The Heartbreaking Death Of Actor Anthony Johnson
Both TMZ and The Wrap have confirmed that actor and comedian Anthony Johnson (aka AJ Johnson) died earlier this September 2021. Johnson, who was 55 at the time of his death, had racked up over 45 actor credits as per IMDb. He is perhaps better known for playing parts like Ezal in "Friday" and Tony in "Menace II Society." Johnson recently told Hip Hop News Uncensored that he was waiting to hear if he would be cast in a possible fourth installment in the "Friday" franchise, "Last Friday" (via YouTube).
Johnson, who was from Compton, California, reflected to VladTV in a 2018 interview that "if you made it out of Compton, you could make it anywhere" (via YouTube). He grew up in the show business, watching his father, a stuntman who started The Black Stuntmen's Association, perform on movie sets alongside the likes of Eddie Murphy. After his father became a background casting director, Johnson started getting small roles in the entertainment industry as a background performer. His career took off not long after.
Anthony Johnson cause of death has yet to be confirmed
At the time of this writing, it's still unclear how AJ Johnson died. Johnson's nephew allegedly confirmed to TMZ that the actor was taken to a hospital after being found "lifeless" in a Los Angeles store earlier this September. He was subsequently confirmed dead.
In a 2020 interview with Self Made, Anthony Johnson looked back fondly on working with Halle Berry on the 1997 comedy "B.A.P.S" (via YouTube). "There ain't too many people that can say that," Johnson told the media outlet. "She is gorgeous ... she is real people."
Tributes to Johson's career are flooding Twitter. "When you watched Black Movies, Stand-Ups and Black Sitcoms in the 90s and some films in the early 2000s , Anthony Johnson was there," wrote one Twitter mourner. "He understood the assignment of his supporting roles and made sure you laughed each time" (via Twitter). "Insanely sad—Anthony Johnson was criminally underrated," tweeted another. "Man was a part of so many of our classics," wrote a third via tweet.