Biography
Best known as the husky-voiced, no-nonsense Lt. Sally Solomon on the hit NBC fantasy sitcom
3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) -- a role she played, opposite heavyweights
John Lithgow and
Jane Curtin, for the entire six-year run of the series -- fair-haired Kristen Johnson parlayed her success from that effort into a handful of A-list cinematic releases, beginning in 1999. After
3rd Rock wrapped in spring 2001, Johnston's movie activity crescendoed dramatically, and she became ever-present as a character player in the supporting casts of Hollywood feature films.
Born January 20, 1967, in Washington, D.C., Johnston moved with her family to Wisconsin and attended high school in suburban Milwaukee, where prescient classmates voted her "Biggest Ham" and "Most Likely to be a Celebrity." Unusually tall for her age (6 ft. at age 13), with a booming, authoritative voice and an outsized personality, Johnston stood out from the crowd and reportedly struggled with self-doubt as a result; she later termed her height "incredibly distressing." The aspiring actress learned self-acceptance early on, however, as she attended NYU and studied drama there. For almost ten years, Johnston struggled as an up-and-coming actress, holding down assorted jobs and working on Broadway and off-Broadway productions, until an NBC executive noticed her and was instrumental in enlisting her as Sally on
3rd Rock.
Johnston doubled this up with a 1998 guest appearance as herself on
The Larry Sanders Show, then debuted cinematically the following summer as Ivana Humpalot in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). Johnston ascended to higher billing as Wilma Slaghoople, the wife of Fred Flintstone (a role she inherited from
Elizabeth Perkins) in the family-friendly, effects-heavy Stone Age comedy
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).
Although
3rd Rock from the Sun, as indicated, ended its original network run in mid-2001, Johnston took a couple of years off, resurfacing in 2003 with a guest appearance on the shortlived courtroom seriocomedy
Queens Supreme (produced by
Julia Roberts). Johnston followed this up with several additional big-screen turns over the next few years. These included a supporting role in
William Tannen's all-star showbiz satire
Nobody Knows Anything (2003); the part of Fran -- an envious friend of newly involved Caroleen Feeney -- in Hal Salwen's quirky indie romantic comedy
Duane Incarnate; a brief supporting turn as Coach Divers in
Paul Dinello's big-screen prequel to the wild television comedy series
Strangers with Candy (2005); and Rhonda in
Marc Lawrence's romantic comedy
Music and Lyrics (2007), co-starring
Drew Barrymore and
Hugh Grant.
In addition to Johnston's film work, she acts in theatrical productions. Several of Johnston's higher-profiled stage productions include the Scott Elliott-directed revival of Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (2001, alongside
Rue McClanahan,
Cynthia Nixon, and
Jennifer Coolidge); the Mark Brokaw-directed 2004 production of Paula Vogel's one-act play The Baltimore Waltz (as Anna); and the 2006 John Crowley-directed production of John Kolvenbach's Love Song (as Joan). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide