Julia Johnson
Julia Johnson
Actor
Julia Johnson Actor and Producer honed her craft from London to New York. She portrayed and produced plays with strong female characters in Sydney for 15 years, and since moving to Brisbane has continued most recently with Lorraine in This Wild Night for A Moveable Theatre’s Women’s Prison Project.
Biography
Julia built her Theatre career playing challenging female roles:
From the mute Marina in John Marsden’s So Much to Tell You which toured nationally, the salacious Cunegonde in Candide at Belvoir Street Theatre; and the staunch La Braukmann in Manfred Karge’s Conquest of the South Pole, Q Theatre and Australia Council Tour.
Since moving to Brisbane Julia continued with Hecate the Witch in Macbeth at Brisbane Powerhouse, Mrs Cameron founder of the Train Tea Society at[Swanbank Train Station, Anywhere Theatre; and a highly sexualised woman suffering from early-onset dementia in Neurosis at Metro Arts. In 2021, Julia took on the role of Lorraine recently released after twelve years in prison in Chloe Moss’ This Wide Night, BackDock Arts and for Workshop Performances to Women serving a sentence and recently released from prison.
Julia’s recent film and television work include the estranged mother of a daughter trapped in a cult in Follow My Way; an amorous Cat Lady for Dry Driver TVC; a Children’s Court Judge in Judge for Yourself and Betty in Paramount’s Oscar-Winning Feature Love and Monsters starring Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien.
When Sydney Opera House Bennelong Program saw Julia performing with Storybook Theatre, she co-founded A Moveable Theatre leading to 40 highly interactive and mostly rhyming shows at Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, and Sydney Cove in The Rocks. Julia has played Princesses and Witches, Tortoises and Hares, various Mice and Ebenezer Scrooge!
Reviews
We all know a Nat, usually a maternal figure without a filter, and Julia Johnson brought with her a sense of empathy for a character that could be easily read as insensitive.
Ellie Waddingham - Theatre Haus | Read full review
Julie Johnson, brought depth to the overbearing mother archetype as she glided between being supported and suffocating for the two main characters.
Virag Dombay - Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane | Read full review
Julia Johnson displays the perfect control of a damaged character, too afraid to hug her own daughter, but the relief feels like a breakthrough moment in this fractured family.
Beth Keehn - Stage Whispers | Read full review
I had been so convinced that the characters were real that I had to curb my instinct to rush up and hug them both
Gemma Regan — Weekend Notes | Read full review
Ad Astra Plays
Upcoming Plays
Past Plays
Other Theatre and Film
BRISBANE:
2021 - This Wide Night (Theatre) A Moveable Theatre, Actor Lorraine
2020 - Love and Monsters (Film), Paramount, Actor Betty
2019 – This Wide Night Women’s Prison Project (Workshop) Helana Jones Correctional Centre, Actor Lorraine
2019 – Brisbane The Movie (Film) Brisbane, Actor Attendant
2018 – Follow My Way (Film) Brisbane, Actor Meredith
2018 – The Captive (Theatre) Metro Arts, Actor Woman
2016 – The Train Tea Society (Theatre) Swanbank Train Station, Actor Mrs Cameron
2011 – Macbeth (Theatre) Brisbane Powerhouse, Actor Hecate
SYDNEY:
1996 – So Much To Tell You (Theatre) A Moveable Theatre, Actor Marina
1995 – Candide (Theatre) Belvoir St Theatre, Actor Cunegonde
1994 – Shudder/Swellings (Theatre) Lookout Theatre, Actor Various
1992 – When the Bough Breaks (Theatre) Stables [Syd]
1992 - Universal [Melb], Actor Marion
1991 – Conquest of the South Pole ( Theatre) Aust Council Tour, Actor La Braukmann
NEW YORK:
1989 – Hamlet (Theatre) HB Studios New York, Actor Ophelia
Training
BRISBANE:
2018/19 – 16th Street, Larry Moss, Masterclass, La Boite Theatre
2016-19 – The Factory, Advanced Film, Chris Sommers
OVERSEAS:
1989- HB Studios New York, Contemporary/Classical Theatre, Uta Hagen/Herbert Berghof
1988- Actor’s Centre London, Shakespearean Text and Characterisation, Murray Melvin
1988 – London, Ecole Philippe Gaulier, Le Jeu, Mise en Scene, Bouffon, Clowning, Philippe
SYDNEY:
1984-6 – Q THEATRE – Intensive Acting Program, Richard Brooks and Peter Snow
Representation
BMEG