Bio
Johnny Ray Gill is an American actor best known for his recurring role as Damien Winslow in the legal comedy-drama television series Harry's Law, since 2011.
It was his first major screen acting role.
After graduating with honours and as Student Body President from Jefferson High School, Johnny went to USC as a screenwriting student. After a year he transferred to Temple University, in Philadelphia, where he began as a Film and African American Studies double major.
However, at Temple, Johnny was truly bitten by the performance bug. Johnny is a spoken word poet and a meeting with Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon transformed his love for performance poetry into a full fledged dive into acting.
He spent the rest of his undergraduate career balancing the rigours of film production and training as an actor.
After graduating, Johnny auditioned for the top three MFA programs in the country: The Yale School of Drama, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and UC San Diego to continue his training. Johnny chose UC San Diego and after a graduate school process achieved a Master's degree.
Though an academic scholar, Johnny began a screenwriting internship with Mike Rich, the writer of several features including Finding Forrester & Invincible.
Johnny completed his first short entitled My Turtle's Name is Dudley, which he wrote and directed. This debut screened at film festivals such as the Hollywood Black Film Festival and Hollyshorts, and won the $10,000 grand prize at the Hayden International Film Festival.
Johnny is also one of the winners of the My76Video Contest where he wrote, directed, and starred in a series of commercials for 76 Gasoline. His commercials were so well received that they were commissioned by 76's parent company ConocoPhillips and distributed nationally.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, his birthday is 26 August.