Biography
CJ Johnson is an award winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known in independent cinema circles as the "go to guy" for horror/sci-fi hybrid stories. Johnson was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Clarence and Beverly Johnson. He has one younger sister. Johnson spent much of his childhood traveling because of his father's job, as a United States Army Officer. Johnson lived in Memphis, Tennessee, Germany, El Paso, Texas, Clarksville, Tennessee, Madison, Alabama, Stafford, Virginia, and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, before finally locating in Los Angeles, California. Throughout his childhood, Johnson discovered a passion for the entertainment business.
Johnson enjoyed writing and creating fictional stories, but it was his acting abilities that seemed to flourish at a young age. At 15, he toured London, performing Steinbeck's ''Of Mice and Men'' playing the role of ''Crooks''. A year later, he received the Best Actor award at the Shakespeare Festival in Washington D.C. for his performance of ''Othello''. As a junior in high school his Video Production teacher forced him to enter a short script he wrote into the Drexel University High School Ten-Page Screenplay Contest. Johnson received an Honorable Mention award for his script.
At age 17, Johnson moved with his family to the tropical island, Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands. Kwajalein has been used as a U.S. ballistic missile test site since World War II and currently has 2,500 residents. His father was a member of the USAKA team, co-heading the missile testing on the island. There, Johnson graduated from the Kwajalein Jr./Sr. High School with a class of 25. On the island, Johnson sharpened his skills as a writer by continuing to write screenplays and articles for the Kwajalein Hourglass Newspaper.
Johnson made a quick impact with his articles becoming a voice for the youth on the island. His articles covered a wide range of topics from teenage drinking to teen views on the terrorist attack on 9/11. While on Kwajalein, he also performed in a church musical, entitled ''Living on the Edge'' as one of the main leads. Johnson graduated high school receiving many scholarships for essays he wrote.
After high school, Johnson attended college at The Art Institute of California - Los Angeles, majoring in Film & TV Production. He was one of the first students to major in the program when it first started. While attending school he worked on 41 student productions, 25 of them he directed and wrote himself. While in college, Johnson worked as an intern in the Series Development at MTV Networks. His comical ways landed him two reoccurring roles as a ''Stud-Coach'' in reality television show, ''MTV's Wanna Come In?''
Johnson graduated college after three years with an AA and BA of Science. Since then, he has co-starred, directed, produced, and wrote several music videos and short films. In just a small time he has built a promising career with a diverse body of work. His hip-hop music video, "Motherless Child" was a critical hit and winner of the BET's "Ya heard?" Independent Music Videos Contest, he received an Honorable Mention from the Tabloid Witch Awards (Sci-fi/Horror Film Festival) for his breakout short, "The Signal", and received numerous awards for his short horror film, "Creepers". Johnson is only the second filmmaker to win in two different years at the Tabloid Witch Awards ("The Signal" & "Creepers").
