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Bio – Kyra Belle Johnson, 2015-2016
(3 pages)
Media/Publicity contact: Marla Diann 310-378-1277 [email protected]
Seventeen-year-old Kyra Belle Johnson didn’t know where she was going to college.
Auditioning across the country for a spot in several university musical theater departments, she
found herself on a few wait lists and nervously anticipating her next move. Now, those plans will
have to wait….the 2015 Palos Verdes High School graduate is playing a lead role in
the Mamma Mia! national tour.
To quote the Abba classic, Thank You for the
Music, Kyra has been “singing before she
could talk and dancing before she could walk.”
She honed her skills singing, dancing, and
acting at the 450 seat Norris Center for the
Performing Arts in southern California as well
as her high school drama department.
Tap dancing as young as 5 on the Norris
stage, Kyra landed her first role as the Jester
in “Once Upon a Mattress,” and broke out her comedy in “Dear Edwina” as Fairy Forkmother,
both directed by Alexis Carra. Her first lead was the signature role in Annie, playing the plucky
11-year-old orphan. Surprisingly, her next lead role would be 9 months later, but she aged up –
playing 22-year-old Millie Dillmount in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”
In the past 4 years Kyra has been cast as the ingénue…the indomitable girl…Dorothy “WIZ”,
Reno Sweeny “Anything Goes”, Elle Woods “Legally Blonde”, Fiona “Shrek”, Gabriella “High
School Musical”, and Kate Monster “Avenue Q”, which was possibly her favorite musical
comedy role.
Kyra loved Palos Verdes High School, and is thankful for the experiences she had there. “We
had a student body that let everyone shine in their own way and we all supported one another’s
passions.”
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Kyra was honored as 2014 Best Actress of the Year at the
annual John Raitt Awards (JRAYs) at Plummer
Auditorium in Fullerton for the role of Princess
Fiona in “Shrek! The Musical” performed in 2014 at
her Palos Verdes High School stage. That role was
her third consecutive spring musical. More than 1,000
high school students from all over Orange and Los
Angeles counties compete in the John Raitt Awards each
year. (Photo credit: Jana Wallace Photography © 2015)
As part of the award, she was flown to New York for an intensive one-week workshop in voice,
acting and dance at Broadway Artists Alliance before performing in a showcase for Broadway
casting directors. The prestigious JRAY award was followed by another JRAY nomination for
Best Actress for her lead role as Kate Monster in Avenue Q. Kyra was then awarded at a Senior
Acting Scholarship at the 2015 CETA Festival.
The audition process for Mamma Mia! lasted
just 4 days in Los Angeles. “I kept getting called
back, and my Dad was more worried about my
missing school than actually landing a role.”
She found out she’d been cast as Sophie in
April, but she couldn’t tell anyone. “There were
contracts to sign and a whole lot of things to
settle, and I needed to adjust to the idea that I
wouldn’t be going to college just yet” she said.
(Photo credit: MAMMA MIA! Tour: (L to R) Kat Borrelli, Kyra Belle Johnson, and Christina Eskridge from
the MAMMA MIA! North American Tour, Photo by Joan Marcus, 2015
This is the first time the role has been played by an actress the same age as the character, and
Kyra is honored that the production team has trusted her with this responsibility.
Mamma Mia! premiered Oct 25, 2015 in Utica, New York ending in June 2016.
Her local community will have the opportunity to share in the excitement of her leading role
when Mamma Mia! performs on the iconic stage of Hollywood Pantages Theater in Los
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Angeles January 26-31, 2016, another dream come true for the young talent with a big future.
As the Abba tune says…“I have a dream, a song to sing…”
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