Ashley Johnson

Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born August 9, 1983) is an American actress, voice actress and singer. Her work includes roles as Chrissy Seaver in Growing Pains, Annie Warbucks in Annie: A Royal Adventure!,Alex Marshall in What Women Want, Gretchen Grundler in Disney's Recess, Jinmay Rayfield in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Terra in Teen Titans, Amber in Fast Food Nation, Gwen Tennyson in the Ben 10 franchise, Ellie in The Last of Us and its sequel, Tulip and Lake in Infinity Train, and Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing. She starred in the NBC drama Blindspot as FBI forensic specialist Patterson and is a cast member of the web series Critical Role.

Johnson is a two-time BAFTA Award winner for her performances as Ellie in The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind.

Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, on August 9, 1983, 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. She is the youngest out of three children. Ashley Johnson has two older siblings Chris and Haylie. 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. Johnson appeared in the 1994 sitcom All-American Girl, which also lasted for only one season. She played DJ's overbearing girlfriend Lisa in the 1995 Roseanne episode "The Blaming of the Shrew".During the 1995–1996 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 a waitress who is saved by Steve Rogers / 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.

As a voice actress, she played Sean on the cartoon movie The First Snow of Winter in the US version in 1998, Gretchen Grundler on the Walt Disney TV animated series Recess, Terra in the Teen Titans animated series during the show's second and fifth season, Jinmay Rayfield in 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. 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. 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, and playing Pike Trickfoot and Yasha Nydoorin in Critical Role.

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

In 2015, Johnson was the voice actress of main character Petra the Warrior in Minecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games and Mojang.

In 2016, Johnson provided the voice of Tulip in the pilot for Infinity Train and reprised the role for the full series in 2019.

Johnson enjoys singing and playing the guitar, violin, piano, and cello; 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, and "Through the Valley" by Shawn James. Since 2012, Johnson has been in a relationship with American writer, poet, and singer Brian W. Foster, who hosts the Critical Role aftershow Talks Machina. Ashley's older brother Chris Johnson 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. In her spare time, she co-runs the photography company Infinity Pictures with production assistant Mila Shah. In April 2000 Ashley's father Cliff was diagnosed with liver cancer and lung cancer. Cliff died from liver cancer and lung cancer that same year. At the time of his death Cliff Johnson was suffering from Hepatitis C.

Film

Television

Video games

Web series