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Philip Johnson (actor)

American actor

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ7183856
Source-derived summary

Philip Mark Johnson (born July 28, 1991 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American actor. A 2009 honors graduate of Cass Technical High School, Johnson currently attends the University of Michigan. He played the title character in the 2009 Lifetime Television film America, based on the book America by E.R. Frank. 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.

America was Johnson's first film. His previous acting experience was limited to one middle school play. 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. O'Donnell, who was in town to work on America, told Entertainment Tonight that she sensed "a soulful kind of stillness" in Johnson. 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". Johnson fitted the bill perfectly.

Editorial summary

“Philip Johnson (actor)” enters the record as american actor. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Philip, Johnson and actor can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 2009—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1991-07-28. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Philip, Johnson and actor.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Philip Johnson (actor)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Philip, Johnson and actor provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7183856. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991 and 2009.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Philip Johnson (actor)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Philip Johnson (actor) primary sources, Philip Johnson (actor) archive and Philip research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Philip Johnson (actor)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Philip Johnson (actor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.