Donna Simone Johnson is the Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company, is an award-winning actress who works across stages, TV, film, and in voiceover. An LA native, she attended New York University and CalArts, where she received her MFA in Acting.
She is a series regular on Y’all Family, premiering this fall, and a Company Member in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2020 Season, playing Somerset in the Henry VI adaptation, “Bring Down The House, (Parts 1 & 2)”.
In addition to roles on such shows as The Inspectors (CBS), Agent X (TNT), and THE BRKDOWN (TV One), she recurred as Sandro in NETFLIX’s animated Super Drag, she starred in The Inheritors, produced by James Franco, Jessica’s Mom (or The Science of Triangles), Dream (directed by Nijla Mu’min) which premiered at the Pan African Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival and was later acquired by Issa Rae productions) and Rainbow Creatives’ HUMAN, a poetic declaration of the power and beauty of black life.
For fun, she has lent her voice and face to a myriad of commercials, including SuperBowl spots for Nike and Progressive. Additionally, she voices Stephanie in Dreamland (Amazon) and is 1/3 of the cast of much-heralded podcast PANG, a performance which The New York Times called “gut-wrenching” and “dynamic”.
Beyond working in television, film and multimedia, Donna’s truest passion is Theatre. As a 2x NAACP Theatre Award winner, she’s also worked regionally at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Pantages, Portland Center Stage, Virginia Stage, Playwrights Arena, African American Shakespeare, Co. The Broad, The Royal George, and Off-Broadway’s Union Square NYC to name a few. International credits and tours include CITIZENSHIP in Kampala, Uganda, Echoes of a Thousand Hills (alongside Mashrika and Center for New Performance, Kigali, Rwanda), and with the award-winning CLOUD 9 (RITu, Liege, Belgium).
At a time where the power of the collective is being alchemized into tangible change and liberation, Donna is energized and inspired to reimagine the mission of LA Theatre and serve as an integral part of building an arts renaissance that includes BIPOC-lead stories in the Los Angeles Theatre Community, especially South LA. @dsimonejo across all platforms for joy and activism alike!
