Kristen Johnston

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Kristen Johnston bigraphy, stories - American actor

Kristen Johnston : biography

September 20, 1967 –

Kristen Johnston (born September 20, 1967) is an American stage, film, and television actress. She is most famous for her two-time Emmy Award-winning role as Sally Solomon in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun. She also starred as Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. She currently appears as Holly Franklin in the sitcom The Exes.

Early life

Johnston is of English ancestry and was born in Washington, D.C. Johnston was raised mostly in Fox Point, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, where she attended St. Eugene’s Catholic Grade School and Whitefish Bay High School. She spent some of her teen years in Sweden and in South America. She earned a B.F.A. degree in drama at New York University.

Career

Johnston made her professional stage debut with New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, which was founded by playwright David Mamet. During her association with that company, she appeared in such productions as As You Like It, Girl’s Talk, Stage Door, Author’s Voice, Portrait of a Woman and Rosemary for Remembrance. She teaches acting at New York University.

She has performed with the Naked Angels Theatre Company in The Stand-In and Hot Keys, and with New York Stage and Film in Kim’s Sister, with David Strathairn and Jane Adams. For her performance in The Lights at Lincoln Center Theater, Johnston was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Supporting Actress. The show brought her to the attention of a Carsey-Werner television executive. After numerous auditions in 1996 for the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun, she won the role of Sally Solomon. She starred in the series from 1996 to 2001 along with John Lithgow, Jane Curtin, French Stewart, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the role earned her two Emmy Awards for best supporting actress in a comedy series.

Johnston made her feature film debut in The Debt, winner of Best Short at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 1995, she played Kate in Backfire! Other television credits include guest-starring roles on the series Chicago Hope, Hearts Afire, and The Five Mrs. Buchanans. She was also the narrator in Microscopic Milton on the Disney Channel. Her significant roles in commercially-successful movies included Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002 and Music and Lyrics in 2007.

In 1998 she was a spokesmodel for the Clairol company, as well as appearing on the Bad Religion’s No Substance album cover.

Johnston appeared in the sixth and final season of Sex and the City. In the episode entitled "Splat!", her character, Lexi Featherston, an aging party girl, accidentally falls out of a window and dies (after saying, "I’m so bored I could die."), prompting Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) to re-examine her life. In 2005 Johnston featured in six episodes of NBC’s ER. She was cast as Patsy in a proposed American remake of the British TV show Absolutely Fabulous, but the series was never picked up by a network. She appeared in a recurring role in the 2009 season of Ugly Betty and had a single episode appearance as a dominatrix in the second season opener of Bored to Death.

Since 2009 she has taught acting at NYU. She also mentors local girls from New York City on self-esteem issues. She appears in The Exes, which debuted on TV Land on November 30, 2011, and airs on Wednesday nights at 10:30 p.m. She recently appeared in Amy Heckerling’s Vamps.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1985 The Orkly Kid Unknown Short film
1992 Amazonia Unknown Short film
1993 The Debt Alice Kosnick Short film
1995 Backfire! Kate
1998 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Ivana Humpalot
2000 The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas Wilma Slaghoople
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Dancer Uncredited
2007 Music and Lyrics Rhonda
2009 Bride Wars Deb
2009 Finding Bliss Irene Fox