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biography
Sharlene Johnston is the oldest of 5 children. Her parents, Michael and Sharon, met at a hospital in Cincinnati OH, where both worked. (Michael was an orderly, Sharon was a nurse). The relationship was unusual for the time since Michael was black and Sharon was white - Sharon was newly moved to the US from Canada. The pair married in 1964 in Sharon's home city of Vancouver and Sharlene was born in 1966. Sharlene was followed by twin brothers Michael Jr. and Conrad two years later, Janet four years after that and the baby of the family, Lena, in 1977. Technically, Sharlene and her siblings could at anytime claim Canadian citizenship, since her mother never naturalized and recently returned to her home country. Sharon has a younger half-sister named Christina James, who moved to the US around the same time as Sharon, but became Naturalized very quickly.
Sharlene showed an interest in dancing and acting at an early age, and her parent encouraged this. She grew up being teased and bullied because of her skin color (even though her mother is white, Sharlene identifies herself as black/African-American. She was accused of stuffing the ballot box when she was voted the Homecoming Queen her senior year of high school--she was the only black girl in the entire senior class and of course, it was impossible that a black girl could be Homecoming Queen.
She decided to forgo college and moved into modeling and acting not long after finishing high school. She moved to Chicago to study acting and was cast in several series pilots, none of which really went anywhere until she was noticed by the producers of the CBS drama Knots' Landing. She played Debbie Porter over 21 episodes in two years on the drama as only the third black actor in the history of the show.
In 1994, she was cast in the role that exploded her into the public consciousness: Sally Hemings in Jefferson in Paris. Sally Hemings was Thomas Jefferson's slave. The film hinted heavily that Jefferson and Hemings were lovers and Jefferson fathered several of her children. At the time, the plotline was considered scandalous and considered fiction, something that Sharlene vehemently denied. She had researched her character completely and stated that she was proud to bring that aspect of the character to light. Later on, the claim was proven to be true and Thomas Jefferson has been genetically linked to many of Hemings' descendants.
She continued to develop her career on television. Her best-known role is Zoë Washburne, the no-nonsense First Officer on the short-lived series Firefly. She reprised the role in the 2005 movie Serenity. She has been a recurring character on several crictially acclaimed but short-lived TV series and she often parlays her TV success to land big movie roles. Her biggest movie role to-date was the iconic role of Storm in the X-Men series of movies. She had never read the comics before taking the role, but has become a very public fan of the X-Men and her alter ego. Sharlene is never one to shy away of doing her own stunts, and is known for being a bit of a daredevil.
Sharlene has often been linked romantically with her male co-stars, rumors which have always been found to be false. She has gone through two tumultous marriages: one early in her career to her Knots' Landing co-star Charles Emerson and another to stage actor Jeff Kierney, who she recently co-starred with in the movie Eagle Eye. She is noted for dating men many years younger than she is, though she had not been in a long term relationship with any of them until her most recent one.
She does remain very close friends with several former co-stars (especially her Firefly castmates) and is known to suggest them to casting directors for roles in projects she works on. She tries to remain very down to earth and gives a great deal of her time to charities and causes close to her and her family. She takes part in Revlon's annual Walk/Run for Women and the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveStrong Challenge 5K Bike Ride. She also supports the City of Hope Cancer Research Centers. She and her sister recently raised almost $500,000 for the Haitian relief effort. Sharlene also appeared on the Haitian Relief telethon. It is her goal to eventually start a charity foundation to raise money to support various causes, like cancer research, continued rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast and Haiti and to promote equality.
Her father, Michael, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. Sharlene bought her mother a $1.6 million dollar home in Shaughnessy Village, Vancouver BC. Her brothers Conrad and Michael, Jr. still reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her sisters Janet and Lena are based out of New York City, where Janet manages Lena's musical and acting career.
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ooc information
25+, EST, available mostly during the day, on the weekends or on American holidays.
I don't do well with AIM; I prefer comment-tagging, threading or Googledoc.
- if you need to contact me for plotting/storylines/scene requests
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sharlene johnston
FULL NAME: Sharlene Carol Johnston
NICKNAMES: Shar, SharJo, "Shug" (what her sisters call her)
OCCUPATION: Actress
AIM & JOURNAL: ~sharjo / sharjo soco
AGE:43
BIRTHDATE: October 12, 1966
FAMILY: Michael, Sr. (father-deceased), Sharon (mother), Michael, Jr (brother, 2 yrs younger), Conrad (brother, 2 yrs younger), Janet (sister, 4 yrs younger), Lena (sister, 11 yrs younger), Magnolia (Nola) Sloane (cousin)
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
STATUS: Divorced twice, currently dating Lee Womack
CITY OF RESIDENCE: Los Angeles, CA
PLAYED BY: Halle Berry
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credits
FILM
Rumored
Queen City (2012)
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf(2011/12)
Announced
I Can Do Bad All By Myself: April (filming to start late fall 2010, release in 2011)
Completed/Filming
The Karate Kid: Sherry Parker (announced; filming begins August 2010, release date 2011)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Queenie (post-production, November 25, 2010 release date)
Eagle Eye: Zoe Perez (2010)
I Think I Love My Wife (2007): Brenda Cooper
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006): Ororo Munroe/Storm
Serenity (2005): Zoë Washburne
X-Men 2: X-Men United (2003): Storm/Ororo Munroe
X-Men (2000): Ororo Munroe/Storm
Bed of Roses (1996): Francine
Jefferson in Paris (1995): Sally Hemings
TELEVISON
Lead Role
"Firefly": Zoë Washburne (2002-2003)
"Cleopatra 2525": Helen "Hel" Carter (2000-2001)
Guest Starring/Recurring Roles
"The Vampire Diaries": Bree (1 episode, 2010)
"The Unit": Sgt. Natasha Andrews (1 episode, 2009)
"Pushing Daisies": Lila Robinson (1 episode, 2009)
"Dirty Sexy Money": Princess Ama (2 episodes, 2007 & 2009)
"Criminal Minds": Detective Salinas (1 episode, 2008)
"Bones": Dr. Toni Ezralow (1 episode, 2008)
"Boston Legal": A.D.A. Mary Franklin (1 episode, 2008)
"Alias": Anna Espinosa (6 episodes, 2001-2006)
"Hercules: The Legendary Journeys": Nebula (9 episodes, 1997-1999)
"Xena: Warrior Princess": Cleopatra (1 episode, 1997)
“Dark Angel”: LaMayne (TV Movie, 1996)
"One Life to Live": Magdalena (17 episodes, 1995-1996)
"Knots Landing": Debbie Porter (21 episodes, 1991-1992)
VOICE WORK
"Justice League": Vixen (5 episodes, 2004-2006)
The Matrix Online: Niobe (Video Game voice, 2005)
Robots: Cappy (2005)
SPOKEMODELING
Past Campaigns include: Versace
Current Spokesmodel for Revlon
AWARDS
2007: For X-Men: The Last Stand People's Choice Awards: Favorite Female Action Hero
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random facts
 is mixed race, though she has always identified herself as being black.
was accused of having the ballot box of her high school stuffed in order for her to win Homecoming Queen her senior year of high school. Eventually, she went on to share the crown with the first runner up, even after she proved there was no foul play.
has been married twice: to a much older co-star, Charles Emerson, from Knots' Landing from 1996 to 1998. There were allegations of spousal abuse in her first marriage that she has never confirmed. Her second marriage was to Jeff Kierney, a Broadway actor who was starting to transition into film and television lasted from 2000 to 2004. The marriage officially ended while she was filming Serenity.
is dating Lee Womack, who played her husband Hoban 'Wash' Washburne in both Firefly and the spin off movie Serenity, and has been dating him sine December of 2009. Their long-time relationship has fans among hardcore Firefly/Serenity devotees and have been nicknamed 'JoMack' in the press. Sharlene and Lee would frequently attend industry events together and were close friends before dating, spawning many rumors about them being an item.
is very close to her first cousin Nola Sloane. Nola's mother is Sharlene's aunt Christina, her mother's younger sister. Christina became a naturalized American citizen when she first came to the US, then relocated to England with her husband, Harold.
She won the role of Zoë Washburne in Firefly by arriving to her audition in her costume for Hel from Cleopatra: 2025. She had been considered too 'pretty' and 'girly' to play the hard-nosed Zoë and rejected at first. Sharlene and Lee were recently named #2 in a poll of top couples in science-fiction movies, topped only by Han Solo and Leia Organa Skywalker from Star Wars.
passed up a chance to take the role of Niobe in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions because of scheduling conflicts. She did do the voice-over work for Niobe in the 2005 video game.
is known for refusing to endorse products she herself would not use. Likes to shop at local drugstores or retail stores. Since she does not have a personal assistant. She is often snapped frequenting Duane Reed and other stores and doing her own shopping and errands.
has been an outspoken advocate for equal marriage rights in recent years and recently severed her ties with her long time agency William Morris because of it. Did extensive campaigning for now President Barack Obama and occasionally toys with the idea of a career in politics after she finishes her acting career.
is an avid golfer. She was introduced to the game by her X-Men3 co-star Milo Weston.
does charity work, but mostly very quietly and in private, except for a few key causes. Is a member of the NAACP and the Lance Armstrong Foundation; she also supports the Courage Campaign, an organization trying to overthrow the legistation banning same-sex marriage in the state of California.
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