![]() ![]() In the movie, Johnson's younger brother, Steven Johnson, played the same character at age 10. Johnson impressed the cast and crew with his spot-on reading and was given the role. O'Donnell invited Johnson to audition for the lead role the next day. O'Donnell's casting crew had seen almost 200 children for the role, but was still undecided, because the boy needed to be "vulnerable, fragile, wounded, broken and non-presentational". O'Donnell, who was in town to work on America, told Entertainment Tonight that she sensed "a soulful kind of stillness" in Johnson. Johnson was discovered by two of the executive producers of America, Rosie O'Donnell and Larry Santisky, at a Detroit coffee shop called Small Plates. His previous acting experience was limited to one middle school play. Acting opposite Rosie O'Donnell and Ruby Dee, Johnson portrayed a troubled teenager placed in a youth treatment facility after attempting suicide who struggled to work through his traumatic past experiences with foster care and sexual abuse. He played the title character in the 2009 Lifetime Television film America, based on the book America by E.R. ![]() ![]() A 2009 honors graduate of Cass Technical High School, Johnson currently attends the University of Michigan. Philip Mark Johnson (born Jin Detroit, Michigan) is an American actor. ![]()
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