A.J. Johnson
Dance was in the job description from the start. Johnson, credited as both Adrienne-Joi and A. J., has worked as a choreographer, and later as a fitness trainer and life coach, alongside the acting she has done since 1987. Her breakout is the film where all of that is visible at once: she plays Sharane in House Party (1990), a comedy that runs on people being able to move and on a cast that can throw a line away.
The early 1990s are dense. Shauna in Dying Young (1991), Lewanda in Sister Act (1992), Danitra in Double Trouble, Heather Lee in The Inkwell (1994), Lynn Stanton across the series Sirens. The type she keeps landing is the friend with the sharper read on the situation, and she gets laughs in films that are not always aiming for them, which is a specific and undervalued skill.
Juanita in Baby Boy (2001) is the heavier assignment and the strongest case for her as a dramatic actor rather than a comic presence. The credits thin out after it, which reflects a career that expanded into fitness and coaching rather than one that stopped, and she is back on screen as Lady Bishop in Come Sunday (2018).
Movies (7)
TV (1)
Where to start with A.J. Johnson
Everything she is good at is already in House Party, and nothing since has used her better. Sharane gets the film's most quotable comic energy, and the physical confidence in the performance is not an accident given the choreography background.
Baby Boy is the counterweight and the one to watch second. As Juanita she plays a mother in a drama with no comic escape hatch, and it is a completely different actor from the one in the party film.
Sister Act is the widest-seen credit though the part is small, and The Inkwell is the underrated one, a period coming-of-age piece that gives her more to hold. Come Sunday is the late return, a serious faith drama with a real ensemble. Sirens and Dying Young are for anyone working through the list in order.