Johnny Sparks

Johnny was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. He attended Shawnee Mission South High School where he met Mark Swezey whose mentorship, decency and impeccably curated drama program there provided the most firm foundation any actor could ever hope for. He then attended Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts where he did a lot of listening as he was surrounded by the smartest assembly of theater artists he has ever known. While there he appeared (in drag) in the Greer Garson Theater's inaugural production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and on the same stage two years later in the title role of Hamlet. That spring he was spotted by the Chair of the #3 drama program in the US and offered acceptance which he ultimately declined opting to audition for Earle Gister; widely considered to be the foremost teacher of acting in the country at the Yale School of Drama. He then admitted in the room to not being good enough to be accepted, reapplied only to Yale a year later and got in. While there he was awarded the Mark Fusco Scholarship, grew more than all of his peers according to Gister and told "I have nothing left to teach you" by his professor of Shakespearean acting. After Yale came New York and a primary focus on high concept/low tech productions with powerhouse theater companies of modest means. He appeared in Micheal Kimmel's (The Last Goodbye, Williamstown) production of Marat/Sade, Nirvanov (a fusion of Chekhov's Ivanov with the life and career of Kurt Cobain) and as Claudius in a site specific production of Hamlet in the cellar of a Bushwick opera house (with an open bar, no less). He appeared in Law & Order, the title role in one episode of CBS's cyber-action drama Person of Interest and opposite Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia under the astute (not to mention graceful and kind) direction of Nora Ephron.