Introducing... Donna Simone Johnson

Donna Simone Johnson was born and raised in Los Angeles by an actress and an artist, and garned an impressive resume of plays, commercials and television shows by the time she was ten years old, earning her the role of Young Nala in "The Lion King" at the Pantages. In 2003, she was one of 500 young artists named a California Arts Scholar, and given a full scholarship to study acting at California State Summer School for the Arts at CalArts. There, she flourished under the training of Michael Fields, Dellarte's Rich Bianco, Sherry Tschernisch, Paul McCarty, Suzanne Esper, Cal Pritner, and other esteemed teaching artists.

She then went on to New York, where she created the role of D'ani in the nefarious thriller HEADS OR TAILS at Union Square. Other stage credits include the regional tours of LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE by Warren Doody, Disney's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2, WINGS LIKE EAGLES which opened at the Wilshire Ebell, MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN by Ntozake Shange which opened at the Royal George and THE GINGHAM DOG by Lanford Wilson which opened at the Curran. Los Angeles productions include TWELFTH NIGHT (Olivia), THE CHERRY ORCHARD at Theatricum Botanicum, THE BOYS NEXT DOOR and TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES by Anna Deavere Smith for which she was nominated for an NAACP Theatre Grant. Film/TV credits include Disney's "High School Musical 3," and "For One Night," "Controlled, "Shank" and in the acclaimed film "Deddon," which was selected by the 2009 Beverly Hills Film Festival and the San Diego Black Film Festival among others.

Donna Simone is a graduate of the New York Film Academy, earned a BA in Theater Performance from Vanguard University and is currently pursuing her MFA in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts