Anjelah Johnson Biography

Anjelah Nicole Johnson (born May 14, 1982) is an American actress, comedienne, and former NFL cheerleader. Johnson is most notable as a cast member on the series MADtv during its 13th season. Her characters included a Vietnamese nail salon employee and a rude fast food employee named Bon Qui Qui.

Career

Johnson moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to pursue a career in comedy, after a friend suggested that she join a joke writing class. She took improv classes, and quickly began to headline her own shows. Her stand-up routine comprising her impression of a Vietnamese nail salon employee received much attention on YouTube, and in 2007, Johnson joined the cast of sketch comedy show MADtv as a featured performer. Because of the impending writers strike, Johnson was often given only a few lines in the scripts during her tenure, as the writers had to produce more scripts at a faster pace. However, her character Bon Qui Qui, a fast food employee who treats customers rudely, which she wrote herself, was received well, and gained a similarly large YouTube following. In 2008, Johnson was nominated for an ALMA Award for Outstanding Female Performance in a Comedy Television Series for her work on MADtv.

Johnson was given her own one-hour Comedy Central special, "Anjelah Johnson: That's How We Do It," in 2009. She also appeared in the films Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and Our Family Wedding, and provided her voice for the live-action adaptation of Marmaduke. She was also featured on the late night talk show Lopez Tonight, hosted by George Lopez.

Johnson became the "TC Girl", a spokesperson for Mexican restaurant Taco Cabana in 2011. In 2012, Johnson became the national campaign spokesperson for the "Don't be an S.O.V." campaign led by vRide, the country's largest van pooling company, which encouraged single commuters (S.O.V.s) to rideshare, carpool, or vanpool.

In 2013, Johnson reprised her role as her MADtv character Bon Qui Qui for a skit released by Alexander Wang.

Personal life

Johnson was born and raised in San Jose, California in a devout Christian family. She is of Mexican-American and Native American descent. She was a Pop Warner cheerleader from the age of 8 and was active in soccer, softball and track. She also practiced hip hop and break dancing. She began acting as a senior in high school and was especially interested in affecting different accents. She later studied speech communications at De Anza College. She subsequently became a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders after being inducted in 2002. As a member of the Oakland Raiderettes she was named Rookie of the Year and performed at Super Bowl XXXVII.

Johnson married Group 1 Crew member Manwell Reyes in 2011.

Filmography

Movie appearances

Year	Title	Role	Box Office Performance	Director	Other notes
2007	The Box	Dianne		A.J. Kparr
2009	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel	Julie	$442,859,798	Betty Thomas
2010	Our Family Wedding	Isabel	$16,938,562	Rick Famuyiwa
2013	Enough Said

Television appearances

Year	Title	Role	Total Episodes	Other notes
2006	Love, Inc.	Female Client	1
2007	On the Up	Herself		Host of show
2007 - 2008	MADtv	Various Characters	4	Sketch Comedy
2008	Untitled Dave Caplan Pilot	Maria
2008	The Movie Preview Awards	Herself
2009	Comedy Central	Herself		Anjelah Johnson: That's how we do it
2010	Ugly Betty	Wendy		BLOB Interviewer/Bettyhead
2010	Lopez Tonight	Comedian

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Award Category	Result
2002	Oakland Raiderettes	Rookie of the year	Won
2008	ALMA Award	Outstanding Female Performance	Nominated