Keean Johnson

Last updated

Keean Johnson
Keean Johnson by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Johnson at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born1996or1997(age 27–28)
OccupationActor
Years active2012–present

Keean Johnson (born c. 1996/1997) [1] is an American actor who known for his lead role as Adam Freeman in action horror adventure series Spooksville . [2]

Contents

Johnson played one of the lead roles, Hugo, in the film Alita: Battle Angel . [3] He is also known for his lead role in the film Low Tide as Alan [4] [5] and The Ultimate Playlist of Noise as Marcus Lund. [6]

Early life

Johnson was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. His father is British and his mother is American-Chilean. He has a younger brother, Cade Johnson. His first professional acting debut came at the age of 11 at the Denver Center for Performing Arts in the play Plainsong. It was at this same time that the casting director Nora Brennan for the Broadway musical Billy Elliot cast him in the show which went on to win the Tony for Best Musical in 2008. [7]

Acting career

Television

Johnson began his professional acting career as an actor at the age of 16, when he appeared in episodic roles in the television shows: Switched at Birth , Notorious and Joe Pickett .

Johnson made his television debut in 2013, he was cast to play the lead role of Adam Freeman in the action horror adventure series Spooksville alongside Katie Douglas, Nick Purcha and Morgan Taylor Campbell, based on Christopher Pike's novel of the same name, which that aired on the Hub Network from October 26, 2013 to May 17, 2014. [8] [9]

From 2014 to 2016, Johnson played the recurring role of Colt Wheeler in the musical drama film Nashville . [10]

In 2015, Johnson appeared on the third season of the family drama series The Fosters , which he played the role of Tom / Tony. [11] Johnson appeared on the second season in the teen drama web series Guidance , he played the main role of Kyo 'Ozo' Ozonaka, which was second season released between November 14 to December 9, 2016. [12] Johnson appeared on the first season of the teen drama series Euphoria , which he played the recurring role of Daniel, based on the Israeli miniseries of the same name. [13]

In 2023, Johnson was cast to play the main role of Vernon Howell in the crime drama miniseries Waco: The Aftermath , developed by John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, which was premiered on April 16, 2023, on Showtime. [14] [15]

Film

In 2016, Johnson made his feature film debut in the comedy-drama film Heritage Falls starring David Keith, he played the role of Markie Fitzpatrick, which was released on September 2, 2016. [16] [17] Johnson's break-out role came in 2019, when he played the role of Hugo in the cyberpunk action film Alita: Battle Angel starring Rosa Salazar, directed by Robert Rodriguez, based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm , which was world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on January 31, 2019 and released on February 14, 2019. [18]

Johnson also co-starred Alexandra Daddario, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller and Austin Swift in the horror thriller film We Summon the Darkness as Mark, directed by Marc Meyers and written by Alan Trezza, which was premiered at Mammoth Film Festival on February 28, 2019, and was released in digital and on-demand in the United States on April 10, 2020, by Saban Films. [19] [20]

Johnson starred alongside Jaeden Martell, Alex Neustaedter and Kristine Froseth in the 2019 drama film Low Tide , directed by Kevin McMullin, which he played the lead role of Alan, which was premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, 2019 and was theatrically released on October 4, 2019. [21]

Johnson played the role of Chief Aviation Radioman James Murray in the war film Midway directed by Roland Emmerich, which was released on November 8, 2019. [22] [23]

In 2020, Johnson played Rufus Kelly in the historical drama film Emperor stars Dayo Okeniyi, James Cromwell, Kat Graham, and Bruce Dern, directed by Mark Amin, which was released on August 18, 2020. [24] [25] On the same year, he appeared in the heist film Cut Throat City directed by RZA, which was released on August 21, 2020, by Well Go USA Entertainment. [26]

Johnson starred in the romantic comedy-drama film by Bennett Lasseter titled The Ultimate Playlist of Noise with Madeline Brewer, which was released January 15, 2021. [27] [28]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2012Sam PresentsSam ArmstrongShort film
2016 Heritage Falls Markie Fitzpatrick
2019 Alita: Battle Angel Hugo
2019 Low Tide Alan
2019 We Summon the Darkness Mark
2019 Midway James Murray
2020 Emperor Rufus Little
2020 Cut Throat City Junior
2021 The Ultimate Playlist of Noise Marcus

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013Spooksville Freak FilesAdam FreemanWeb series [29]
2013–2014 Spooksville Adam FreemanMain role
2014 Switched at Birth Angelo 'A.J.' Sorrento Jr.Episode: "Yuletide Fortune Tellers"
2014–2016 Nashville Colt WheelerRecurring role, 22 episodes
2015 The Fosters TonyRecurring role, 6 episodes
2016 Notorious FinnEpisode: "Tell Me a Secret"
2016 Guidance OzoMain role (season 2)
2019 Euphoria DanielRecurring role, 6 episodes
2023 Joe Pickett Luke BrueggemanMain role (season 2)
2023 Waco: The Aftermath Vernon Howell 5 episodes

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
2013 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actor Spooksville Nominated
Outstanding Young Ensemble in a TV SeriesSpooksvilleNominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liev Schreiber</span> American actor (born 1967)

Isaac Liev Schreiber is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award as well as nominations for nine Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shane West</span> American actor, singer and songwriter

Shannon Bruce Snaith, better known as Shane West, is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is known for his portrayal of Eli Sammler in the ABC family drama Once and Again, Landon Carter in A Walk to Remember, Dr. Ray Barnett in the NBC medical drama ER, Michael Bishop in The CW spy drama Nikita and in the WGN fantasy adventure historical drama Salem as John Alden. West received critical acclaim for his performance portraying Darby Crash in the biopic What We Do Is Secret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Wright</span> American actor (born 1965)

Jeffrey Wright is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award. Wright began his career in theater where he gained prominence for his role in the Broadway production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1993), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in the acclaimed 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation, earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Waltz</span> Austrian-German actor (born 1956)

Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. Primarily active in the United States, he gained international recognition for his portrayal of villainous and supporting roles in English-language films. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hany</span> Australian actor

Don Hany is an Australian film, television and stage actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Rodriguez</span> American actress

Elizabeth Rodriguez is an American actress. She began her career appearing in films Fresh (1994), Dead Presidents (1995), I Think I Do (1997) and Blow (2001). She played Detective Gina Calabrese in the 2006 film adaptation of Miami Vice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tye Sheridan</span> American actor (born 1996)

Tye Kayle Sheridan is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in Terrence Malick's experimental drama film The Tree of Life (2011) and had his first leading role in Jeff Nichols's film Mud (2012).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Abrams</span> American actor (born 1996)

Austin Noah Abrams is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Ron Anderson in the fifth and sixth seasons of the television series The Walking Dead (2015–2016), and as high school students in the drama series Euphoria and the romantic comedy series Dash & Lily (2020). His film appearances include The Kings of Summer (2013), Paper Towns (2015), Brad's Status (2017), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), Chemical Hearts (2020), and Wolfs (2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeline Brewer</span> American actress

Madeline Kathryn Brewer is an American actress, known for recurring roles in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013) and Hemlock Grove (2014–2015). She stars as Janine Lindo in the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale (2017–present), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaeden Martell</span> American actor (born 2003)

Jaeden Martell is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, with roles in the comedy drama St. Vincent (2014) and science fiction film Midnight Special (2016). His performance in St. Vincent earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. After playing the title character in the drama The Book of Henry (2017), Martell's breakthrough came with his portrayal of Bill Denbrough in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). This led to further leading roles in horror films, such as The Lodge (2019) and Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lana Condor</span> American actress (born 1997)

Lana Therese Condor is a Vietnamese-born American actress and YouTuber. She made her acting debut starring as Jubilee in the superhero film X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), and gained international recognition for portraying Lara Jean Covey in the romantic comedy To All the Boys film series (2018–2021). She has also portrayed Saya Kuroki in the television series Deadly Class (2019) and Koyomi in the film Alita: Battle Angel (2019). More recently, Condor voiced the titular character in the animated teen comedy film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Plummer</span> American actor (born 1999)

Charlie Faulkner Plummer is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in short films and made his feature film debut in David Chase's drama Not Fade Away (2012) before landing a lead role in King Jack (2015). In 2017, he gained wider recognition for playing John Paul Getty III in Ridley Scott's thriller All the Money in the World and a troubled teenager in Andrew Haigh's drama Lean on Pete. His performance in the latter earned him the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best emerging actor.

<i>Alita: Battle Angel</i> 2019 film by Robert Rodriguez

Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Rosa Salazar stars through performance-capture animation as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson play supporting roles.

Amy Forsyth is a Canadian actress. On television, she appeared as a series regular on the Hulu drama The Path (2016–17), the second season of SyFy horror anthology Channel Zero (2017), and the NBC musical drama Rise (2018), along with recurring roles on the science fiction Western Defiance (2014–15) and the historical drama The Gilded Age (2022). She appeared in the horror films A Christmas Horror Story (2015), Hell Fest (2018), and We Summon the Darkness (2020) and the drama films Beautiful Boy (2018), CODA (2021), and The Novice (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristine Froseth</span> American and Norwegian actress (born 1995)

Kristine Froseth is an American and Norwegian actress. She is known for playing Kelly Aldrich in the Netflix series The Society (2019), Alaska Young in the Hulu series Looking for Alaska (2019), and Nan St. George in the Apple TV+ series The Buccaneers (2023). In 2022, she starred in the Showtime series The First Lady as young Betty Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner Buchanan</span> American actor (born 1998)

Tanner Emmanuel Buchanan is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Leo Kirkman in the ABC political drama Designated Survivor and Robby Keene in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. He is also known for his role in the Nickelodeon television series Game Shakers as Mason Kendall.

<i>Low Tide</i> 2019 American film

Low Tide is a 2019 American drama film, written and directed by Kevin McMullin. It stars Keean Johnson, Alex Neustaedter, Daniel Zolghadri, Kristine Froseth, Shea Whigham, and Jaeden Martell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Douglas (actress)</span> Canadian actress (born 1998)

Kathryn Emily Douglas is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Abby Littman in the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia and as Jackie Sullivan in Pretty Hard Cases.

<i>The Ultimate Playlist of Noise</i> 2021 American romantic comedy-drama film

The Ultimate Playlist of Noise is a 2021 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Bennett Lasseter and written by Mitchell Winkie. The film stars Keean Johnson and Madeline Brewer.

Daniel Zolghadri is an American actor known for his roles in Eighth Grade, Low Tide, and Funny Pages. He attended the Orange County School of the Arts.

References

  1. "Keean Johnson – The 22 Year Old Quadruple Threat". Flaunt Magazine. February 13, 2019.
  2. "Keean Johnson Chats "Spooksville"!". Sweety High. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  3. "Young Spooksville actor Keean Johnson gushes about filming on Vancouver Island among 'nicest people'". The Official Tourism Tofino. April 1, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  4. "Low Tide". Tribeca Film Festival . Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  5. Hayes, Dade (March 5, 2019). "Tribeca Film Festival Unveils Feature Lineup, With Screen Time For John DeLorean, Muhammad Ali, Chelsea Manning". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  6. "Syracuse movie debuts on Hulu Friday, 'The Ultimate Playlist of Noise'". CNY Central . January 15, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  7. Reid, Michael D. "TV star Keean Johnson takes a spooky ride to stardom". Times Colonist. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  8. "The Hub to Launch Brand New Series SPOOKVILLE, 10/26".
  9. "The Hub launches 2012-13 program slate". KidScreen. March 1, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  10. Kit, Borys (September 30, 2016). "'Nashville' Actor Nabs Key Role in 'Alita: Battle Angel' (Exclusive)". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  11. "The Fosters - Keean Johnson as Tom, Tony". IMDb . Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  12. Todd Spangler (October 12, 2016). "Arden Rose, Erica Dasher Star in 'Guidance' Season 2 on Verizon Go90". Variety. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  13. "Keean Johnson as Daniel - Euphoria". IMDb . Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  14. White, Peter (February 24, 2021). "Paramount+ Builds On 'Waco' With 'American Tragedy' Anthology Series". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  15. Metcalf, Mitch (April 18, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 4.16.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  16. "INSP Films Begins Production on "Heritage Falls"". PR Web. April 25, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  17. Williams, Alan (August 30, 2016). "Keeping the Faith with actor David Keith and new movie". WVLT-TV . Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  18. Entertainment Desk (February 8, 2019). "Alita Battle Angel actor Keean Johnson: Wanted to bring a vulnerability to Hugo". The Indian Express. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  19. "We Summon the Darkness". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  20. "We Summon the Darkness – Financial Information". The Numbers . Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  21. @lowtidemovie (August 8, 2019). "Starring Jaeden Martell, Keean Johnson, Shea Whigham, Alex Neustaedter, Daniel Zolghadri, and Kristine Froseth — #LowTide Opens in Select Theaters 10/4 and exclusively on @DIRECTV Cinema 9/5" (Tweet). Retrieved August 8, 2019 via Twitter.
  22. Deckelmeier, Joe (November 7, 2019). "Darren Criss & Keean Johnson Interview: Midway". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  23. Wiseman, Andreas (August 10, 2018). "Roland Emmerich's 'Midway' Enlists Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Tadanobu Asano, Keean Johnson, Ahead Of Fall Shoot". Deadline. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  24. Debruge, Peter (August 15, 2020). "'Emperor' Review: A Runaway Slave Joins the Raid on Harpers Ferry in Forgotten Tale of Black Heroism". Variety.
  25. Pape, Stefan (August 18, 2020). "Exclusive: Experienced producer Mark Amin on directorial debut Emperor and upcoming Zorro reboot". HeyUGuys. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  26. "Cut Throat City - St. Louis Times". Riverfront Times . Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  27. "The Ultimate Playlist of Noise (2021) – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  28. Eisenberg, Eric (January 13, 2021). "Hulu's The Ultimate Playlist Of Noise Review: A Standard Coming Of Age Drama With Cute, Emotional Moments". CinemaBlend]. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  29. "Spooksville". Hubworld . Archived from the original on November 19, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2020.