Ashley Johnson (actress)

American actress (born 1983)Template:SHORTDESC:American actress (born 1983)

**Ashley Suzanne Johnson** (born August 9, 1983) is an American actress. She became known as a child actress for her role as Chrissy Seaver on *Growing Pains* (1990–1992). As an adult, she is known for television roles as Amber Ahmed on *The Killing* (2011–2012) and Patterson on *Blindspot* (2015–2020). She has appeared in films such as *What Women Want* (2000), *The Help* (2011), and *Much Ado About Nothing* (2012), and is a cast member on the *Dungeons & Dragons* web series *Critical Role* (2015–present). She became the president of the show's charity branch, the Critical Role Foundation, upon its launch in 2020.

As a voice actress, Johnson is known for providing 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). She also voiced television characters Gretchen Grundler on *Recess* (1997–2001), Terra on *Teen Titans* (2004–2006) and *Teen Titans Go!* (2013–present), Jinmay on *Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!* (2004–2006), Gwen Tennyson in the *Ben 10* franchise (2008–2014), Renet Tilley on *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* (2012), Shiseru on *Naruto: Shippuden* (2015), and Tulip Olsen and Lake on *Infinity Train* (2019–2020), as well as the video game characters Gortys in *Tales from the Borderlands* (2014) and Petra in *Minecraft: Story Mode* (2015–2016) and its sequel (2017).

Johnson has won two BAFTA Games Awards for Performer, winning once each for her performances in *The Last of Us* and *The Last of Us: Left Behind* and becoming the only person to have won the award more than once. She also received multiple nominations for her performance in *The Last of Us Part II*.

## Early life

Ashley Suzanne Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, on August 9, 1983, the daughter of former test pilot Nancy (née Spruiell) and exploration ship captain Cliff Johnson. She is of Norwegian, Scottish, and Swedish descent. 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. Her father was often away for months at a time and would bring back souvenirs from countries such as Japan. He started a new job nine days after Johnson was born and subsequently moved the family to Franklin, Michigan, where they lived for a few years before returning to California and settling in Los Angeles. Johnson attended school in nearby Burbank and later studied violin and piano at the International School of Music in Glendale. When she was 16, her father died of complications from hepatitis C and liver and lung cancer.

## Career

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 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.Template:Citation needed Although her role was minor, the Blu-ray edition of *The Avengers* contains some deleted scenes that expand her role in the film and further her interactions with Rogers. From 2015 to 2020, Johnson played FBI forensic specialist Patterson in the NBC drama series *Blindspot*.

As a voice actress, Johnson's earlier roles included Sean in the English 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. 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*. 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.

 File:The Last of Us Part II motion capture 4 (cropped).jpg
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 and the 2020 BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role. She portrayed Ellie's mother, Anna, in the live-action adaptation of *The Last of Us*. On her performance in the adaptation, *The Daily Beast* commented that "with less than 10 minutes of screen time, Johnson gives us one of the best scenes of *The Last of Us*".

Johnson appeared in several Geek & Sundry shows, including playing occult specialist Morgan on the web series *Spooked*, as well as the *Alhambra* and *Dead of Winter* episodes on the board gaming web series *TableTop*. In 2015, she began playing Pike Trickfoot on the *Dungeons & Dragons* actual play show *Critical Role*; in 2018, she began playing Yasha Nydoorin in the show's second campaign. *Critical Role* was both the Webby Winner and the People's Voice Winner in the "Games (Video Series & Channels)" category at the 2019 Webby Awards; the show was also both a finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019 Shorty Awards. 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. 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. 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;* Johnson reprised her role as Pike Trickfoot. In late 2020, she was made president of the Critical Role Foundation, the studio's charity branch. In June 2021, she was added to the cast of *Exandria Unlimited*, an anthology spinoff of *Critical Role*. Three months later, she served as gamemaster for *The Nautilus Ark*, her own one-shot episode on the *Critical Role* channel. In October 2021, Johnson's *Exandria Unlimited* character Fearne returned in *Critical Role*'s third campaign.

Johnson set up a photography company called Infinity Pictures with Mila Shah, her childhood best friend who works as a production assistant and occasional actress; there have been no updates on the company for many years, though it is still registered as being active as of 2022. Johnson and Shah also co-hosted a podcast called *Wildly Hot & Bothered*, which ran for 13 episodes from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, they created and starred in *Little Things*, a web miniseries on YouTube about two friends living in Los Angeles and their habit of making awkward everyday situations even worse. The series was not released on YouTube until 2018.

## Personal life

*Critical Role*'s first campaign began two years prior to the start of the series as a one-off, simplified *Dungeons & Dragons* game for Liam O'Brien's birthday. The players enjoyed the game so much that they continued to play it and brought in additional friends, including Johnson, who joined in the second game. After Felicia Day heard about the private home game from Johnson, she approached the group about playing it in a live-streamed format for Geek & Sundry.

Johnson enjoys singing and can play the guitar, piano, violin, and cello; she occasionally posted covers of songs on her SoundCloud page until late 2012. Her performance as Ellie in *The Last of Us Part II* included acoustic guitar covers of "Future Days" by Pearl Jam, "Take On Me" by A-ha, "True Faith" by New Order, and "Through the Valley" by Shawn James. The duo of Johnson and co-star Troy Baker (in character as Ellie and Joel) also performed a cover of Johnny Cash's rendition of "Wayfaring Stranger", which plays over the end credits of the game. Johnson also provided vocals in two *Critical Role* theme songs – "Your Turn to Roll" and "It's Thursday Night".

In 2012, Johnson began a relationship with writer and musician Brian W. Foster, who also hosted the *Critical Role* after-show *Talks Machina* from 2016 to 2021. They announced their engagement in December 2018. In May 2023, it was reported that Johnson had separated from Foster and filed a restraining order against him, citing abuse and threats. In October, Johnson and six other women, including her sister and two *Critical Role* employees, filed a lawsuit against Foster, alleging assault, domestic violence, gender violence, sexual battery, stalking, civil rights violations, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

## Filmography

### Web series

 2015–present
* Yasha Nydoorin (campaign 2)
* Fearne Calloway (campaign 3)

## References

1. ↑ Behind The Voice Actors – Ashley Johnson. *Behind The Voice Actors*.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Former 'Growing Pains' child star has small-but-important 'Avengers' role (May 4, 2012).
3. ↑ Ashley Suzanne: Saint Barts Family Vacation! (Our Way-More-Fancy-Than-We-Usually-Take-Vacation Vacation) (June 25, 2012).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Template:Cite episode
5. ↑ 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.
6. ↑ Tribune, Steve Knopper, Special to the (March 7, 2013). Jonny Lang: No looking back for blues guitarist.
7. ↑ Local actress has far outgrown her 'Growing Pains' start.
8. ↑ Jonny Lang: Finding Peace in Amazing Grace (October 17, 2013).
9. ↑ The Avengers deleted scene sees Captain America as a man out of time (August 30, 2012).
10. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Petski, Denise (March 10, 2015). "Rachel DiPillo To Star In NBC Pilot 'Cuckoo'; Ashley Johnson Joins 'Blindspot'". *Deadline Hollywood*. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
11. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor (June 5, 2013). The Last of Us review round-up: 'Easily Naughty Dog's finest moment'. *Computer and Video Games*. Future plc.
12. ↑ Harradence, Michael (March 13, 2015). The Last of Us voice actress Ashley Johnson's BAFTA speech in full.
13. ↑ Stedman, Alex (December 10, 2020). The Game Awards 2020: Complete Winners List. *Variety*. Penske Media Corporation.
14. ↑ 2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations. BAFTA (March 3, 2020). Retrieved on March 4, 2020.
15. ↑ Simons, Roxy (January 15, 2023). 'The Last of Us' boss teases Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson's roles in HBO show (en).
16. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>O’Connor, Shannon (March 13, 2023). "*The Last of Us* Season Finale: Big Little Lies". *The Daily Beast*. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
17. ↑ Alhambra: Ashley Johnson, Shane Nickerson, and Dodger Leigh Join Wil on TableTop, episode 17 (January 3, 2013).
18. ↑ TableTop: Dead of Winter (February 19, 2015).
19. ↑ Duncan, Emily A. (March 9, 2021). An Introduction to Critical Role: Prepare Your Emotions (en-US).
20. ↑ Critical Role. The Webby Awards.
21. ↑ Critical Role – The Shorty Awards.
22. ↑ Why Critical Role's D&D Streams Are So Popular (en-US) (September 12, 2020).
23. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>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.
24. ↑ Phillips, Jevon (November 6, 2019). They started out playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now they're coming to Amazon Prime (en-US).
25. ↑ Whitten, Sarah (March 14, 2020). How Critical Role helped spark a Dungeons & Dragons renaissance (en).
26. ↑ Whitten, Sarah (April 19, 2019). 'Dungeons and Dragons' Kickstarter breaks record with $11.3 million campaign (en).
27. ↑ Spangler, Todd (November 5, 2019). Amazon Orders Two Seasons of Critical Role's Animated D&D Series. *Variety*. Retrieved on November 5, 2019.
28. ↑ Burton, Bonnie (March 7, 2019). New Dungeons & Dragons animated series breaks Kickstarter record (en).
29. ↑ Critical Role Foundation Information Page (September 24, 2020).
30. ↑ Puc, Samantha (September 24, 2020). Critical Role Announces 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Foundation (en-US).
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Critical Role Stars Lift the Lid on Their New Show, Exandria Unlimited (en-us) (June 10, 2021).
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 King, Chris (June 10, 2021). Critical Role's next campaign launches this month with a new Dungeon Master (en).
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Critical Role's next show is Exandria Unlimited (en-US) (June 10, 2021).
34. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
35. ↑ Critical Role's New Campaign Features Some Surprising Characters (en) (October 23, 2021).
36. ↑ Infinity Pictures, Inc..
37. ↑ Wildly Hot & Bothered | a podcast by Ashley Johnson and Mila Shah.
38. ↑ Little Things – YouTube.
39. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Furniss, Zack (February 26, 2016). "Inside Critical Role: The Live D&D show led by voices you might recognize". *Destructoid*. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
41. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Gallagher, Brian (August 2016). "Critical Role Cast Talk D&D, World Building & Stranger Things". *MovieWeb*. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
42. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Burlingame, Russ (September 29, 2016). "With Critical Role, Geek & Sundry Score A Hit By Bringing Friends Together For D&D". *ComicBook*. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
43. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
44. ↑ AshleySuzanne.
45. ↑ Beresford, Trilby (June 19, 2020). Becoming Ellie: Ashley Johnson Navigates Grief and Guilt in 'The Last of Us Part II' (en-US).
46. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
47. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
48. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
49. ↑ Brian W. Foster on Instagram. *Instagram* (October 22, 2015).
50. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
51. ↑ Ashley Johnson on Instagram (December 17, 2018).
52. ↑ Mason, Aiden (2018). 10 Things You didn't Know about Ashley Johnson.
53. ↑ Segarra, Edward (May 23, 2023). 'The Last of Us' actress Ashley Johnson files restraining order against ex-boyfriend (en-US).
54. ↑ 'The Last of Us' and 'Critical Role' star Ashley Johnson filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, saying she's endured 'many acts of terror' over years of abuse (en-US) (May 23, 2023).
55. ↑ Smith, Ed (May 23, 2023). The Last of Us star files domestic violence order against ex-boyfriend (en-US).
56. ↑ White, Abbey (October 6, 2023). 'The Last of Us' Star Ashley Johnson and Six Other Women Allege Sexual, Physical Abuse by Brian Foster (en-US).
57. ↑ Hoffer, Christian (October 4, 2023). The Last of Us Star Ashley Johnson and Six Others Sue Brian W. Foster for Abuse (en).
58. ↑ Vary, Adam B. (October 6, 2023). 'Critical Role' Star Ashley Johnson, Six Other Women Allege Physical and Verbal Abuse By Brian Foster (en-US).
59. ↑ 59.00 59.01 59.02 59.03 59.04 59.05 59.06 59.07 59.08 59.09 59.10 59.11 59.12 59.13 59.14 59.15 59.16 59.17 59.18 59.19 59.20 59.21 Ashley Johnson (visual voices guide). Behind The Voice Actors. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
60. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Koehler, Robert (July 17, 2001). "*Rustin* (review)". *Variety*. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
61. ↑ "Naruto Shippuden Set 23": The Allure of Power. *ToonZone.com* (January 19, 2016).
62. ↑ Spangler, Todd (October 8, 2021). Critical Role's 'Legend of Vox Machina' Series Premiere Date Set on Amazon Prime Video (en-US).
63. ↑ WATCH: Critical Role Performs a Scene from The Legend of Vox Machina (en-US) (October 8, 2021). "The players from the original campaign are all reprising the roles of their RPG characters, and they will also serve as the executive producers for the new animated series."
64. ↑ The Last Of Us season 1 comes to a shattering conclusion (en) (March 13, 2023).
65. ↑ 2015 Games Performer – BAFTA Awards.
66. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
67. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
68. ↑ Template:Citation
69. ↑ Nominees.
70. ↑ BAFTA Games Awards 2021 Nominations Announced (en-sg) (March 2, 2021).
71. ↑ Winners.
72. ↑ Hunt, Aimee (April 13, 2023). Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical reveals star-studded cast - Gayming Magazine.
73. ↑ Knox, Kelly (January 16, 2018). Your First Look at the Official Art for the Second Critical Role Campaign. *Geek & Sundry*.
74. ↑ Check Out Matt Mercer's New D&D Show | Force Grey: Giant Hunters (July 11, 2016).
75. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
76. ↑ Codega, Linda (May 9, 2023). Critical Role Teases a Spooky New Game—and a New System, Too (en).
77. ↑ Hype! Candela Obscura – Our New Horror Ttrpg Show Premieres May 25th! (en-US) (May 9, 2023).

## External links

* Ashley Johnson at IMDb**Lua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 36: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).**
* Ashley Johnson on Instagram**Lua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 36: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).**
* Ashley Johnson on Twitter**Lua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 36: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).****Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).**

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