Michelle Johnston is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 dancer and actress. She rose up the ranks from chorus gypsy to choreographer

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 of film and TV and featured performer herself.

She got her first break in 1982 as a dancer in One from the Heart

One from the Heart

One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...

, directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...

, and then danced with John Travolta

John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

 in Staying Alive

Staying Alive

Staying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey...

(1983). Two years later, she was chosen by choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday

Jeffrey Hornaday

Jeffrey Hornaday is an American choreographer and film director.Hornaday's choreography credits include the films Flashdance, A Chorus Line, Dick Tracy, D.C. Cab, Romancing the Stone, Tango & Cash, Life Stinks, Carlito's Way, Sweet Jane, and Neil Simon's The Marrying Man...

 as a dancer in A Chorus Line

A Chorus Line (film)

A Chorus Line is a 1985 musical film directed by Richard Attenborough, starring Michael Douglas. The screenplay by Arnold Schulman is based on the Tony Award-winning book of the 1975 stage production of the same name by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante...

, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

. Johnston became Bebe Benson, singing "At the Ballet", and also assisted Hornaday on the film. She went on to become Hornaday's assistant choreographer on Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's Who's That Girl Tour, on the Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 film Captain EO

Captain EO

Captain EO is a 3-D science fiction film starring Michael Jackson and directed by Francis Ford Coppola that was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s...

, and on various music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s. Johnston then assisted Hornaday on Dick Tracy, and danced in the film as well.

She began choreographing on her own with an episode of Tales from the Crypt

Tales from the Crypt (TV series)

Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...

in 1990, and, when Hornaday was chosen to direct Shout

Shout (film)

Shout is a 1991 film starring John Travolta as a music teacher who introduces rock and roll to a west Texas home for boys in 1955. Travolta was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor....

, a John Travolta vehicle, he gave Johnston the nod to choreograph the film on her own—the plot offered the story of a fugitive hired as a music teacher in a Texas town. She also plead a lead role of a dancer in the independent comedy, California Casanova (1991 film). Johnston went on to choreograph an episode of Great Scott! on Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 in 1992, as well as the Ray Liotta

Ray Liotta

[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...

 film, Article 99

Article 99

Article 99 is a 1992 American dramatic film written by Ron Cutler and directed by Howard Deutch. It was produced by Orion Pictures and starred Kiefer Sutherland, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Rutanya Alda and Lea Thompson...

that same year. Also a singer as well as a dancer, Johnston was a mere 17 years old when she toured Japan performing and choreographing a stage show. Hornaday has directed her in a music video, "[Here Comes My Baby-1999] ",at the Pink Motel.She has also performed in the 1995 film Showgirls

Showgirls

Showgirls is a 1995 American drama film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, and Gina Gershon...

, and, that same year, made a straight comic performance as a Sears

Sears, Roebuck and Company

Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...

 salesperson in Grumpier Old Men

Grumpier Old Men

Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 romantic comedy film, and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men. The film stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert...

.

She is training the top 21 contestants in an Indian dance show along with the King of Dance in India, Hrithik Roshan. The show is called Just Dance!

External links