{"id":2591,"date":"2021-09-23T10:26:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T14:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tfgrs\/2021\/09\/23\/anthony-johnson-actor-known-for-friday-dies-at-55\/"},"modified":"2021-09-23T10:26:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T14:26:22","slug":"anthony-johnson-actor-known-for-friday-dies-at-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tfgrs\/2021\/09\/23\/anthony-johnson-actor-known-for-friday-dies-at-55\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Johnson, Actor Known for \u2018Friday,\u2019 Dies at 55"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mr. Johnson, whose other film credits include \u201cHouse Party\u201d and \u201cMenace II Society,\u201d died on Sept. 6, his agent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anthony
Anthony Johnson played Ezal, a drug addict and thief who unintentionally interrupts a heist, in the 1995 movie \u201cFriday,\u201d starring Ice Cube.Credit…Michael Ochs\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Johnson, an actor and comedian known for small but memorable roles in \u201cFriday,\u201d \u201cHouse Party\u201d and about two dozen other movies, died on Sept. 6. He was 55.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His death, in a hospital in Los Angeles County, Calif., was confirmed by his agent, LyNea Bell, and the county medical examiner\u2019s office; neither specified a cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Johnson is perhaps best known for playing Ezal, a drug addict and thief who unintentionally interrupts a heist, in the 1995 movie \u201cFriday,\u201d starring Ice Cube. Mr. Johnson\u2019s other film credits, sometimes as A.J. Johnson, include \u201cHouse Party\u201d (1990), \u201cMenace II Society\u201d (1993) and \u201cB.A.P.S.\u201d (1997).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Johnson was born on Feb. 1, 1966, and grew up in Compton, Calif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you made it out of Compton, you can make it anywhere,\u201d he said in a 2018 interview<\/a> with VladTV. \u201cYou had to be really careful and watch yourself back in them days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 2013 interview<\/a> for a YouTube series called \u201cConversations of an Actor,\u201d Mr. Johnson said his father, Eddie Smith, was a stuntman who worked with Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and other stars. His father, he said, helped him get his start in the industry by getting him involved in work behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe told me whenever I\u2019m on camera to always stand out, to do something on camera to make people remember me,\u201d Mr. Johnson said in the 2018 interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2013 interview, Mr. Johnson said he had never taken an acting class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s, like, real easy to act,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just put yourself in the situation that you\u2019re not in but you really want to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Johnson\u2019s survivors include his wife, Lexis, and three children, as well as a brother, Edward Smith, and a sister, Sheila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the news of Mr. Johnson\u2019s death spread on Monday, actors and performers shared memories and brief appreciations on social media. Ice Cube described Mr. Johnson on Twitter as a \u201cnaturally funny dude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapper and actor Shad Moss, who is also known by his stage name, Bow Wow, credited Mr. Johnson with helping to set his career in motion. In a video on Instagram<\/a>, he said that Mr. Johnson had been serving as the M.C. on the 1993 Chronic Tour, headlined by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, when he picked Mr. Moss out of the crowd and invited him backstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for A.J. Johnson\u2019s eyes, and then picking me out of the crowd out of 20,000 people in Ohio, I don\u2019t think there would have ever been a Bow Wow,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will truly be missed, and you\u2019re definitely going to go down in history as one of the greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to performing standup comedy and acting in movies, Mr. Johnson said in 2013 that he had also appeared in plays, and expressed a desire to return to the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like doing standup,\u201d he said. \u201cI love it. I love the theater. That\u2019s where I\u2019m going back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Johnson said that Robin Harris, an actor and comedian who also appeared in \u201cHouse Party,\u201d had helped him early in his career, including by giving one of his first shots at doing standup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did about three minutes and got booed,\u201d Mr. Johnson said in the 2013 interview. \u201cHe told me to go home and make up some jokes. I came back, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Johnson, whose other film credits include \u201cHouse Party\u201d and \u201cMenace II Society,\u201d died on Sept. 6, his agent said. Anthony Johnson, an actor and comedian known for small but memorable roles in \u201cFriday,\u201d \u201cHouse Party\u201d and about two dozen other movies, died on Sept. 6. He was 55. His death, in a hospital in Los Angeles County, Calif., was confirmed by his agent, LyNea Bell, and the county medical examiner\u2019s office; neither specified a cause. Mr. Johnson is perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t