her older sister, Haylie Johnson, is best known for her role as Haylie on Kids Incorporated. Haylie is married to musician Jonny Lang.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

References

Spooked Web Series

External links

• Ashley Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Ashley Johnson on Twitter