Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson’s Journey from Child Star to Voice Acting Icon

At age six, Ashley Johnson stepped onto a television soundstage for the first time, landing the role of Chrissy Seaver on ABC’s Growing Pains. That early start in 1990 set the foundation for a career that would stretch across live-action television, big-budget films, animation, and video games – making Johnson one of the most recognizable voices in American entertainment. Born on August 9, 1983, in Camarillo, California, she grew up the youngest of three children in a family with deep roots in creative work: her mother an independent film producer, her father a captain of an exploration ship.

Animation Roots – From Recess to Teen Titans

Voice acting entered Johnson’s career in the late 1990s when she took on Gretchen Grundler on Disney’s Recess, a smart, quick-talking fourth-grader whose personality stood in sharp contrast to the big live-action roles Johnson had been playing. That animated work led to more ambitious castings – Terra in Teen Titans from 2003 to 2006, a morally complex geokinetic teenager, and Gwen Tennyson across the Ben 10 franchise. These roles cemented her place in the voice acting world long before video games entered the picture.

The Last of Us – Two BAFTAs and a Career-Defining Performance

When Naughty Dog cast Johnson as Ellie in The Last of Us in 2013, the performance demand was unlike anything a video game had asked of a voice actor before. Johnson handled both voice and full motion capture for the character, delivering a portrayal that won her the BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer – a title she reclaimed in 2015 for the DLC, The Last of Us: Left Behind, making her the only person to win that award more than once. The VGX Award for Best Voice Actress and a D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Character Performance followed. In 2020, she reprised the role in The Last of Us Part II, receiving further nominations for her work.

Critical Role and Beyond

Since 2015, Johnson has been a core cast member on Critical Role, the Dungeons and Dragons actual play web series that grew from a private birthday game into a full production company with an Amazon animated spinoff. She has played Pike Trickfoot, Yasha Nydoorin, and Fearne Calloway across campaigns, and became president of the Critical Role Foundation upon its launch in 2020. Her executive producer credits on The Legend of Vox Machina mark a continued expansion beyond performing into shaping the stories themselves.

Notable Roles

• Ellie – The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind, The Last of Us Part II (2013-2020)
• Terra – Teen Titans (2003-2006) and Teen Titans Go!
• Gretchen Grundler – Disney’s Recess (1997-2001)
• Gwen Tennyson – Ben 10 franchise (2008-2014)
• Pike Trickfoot / Yasha Nydoorin / Fearne Calloway – Critical Role (2015-present)
• Tulip Olsen / Lake – Infinity Train (2019-2020)
• Patterson – Blindspot (2015-2020, live-action)