Joshua Johnson - "Linus " of Charlie Brown

Today, I got a chance to interviewed the "Linus" of Charlie Brown – Josh Johnson who gave the character full passion. He wants to share some of his thoughts on this live reading and his aspects of being an actor!

Q1. Can you please give us some background about yourself?

Hello, my name is Joshua. I have been acting since I was six. My elementary school did a “Chicken little the sky is falling”. They said: “We need a guy to play Turkey Lurkey!” During the performance, I was moving forward to my final line. Everyone was wearing the duck feet so I fall on my butt and the whole audience laughed. At that time, I realized that I was the one who made everyone laughed and I want to continue doing this. 

Q2. You got a B.S in biology and M.S in theartre arts plus acting arts. What made you do you rlife shift like this?   

This is a huge shift for my life. Performance is always my hobby and I did a lot of theater in my teenager years; however, I never pursued my dream. This is where my passion is and the passion can keep us alive.

Q3. Can you tell us why you choose Charlie Brown?

I love old comics; I have read Charlie Brown a lot when I was little. I think everyone can see themselves in Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown always has a lot of graves, but he gets blessed and welcomed when good things happened. I guess everyone can see their past moments in Charlie Brown. I like Linus a lot; especially how wise and innocent he is at the same time. He is always quoting like Hemmingway but also needs to hold on his blanket so tight.

Q4. What is your most favorite scene in your performance life so far? 

I did a stage called” Tallgrass Gothic”, it is a very dark drama. My character was super heck, it you look at him, he probably was doing myth. In the story, he tried to convinced Heroin: “If I do this for you, will you have sex with me?”. He also offered to kill her husband and he did. She doesn’t want to honor her bargain as he convinced her. So I was doing this with my partner. We kissed, she wrapped her legs around me when I put her down. We weren’t even the focal point but this is the first time for me to be this intense. It is very fun to show his disappointment. At the end, he found out that all he wants is her love, not her body which he only got. Then he turned this back on her and said: “You are not a diamond like I thought, you are just a piece of sand.” This is the scene I love the most, I like to play dark and intense roles because I believe there is always some humanity in them. I like to dig out these sides and show the audience my own understanding of the characters.

Q5. Is there anything else about you that you want to share with the public?

For me, I wasn't really thinking about the audience. Viola Davis, she is one of my idol, she said "When we are acting, we are talking somebody else stories." That is what I am doing, that is what I am pursuing all the time.  

I get to bring something alive. Audience is part of it, but I have to show them the story. I put myself into a totally different character to tell other's opionion and emotions. This is why I love performance so much! At some points, the audience will see themselves in the story and fell the same ways as the charaters. That is all I need from performance.