Michelle Johnson (actress)

Michelle Johnson (born September 9, 1965) is an American actress, perhaps best known for her role when she was 18 as Lolita-like teenager Jennifer Lyons in the 1984 romantic comedy film Blame It on Rio.

Michelle Johnson
Born	(1965-09-09) September 9, 1965 Anchorage, Alaska, US
Nationality	American
Other names	Michelle Williams
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–2004
Spouse(s)	Matt Williams ​ ( m. 1999; div. 2002)

Early life and education

Johnson was born in Anchorage, Alaska, to mother Faye, a nurse, and father Don, who owned a furniture store.[1] At age four, Johnson and her mother relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where her mother married child psychologist Dr. Grant Johnson.[1]

Michelle Johnson attended Alhambra High School from 1979 through 1983, graduating one semester early in January 1983.

Career

At age 16, Johnson began doing fashion print work and was soon signed by the Wilhelmina agency in New York City.[1] Director Stanley Donen spotted her in a photograph in the fashion biweekly W,[1] and just as her modeling career was beginning, chose her to act in his feature film Blame It on Rio instead. Since she was 17 at the time, she required permission from a judge to appear topless in the film.

Johnson appeared in a number of roles over the next 15 years. She appeared in theatrical films, television movies and television series, including a recurring role for one season of The Love Boat. She appeared in films Gung Ho (1986), Waxwork (1988) and The Glimmer Man (1996). She also co-starred in TV movie Dallas: War of the Ewings in 1998 as Jennifer Jantzen, and in 1985 played Rhonda Cummings in an episode of Dallas.

Since 2000, Johnson has starred in only one film, Mickey (2004). Other than occasional paparazzi photos, she had since remained out of the public eye until returning to acting briefly in the digital media Christmas special Brat Holiday Spectacular (2018).

Personal life

From January 15, 1999 through July 2002, Johnson was married to Major League Baseball player Matt Williams, of the Phoenix-based Arizona Diamondbacks.[2][3] They resided primarily in Scottsdale, Arizona.[3]

Johnson sold her house in West Hollywood, California, in April 2009 for a reported sum of $4.1 million. The house was near the Sunset Strip in a celebrity-populated neighborhood.[4]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Blame It on Rio	Jennifer Lyons
1986	Gung Ho	Heather DiStefano
1987	Charles in Charge	Joyce
1987	Beaks: The Movie	Vanessa Cartwright
	Werewolf	Kelly Nichols	TV series, pilot episode
1988	The Jigsaw Murders	Kathy DaVonzo
	Slipping Into Darkness	Carlyle
	Waxwork	China Webster
1990	Wishful Thinking	Diane
1991	Blood Ties	Celia
	Trabbi Goes to Hollywood	Ricki
	Tales from the Crypt: Split Second	Liz
1992	A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story	Linda Kolkena Broderick
	Death Becomes Her	Anna
	Dr. Giggles	Tamara
	Far and Away	Grace
	Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter	Linda Kolkena Broderick
	Street Wars	Tina
1992 & 1993	Murder She Wrote		Episodes "Incident in Lot 7" & "Ship of Thieves"
1993	Body Shot	Danielle Wild/Chelsea Savage
1994	Incident at Deception Ridge	Natalie Harris
	Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills	Lisa
1995	Illicit Dreams	Melinda Ryan
	The Donor	Dr. Lucy Flynn
	When the Bullet Hits the Bone	Lisa
1996	The Glimmer Man	Jessica Cole
	Specimen	Sarah
	The Outer Limits	Ady Sutton	episode: First Anniversary
1997	Inner Action
	Moving Target	Casey
1998	Dallas: War of the Ewings	Jennifer Jantzen
1999	Revenge	Vicky Mayerson
2004	Mickey	Patty
2018	Brat Holiday Spectacular	Nellie (Eleanor Chambers)

References

1. Evans, Hilary (March 12, 1984). "Newcomer Michelle Johnson Raises Eyebrows—and Temperatures—in Blame It on Rio". People. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
2. Pearlman, Jeff (2001-10-29). "Best supporting actress". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
3. "Matt Williams' actress-wife seeks divorce". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 2002-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-11-11. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
4. Beale, Lauren (April 16, 2009). "Michelle Johnson sells Sunset Strip-area home for $4.1 million". Chicago Tribune.

External links

• Michelle Johnson on IMDb