Ashley Suzanne Johnson is an American actress, voice actress, and singer. She is perhaps best known for providing the voice and motion capture for Ellie in the video gamesThe Last of Us, ', and The Last of Us Part II, having won two British Academy Games Awards for Performer for the former two. Johnson's other work includes roles as Chrissy Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains, Annie Warbucks in the musical film ', Alex Marshall in the romantic comedy filmWhat Women Want, and Margaret in the romantic comedy filmMuch Ado About Nothing. She also voiced Gretchen Grundler in Disney's Recess, Jinmay Rayfield in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Terra in Teen Titans, Gwen Tennyson in the Ben 10 franchise, and Tulip and Lake in Infinity Train. She also starred as FBI forensic specialist Patterson in the NBC drama Blindspot and is a cast member on the web series Critical Role.
Early life
Ashley Suzanne Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, on August 9, 1983, the youngest child of independent film producer Nancy and exploration ship captain Clifford Johnson. She is of Danish, Irish, Native American, Norwegian, Scottish, and Swedish descent. She has an older brother named Chris, who went on to work on the television show The District, and an older sister named Haylie, who went on to play Haylie in Kids Incorporated and is currently married to musician Jonny Lang. 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 InternationalSchool of Music.
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 TV series. She later reprised her role as Chrissy in The Growing Pains Movie and '. In the one season series Phenom, 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 as a waitress who is saved by Steve Rogers / Captain America. She was intended to appear in future films as his newest love interest, 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 TVanimated seriesRecess, 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 ' 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, '. 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 ' 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 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.
Personal life
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. In her spare time, she co-runs the photography company Infinity Pictures with production assistant Mila Shah. 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.
