“The Last of Us” voice actress Ashley Johnson began her career in Hollywood as a child actress, playing the role of Chrissy Seaver on the final two seasons of the ABC sitcom “Growing Pains” from 1990 to 1992. On a recent episode of the Weird Kids podcast, Johnson revealed that he was once almost kidnapped by a fan after a live taping of his show (via
“That was the first year I joined and we had only done a couple of movie nights,” Johnson said. “So, I hadn’t done that many productions yet, and back then the whole cast had trailers, and they were like old camper trailers, not like the fancy trailers you have now. It was great. Before we shot, we’d come out of the trailer and the audience would come in, so we’d walk past the audience before we went into the studio.”
Johnson said the studio was not equipped with metal detectors or other safety measures that are now common in Hollywood. For example, when an actor enters the set, the studio audience can only get “within 5 feet” of the actor.
“Someone wrote a letter saying, ‘I’m going to come on set and take a gun and kill some of the cast,'” Johnson continued. “So I remember walking with my mom and a guy jumped out of the line and grabbed me and picked me up and started booking me. And all I remember is that after a while somehow the security guard came up on him.”
Security guards arrested Phan, but Johnson recalled that she was “flying through the air” as they struggled to free her. The kidnappers had a gun pointed at him, the actor recalled.
“I had no idea what was going on, but I was so upset that they talked to me about it afterwards, and they were like, ‘Are you OK?’ So I just said, ‘I think it’s going to be tough,'” Johnson said. “Because I think I was a very polite kid back then. I think he was running away with me. I thought, ‘Sir, who are you? What’s your name? I’d love to meet you.’ ‘But he was packing. This was the thing. It wasn’t meth, but it was something — he was so strong.
Johnson made her television debut in “Growing Pains” and continued to be active on the small screen, appearing in short-lived series such as “Phenom” and “Maybe This Time.” She turned to voice acting at a young age, appearing in the 40-episode animated series Jumanji, and would continue to do this throughout her career. She is the voice of Ellie in The Last of Us video game series and is a two-time BAFTA Game Award winner.
Following “Growing Pains,” Johnson reprized her role as Chrissy Seaver in the 2000 film “Growing Pains Movie” and the 2004 sequel “Growing Pains: Return of Seaver.”
