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Alexz Johnson Profile |
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Birth Date: November 4, 1986
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Birth Place: New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
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Birth Name: Alexzandra Spencer Johnson
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Height: 5'4"
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Biography |
Alexzandra Spencer Johnson (born November 4, 1986) is a
Canadian actress and singer/songwriter best known for screen
roles in Final Destination 3, So Weird and Instant Star.
Alexz Johnson was born in New Westminster, British Columbia,
Canada as the sixth of what would become ten children in her
family. One of her sisters is a stage actress, and her
brother Brendan is a musician with whom she often
collaborates. She also has a brother named Zak who owns a
Green Day fan site.
From the age of three, Alexz would frequently sing for her
large extended family; and by the age of seven, she was
receiving vocal training, participating in festivals with
her local youth choir, and giving solo performances at
school and community functions. She entered many talent
contests and festivals, and won a National Anthem Contest at
the age of 11, with her rendition of the National Anthem
being heard on national television. This resulted in
numerous radio and television interviews, and interest from
management. That year, she was also voted Best Anthem singer
of the season by the Vancouver Sun.
Locally, she was often referred to as our "West Coast
Celine", and sang the National Anthem at games for the
Vancouver Canucks (NHL hockey) and Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA
basketball team, now based in Memphis), as well as singing
at charity events and fairs around the province, and also
the B.C. Summer Games. She opened the Variety Club show
singing a duet with Bob McGrath, sang the first set of songs
at the Molson Indy (a major car race), and entertained on
New Year's Eve at Planet Hollywood at the age of 12.
Alexz first enrolled in singing lessons at age six, and took
classical vocal training (including opera) for at least
eight years, much of it from Joseph Shore, an acclaimed
operatic baritone and music educator in the Vancouver area.
She is said to have a four-octave range.
With an outgoing personality, she also moved into acting,
where she excelled, landing auditions for commercials and a
showcase for a pilot called "Most Talented Kids". At the age
of 13, she auditioned for the Disney television series So
Weird which, for the final season of the show, was looking
for a lead actress who could also sing. Alexz was offered
the job immediately after her audition. This role was a
tough assignment, because many fans of the show had already
become accustomed to a different story-line, were not happy
that the show had shifted from a "darker" to a "lighter"
tone, and were upset that the previous lead actress Cara
DeLizia was moving on as the show approached its final
season. While many long-time fans of the show continued to
feel this way, the show nevertheless retained its
popularity, and Alexz built up a fan base on the strength of
both her acting and her singing. Unfortunately, the songs
she sang on the show are not generally available, despite
numerous requests from viewers.
She also showed an interest in songwriting, and wrote one of
the songs for So Weird. After the show ended, she continued
her interest in songwriting, co-writing with her brother
Brendan. She also learned to play the guitar. She worked as
a demo singer on various projects, completed a demo of her
own music to shop around to music labels, and opened for
David Foster at his charity events.
Alexz decided to audition for the role of Julie Christenson
in the thriller Final Destination 3. As it turned out, she
showed up at the audition in an all black, punk rockish
outfit, later claiming that she had also been in a bad mood.
The casting directors concluded that she would be perfect
for the role of Erin Ulmer, a character with a bad attitude.
This was not a large part, but she played it convincingly,
right to the gruesome end. Her performance attracted praise
from some critics, even from one (writing for The
Philadelphia Inquirer) who said: "The characters are so
loathsome, you're glad to see them go. Except for two: the
goth couple Ian (Kris Lemche) and Erin (Alexz Johnson). He's
a cynical know-it-all, like Dennis Miller with black
fingernails; she's like Parker Posey with raccoon mascara.."
Alexz was also highly considered for the lead role of
Melissa Kitt in Black Christmas (which is produced by the
same people as the Final Destination series), Alexz
auditioned for the part and she almost got it but she lost
the part at the last moment to actress Michelle
Trachtenberg.
Alexz has also stated that her roles on both Instant Star
and Final Destination 3 were great acting experiences, and
she is very interested in continuing her acting career down
the road.
Also, Alexz was one of the final three to play the main
character in the Britney Spears inspired tv movie, Brave New
Girl, but lost out to Lindsay Huan.
Alexz is currently writing and recording all of the songs on
a solo album, for release in late October of 2007. On
February 23rd, Alexz confirmed that she was no longer under
the Capitol name once the Capitol and Virgin labels were
merged within the EMI group.
For several months in 2006, Alexz worked on her own solo CD
(apart from the show), co-writing the songs with her brother
Brendan, who also plays the guitar. There are two updates on
this from Stephen Stohn the Executive Producer of Instant
Star - one saying that "she's written stacks of songs for
her CD" (June 17), and the other saying that he had listened
to some of "the rough demos" (Nov. 8) which, in his view,
were "absolutely stunningly amazing".
On June 25th, Alexz Johnson appeared on the Canadian version
of MTV. She confirmed all of her songs have been written and
recorded. She plans on shopping for a label for the next few
months and release it sometime within Winter 2007/Early
2008. She says she's in no hurry, and also sported a
shoulder length haircut. |
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Other
Information |
Her brother Matt Johnson and sister Jana Johnson are also
actors.
Her brother Brendan is a model.
Co-wrote the song 'To Dream About You' with her producer,
which aired on the episode 'Carnival' of "So Weird" (1999).
Her brother Matt co-starred with her on "So Weird" (1999)
when he did the guest role of Quinn Carter on the episode
'The Muse'.
Sings all the songs on the show "Instant Star" |
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