Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson
Johnson at Wondercon 2014
Born	Ashley Suzanne Johnson August 9, 1983 (age 32) Camarillo, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, voice actress, singer
Years active	1990 - present

Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born August 9, 1983)^[1] is an American actress, singer, and voice actress. She is best known for her roles as Chrissy Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains and for playing the daughter of Mel Gibson's character 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, as well as 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 and its DLC Left Behind, for which she won two BAFTA Awards for her critically acclaimed performance. Since September 2015, she is in the NBC drama Blindspot as FBI Forensic Specialist Patterson.

Early life

Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, the youngest daughter of Nancy Spruiell Johnson, an independent film producer; and Clifford Johnson (died in July 2000 from liver and lung cancer), 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 her to Michigan. The family settled in the village of Franklin, among Detroit's affluent northern suburbs. Ashley graduated from high school at 15.

Career

Johnson had a prolific acting career at a young age. Before she was twenty-one years old, she had been in the casts of eight TV series. Her 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 teenage tennis star. Johnson appeared in the 1994 sitcom All-American Girl, which also lasted for only one season. She played DJ's girlfriend Lisa in the 1995 Roseanne episode "The Blaming of the Shrew", and played Alex Marshal, the daughter of Mel Gibson's character, 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 season-one finale of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.

In 2012, she appeared in The Avengers (also directed by Whedon) as a waitress who is saved by Captain America (Chris Evans). 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.^[2] Her "small-but-pivotal role" may lead to her returning in future movies as a friend or love interest for Captain America.^[3] 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. Four of her roles have love interests who are voiced by Greg Cipes (Chiro in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Kevin in Ben 10, Beast Boy in Teen Titans, and Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)). 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.^[4]

Johnson appears in several Geek & Sundry shows, including playing occult specialist Morgan on the web series Spooked on Hulu, playing Alhambra and Dead of Winter on the web series TableTop,^[5][6] and playing Pike in the Twitch.tv series Critical Role.^[7]

As of 2015, she plays FBI forensic specialist Patterson in the NBC drama series Blindspot.^[8]

Personal life

Johnson studied violin and piano at the International School of Music; 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.^[9]

Johnson's older brother Chris worked on the television show The District. Her older sister Haylie Johnson is best known for her role as Haylie on Kids Incorporated. Haylie Johnson is married to Jonny Lang.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

References

External links

• Ashley Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Ashley Johnson on Twitter
• Spooked Web Series