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Kristen Johnston
Johnston at a PETA event honoring filmmaker Donny Moss, June 2008
Born	September 20, 1967 (1967-09-20) (age 42) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1985–present

Kristen Johnston (born September 20, 1967) is an American stage, film, and television actress. She may be most famous for her role as Sally Solomon in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun. She also starred as Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Johnston is known for her towering 6' (1.83 m) frame.^{citation needed}

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Work 2.1 Filmography 2.2 Stage 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

Johnston was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a real estate agent and a Republican state senator from Wisconsin.¹ Johnston was raised mostly in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. She attended St. Eugene's Catholic Grade School and graduated from Whitefish Bay High School, although she spent some of her teen years as an exchange student in Sweden and in South America. She earned a B.F.A. degree in drama at New York University.

Career

Johnston made her professional stage debut with New York's Atlantic Theater Company, which was founded by playwright David Mamet. During her association with that company, she appeared in such productions as As You Like It, Girl's Talk, Stage Door, Author's Voice, Portrait of a Woman, and Rosemary for Remembrance. Now in addition to her stage and film career, she also teaches at the Atlantic Acting School in NYC.

In addition, she performed with the Naked Angels Theatre Company in The Stand-In and Hot Keys, and with New York Stage and Film in Kim's Sister, with David Strathairn and Jane Adams.

For her performance in The Lights at Lincoln Center Theatre, Johnston was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Supporting Actress. The show brought her to the attention of a Carsey-Werner television executive. After numerous auditions in 1996 for the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun, she won the role of Sally Solomon, the alien lieutenant and security officer posing as a sexy female human in Ohio. She starred in the series from 1996-2001 along with John Lithgow, Jane Curtin, French Stewart, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the role earned her two Emmy Awards for best supporting actress in a comedy series.

Johnston made her feature film debut in The Debt, winner of Best Short at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 1995, she played Kate in Backfire. Other television credits include guest-starring roles on the series Chicago Hope, Hearts Afire, and The Five Mrs. Buchanans. She was also the narrator in Microscopic Milton on the Disney Channel. Her significant roles in commercially-successful movies included Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002 and Music and Lyrics in 2007.

In 1998, she was a spokesmodel for the Clairol company, as well as appearing on the Bad Religion's No Substance album cover.² Johnston appeared in the sixth and final season of Sex and the City. In the episode entitled "Splat!", she plays Lexi Featherston, an aging party girl. After the character accidentally falls out of a window and dies, Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) reexamines her life and decides to move to Paris with Aleksandr Petrovsky (played by Mikhail Baryshnikov). In 2005, Johnston was also featured in six episodes of NBC's ER. She was cast as Patsy in a proposed American remake of the British TV show, Absolutely Fabulous, but the series was never picked up by a network. She was recently cast in a recurring role in the 2009 season of Ugly Betty in a role first pitched to Paula Abdul³.

Work

Filmography The Orkly Kid (1985) Amazonia (1992) The Debt (1993) Backfire! (1995) London Suite (1996) (TV) 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) (TV) Microscopic Milton (1997) (TV) Nobody Knows Anything (1998) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) Stage On Screen: The Women (2002) (TV) Miffy (2003, narrator) Sex and the City (2004) (TV) ER (2005) (TV) Strangers with Candy (2005) The Wicker Man (2006) Music and Lyrics (2007) Bride Wars (2009) The New Adventures of Old Christine (2009) (TV) Ugly Betty (2009) (TV)

Stage The Lights (1993) The Women (2002) Aunt Dan and Lemon (2004) The Baltimore Waltz (2004) Signature Theatre Company Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare in the Park The Skin of Our Teeth Central Park Delacorte Scarcity (2007) "Love Song" (Nov 2006 - Feb 2007) The Understudy (2008) Williamstown Theater Festival So Help Me God! (2009) Mint Theatre Company

References

External links

• Kristen Johnston at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kristen Johnston at the Internet Movie Database
• 2006 Interview with Kristen Johnston on Theatre.com
• Kristen Johnston Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing, October 2007

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series Betty White (1976) · Mary Kay Place (1977) · Julie Kavner (1978) · Sally Struthers (1979) · Loretta Swit (1980) · Eileen Brennan (1981) · Loretta Swit (1982) · Carol Kane (1983) · Rhea Perlman (1984) · Rhea Perlman (1985) · Rhea Perlman (1986) · Jackée Harry (1987) · Estelle Getty (1988) · Rhea Perlman (1989) · Bebe Neuwirth (1990) · Bebe Neuwirth (1991) · Laurie Metcalf (1992) · Laurie Metcalf (1993) · Laurie Metcalf (1994) · Christine Baranski (1995) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1996) · Kristen Johnston (1997) · Lisa Kudrow (1998) · Kristen Johnston (1999) · Megan Mullally (2000) Complete list: (1953–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)