Ashley Johnson (actress)

Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, on August 9, 1983,[1] the youngest child of independent film producer Nancy (née Spruiell) and exploration ship captain Cliff Johnson. She is of Danish, Irish, Native American, Norwegian, Scottish and Swedish descent.[2] She has two older siblings. Her father started a new job nine days after she was born, subsequently moving the family to Franklin, Michigan. She studied violin and piano at the International School of Music.

Johnson's 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. By the time she was 12, Johnson had been in the casts of eight TV 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. 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.[3][4]

As a voice actress, she voiced Sean in the U.S. version of The First Snow of Winter in 1998, Gretchen Grundler on 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 in future variations of the Ben 10 franchise.

She co-starred in the PlayStation-exclusive The Last of Us as the character Ellie, which was released to critical acclaim and commercial success.[5] 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.[6] She reprises the role in The Last of Us Part II.

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 board gaming web series TableTop,[7][8] and playing Pike Trickfoot and Yasha Nydoorin in Critical Role.[9]

From 2015 to 2020, she played FBI forensic specialist Patterson in the NBC drama series Blindspot.[10]

In 2015, Johnson voiced Petra the Warrior in Minecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games and Mojang.

In 2016, Johnson voiced Tulip Olsen in the pilot for Infinity Train and reprised the role for the series in 2019, additionally voicing Lake and the Steward.

As of 2020, Johnson was made President of the Critical Role Foundation. [11]

Johnson enjoys singing and playing the cello, guitar, piano and violin. Her role as Ellie in The Last of Us Part II also included acoustic guitar covers of "Future Days" by Pearl Jam, "Take On Me" by A-ha and "Through the Valley" by Shawn James. Since 2012, Johnson has been in a relationship with American poet, singer and writer Brian W. Foster, who hosts the Critical Role aftershow Talks Machina.[12][13] In December 2018, she and Foster announced their engagement.[14] Her older sister, Haylie Johnson, is also an actress known for her role as Haylie on Kids Incorporated and is married to musician Jonny Lang.[15] In her spare time, she co-runs the photography company Infinity Pictures with production assistant Mila Shah. In April 2000, Johnson's father was diagnosed with liver cancer and lung cancer, which claimed his life later that year.[16] At the time of his death, Johnson's father was also suffering from Hepatitis C.[17]

• Ashley Johnson at IMDb 
• Ashley Johnson on Twitter