Kristen Johnston Biography

Kristen Johnston (born September 20, 1967) is an American stage, film, and television actress. She is most famous for her two-time Emmy Award-winning 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. She currently appears as Holly Franklin in the sitcom The Exes.

Early life

Johnston is of English ancestry and was born in Washington, D.C. Johnston was raised mostly in Fox Point, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, where she attended St. Eugene's Catholic Grade School and Whitefish Bay High School. She spent some of her teen years 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. She teaches acting at New York University.

She has 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 Theater, 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. She starred in the series from 1996 to 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.

Johnston appeared in the sixth and final season of Sex and the City. In the episode entitled "Splat!", her character, Lexi Featherston, an aging party girl, accidentally falls out of a window and dies (after saying, "I'm so bored I could die."), prompting Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) to re-examine her life. In 2005 Johnston 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 appeared in a recurring role in the 2009 season of Ugly Betty and had a single episode appearance as a dominatrix in the second season opener of Bored to Death.

Since 2009 she has taught acting at NYU. She also mentors local girls from New York City on self-esteem issues. She appears in The Exes, which debuted on TV Land on November 30, 2011, and airs on Wednesday nights at 10:30 p.m. She recently appeared in Amy Heckerling's Vamps.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Orkly Kid	Unknown	Short film
1992	Amazonia	Unknown	Short film
1993	The Debt	Alice Kosnick	Short film
1995	Backfire!	Kate
1998	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Ivana Humpalot
2000	The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas	Wilma Slaghoople
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Dancer	Uncredited
2007	Music and Lyrics	Rhonda
2009	Bride Wars	Deb
2009	Finding Bliss	Irene Fox
2011	Life Happens	Francesca
2012	Vamps	Mrs. Van Helsing
2012	Bad Parents	Tracy
2013	Lovesick		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Chicago Hope	Dr. Wendy Smythe	Episode: "Genevieve and Fat Boy"
1994	The 5 Mrs. Buchanans	Zena	Episode: "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Buchanans"
1995	Hearts Afire	Margot	Episode: "John and Georgie's Not-So-Excellent Adventure"
1996	London Suite	Grace Chapman	TV movie
1996-2001	3rd Rock from the Sun	Sally Solomon	139 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1997, 1999) Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1997-1999)
1997	Microscopic Milton	Narrator	TV movie
2004	Sex and the City	Lexi Featherston	Episode: "Splat!"
2004	ER	Dr. Eve Peyton	6 episodes
2005	Strangers with Candy	Coach Divers	TV movie
2007	Kim Possible	Warmonga	3 episodes
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Francie	Episode: "Too Close for Christine"
2009-2010	Ugly Betty	Helen	3 episodes
2010	Bored to Death	Mistress Florence	Episode: "Escape from the Dungeon!"
2011-present	The Exes	Holly Franklin	22 episodes
2013	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself	2 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Lights	Rose	Nominated-Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
2001-2002	The Women	Sylvia
2004	Aunt Dan and Lemon	Aunt Dan
2004	The Baltimore Waltz	Anna
2004	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice
2004	The Skin of Our Teeth	Sabina
2007	Scarcity	Martha
2006-2007	Love Song	Unknown
2007-2009	So Help Me God	Lily Darnley	Nominated-Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (2007, 2010)
2008	The Understudy	Theresea Rebeck

Autobiography

• 2012: Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster., Gallery Books, ISBN 978-1451635065