Ariyan Annette Johnson (born April 30, 1976), credited as Ariyan Johnson, is an American actress, television director, dancer and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. Johnson is best known for her roles as Chantel Mitchell in the 1992 indie

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

'' Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.'' She also portrayed Aisha on

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

hit

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series ''

The Steve Harvey Show ''The Steve Harvey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on The WB from August 25, 1996, to February 17, 2002. It was created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan. Synopsis Steve Hightower (Steve Harvey) is a 1970s funk ...

'', only appearing in its second season (1997–98).

Early life

Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood to artistically inclined parents. Her father, a painter and educator, and her mother, an actress, dancer, and educator. Johnson attended

LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, is a public High school (North America), high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Ce ...

where she majored in dance and film. She also attended

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate a ...

Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarters to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the ...

, and 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center.

Award nomination

Johnson was nominated for the

Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead The Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead wass one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding Leading actor, lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985 with Gera ...

1994 for her role of Chantel Mitchell in the film '' Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.'' Retrieved 2016-8-12

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ariyan 1976 births Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City People from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni African-American actresses American television actresses American film actresses 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women