Ashley Johnson

Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born August 9, 1983) is an American actress, singer, and voice actress. She is best known for her roles as Chrissy Seaver in the sitcom “Growing Pains” and for playing Mel Gibson's character's daughter in “What Women Want.” As a voice actress she is well known for the part of Gretchen Grundler in Disney's “Recess” as well as for Gwen Tennyson in the series “Ben 10: Alien Force,” and its two successors “Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse and Terra in Teen Titans” and its sequel series, “Teen Titans Go!” In 2012, Johnson played a small role as the New York City waitress Beth who is saved by Captain America in “The Avengers.” In 2013, she played the role of Ellie in the video game “The Last of Us.”

Johnson was born in Camarillo, California, the youngest daughter of Nancy Spennelli Johnson, an independent film producer; and Clifford Johnson, who was the captain of an exploration ship. She is of Swedish, Danish, Irish, Scottish and Native American descent.

Johnson had a prolific career at a young age. Before she was twenty-one years old, she had already been in the casts of eight different TV series. Her acting career began at age six, when she played the role of Chrissy Seaver. Her age was accelerated from a toddler between seasons for plotting purposes. On the television show “Growing Pains” from 1990 to 1992, in the sixth and seventh season, she and then little-known actor Leonardo DiCaprio were added to the show before its cancellation. In the one-season “Phenom” in 1993-1994, she played the mischievous younger sister of a rising teenaged tennis star. She also appeared in the 1994 sitcom “All-American Girl,” which lasted for only one season. She played DJ's girlfriend Lisa in a 1995 episode ("The Blaming of the Shrew") of “Roseanne.” In 2009, she appeared in "Omega", the finale of the first season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. She also appeared in the show's unaired pilot, "Echo".

In 2012, she appeared in “The Avengers.” Her "small-but-pivotal role" as the New York City waitress may lead to her returning in future movies as a friend or love interest for Captain America. The character’s name 'Beth' may be a reference to the supporting character Golden Girl from the Captain America comics.

Also a voice actress, in 1993 she voiced Holly on the cartoon Christmas movie “Precious Moments Timmy's Special Delivery.” She played Sean on the cartoon movie “The First Snow of Winter in 1998,” Gretchen Grundler on the Walt Disney TV animated series “Recess,” Terra in the “Teen Titans” animated series during the show's second season, Jinmay on “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!” and Gwen Tennyson on “Ben 10: Alien Force and in future variations of the Ben 10 franchise.” Three of her roles have love interests who are voiced by Greg Cipes (Chiro on “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!,” Kevin in “Ben 10,” and Beast Boy in “Teen Titans”). 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.

Currently she can be seen playing occult specialist Morgan on the web series "Spooked" from Geek and Sundry. Johnson attended the International School of Music, where she studied violin and piano; she also plays guitar and cello. When not acting or studying music, Johnson co-runs the photography company Infinity Pictures, with her friend, production assistant Mila Shah.