Name: Amy Jo Johnson (images -- NSFW, due to possibly fake nudes | Web site | MySpace Music | Twitter)
Hometown: The Cape Cod community of Dennis, Mass., according to her Wikipedia profile.
Best Known For: Historically, she's best known to a generation as Kimberly the Pink Power Ranger on the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, but that's really not the start of the story or even the most interesting part.
She currently co-stars on the Canadian television series Flashpoint as a sniper with a police tactical unit. Her work in that role -- her second law enforcement officer, after Lifetime TV's series The Division -- earned Johnson a Gemini Awards nomination up in the land of Our Strange and Savage Neighbo(u)rs to the North.
Other dramatic roles post-superheroics include recurring roles on the ABC Family series Wildfire (alongside probable future celebrity crush profile subject Genevieve Cortese) and the short-lived but beautiful-woman-packed What About Brian, and co-starring alongside Keri Russell on Felicity on The WB (as a regular for two and a half years, then recurring through the rest of the series). She also had cameos on ER and Spin City and, more recently, starred in the made-for-TV film Magma: Volcanic Disaster (which also featured fellow celebrity crush Reiko Aylesworth) and had a small role in the fantasy film Veritas, Price of Truth.
Not the Courteney Cox Factor: Forget being in some guy's music videos: Johnson makes her own music. Her character on Felicity was originally supposed to be a dancer, her Wikipedia entry notes, until she talked the producers into letting her show off her guitar and vocal talents. She contributed music to the show's soundtrack -- including the title theme, her IMDB profile states -- and has released numerous albums and standalone singles both on her own and in collaboration with others.
And in 1999, she played the role of Nansi Nevins -- whose band Sweetwater was the first full band to play the original Woodstock festival -- in a made-for-TV film.
Humble Beginnings: Does studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the American Musical and Acting Academy in New York City count as humble? What about aspiring to be an Olympic gymnast until an injury pre-empted that option?
Besides the Power Rangers role, Wikipedia notes that Johnson's head turned into a giant strawberry in a 1996 commercial for Fruit Gushers (which was a candy or a chewing gum, presumably). She also did a Disney Channel original movie (Suzie Q) and an episode of Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: She got naked in a long-off shot in a film called The Pursuit of Happiness and, like fellow celebrity crush Chyler Leigh, has been the subject of many a fake nude image circulating the Intarwebz.
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She's a better actress -- much better -- than starting out as a Power Ranger might lead you to assume. (So was the original Yellow Power Ranger, the late Thuy Trang, as evidenced by her villainous turn in the 1996 film The Crow: City of Angels. Wear your seatbelts, kids.)
Her character on Felicity was a well-rounded friend, foil and occasional romantic rival to the series' lead, and my interest in the series left when she did.
And her work on Flashpoint has been solid, holding her own opposite co-stars Enrico Colantoni and Hugh Dillon. Add to this her good looks and apparent lack of drama, and you get an appealing combination.
Film and TV-movie credits: Tiger Exes (Amazon | iTunes) * Summer Song (Amazon | iTunes) * Veritas, Prince of Truth (Amazon | iTunes) * Fatal Trust (2006 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Islander (Amazon | iTunes) * Magma: Volcanic Disaster (Amazon | iTunes) * Adjusting Arbie (Amazon | iTunes) * Hard Ground (2003 TV-movie) (Amazon | iTunes) * Infested (2002) (Amazon | iTunes) * Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road (Amazon | iTunes) * Liars Club (Amazon | iTunes) * Pursuit of Happiness (Amazon | iTunes) * Sweetwater (Amazon | iTunes) * Cold Hearts (Amazon | iTunes) * Without Limits (Amazon | iTunes) * Perfect Body (Amazon | iTunes) * Killing Mr. Griffin (not linked due to starring role by Scott Bairstow) * Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (Amazon | iTunes) * Suzie Q (Amazon | iTunes) * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Amazon | iTunes)
Musical works: Dancing In-Between (2008 single) (Amazon | iTunes) * Since You're Gone (2007 EP) with Koishi and Hush (Amazon | iTunes) * Imperfect (2005) (Amazon | iTunes) * The Trans-American Treatment (2001) (Amazon | iTunes) * Sweetwater soundtrack (1999) (Amazon | iTunes) * Felicity soundtrack (1999) (Amazon | iTunes)
As a producer: In Memory of My Father (2005) (Amazon | iTunes)
TV and Web series credits: Flashpoint, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Flashpoint, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Flashpoint, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Flashpoint, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Wildfire, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * What About Brian, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * What About Brian, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Wildfire, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Wildfire, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Division, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Felicity, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * Felicity, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Felicity, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Felicity, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Spin City, season 6: "Sex, Lies and Video Date" (Amazon | iTunes) * ER, season 8: "Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain" (Amazon | iTunes) * Night Visions (2001): "Rest Stop" (Amazon | iTunes) * Saved by the Bell: The New Class, season 4: "Backstage Pass" (Amazon | iTunes) * Campus Cops, episode 16 (Amazon | iTunes) * Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, season 3 (Amazon | iTunes) * Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Eddie Files (1995): "The Counting Principle: Eddie in Barbieland" (Amazon | iTunes)









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