Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson has been married to Lezlie Brooks Johnson since September 26, 1982. They have two children.

Johnson began working in show business in 1965, acting as the sheriff's deputy in the Spanish western Brandy, directed by José Luis Borau. He spent ten years of his youth in Spain and worked as a movie extra in films including Nicholas and Alexandra and Dr. Zhivago. He also had small acting roles in Ride and Kill and The Thin Red Line.

After studying drama at the University of Virginia and film scholarship at the University of Iowa, Johnson entered the Directors Guild training program in New York. He later worked as an assistant director on Movie Movie, The Brink's Job, Escape from Alcatraz and High Anxiety.

Johnson formed Baltimore Pictures with writer-director Barry Levinson. From 1982 to 1994, Johnson produced Levinson's films through the partnership, including Diner, The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam, Tin Men, Young Sherlock Holmes, Avalon, Toys and Bugsy.

Their most prominent collaboration was Rain Man, which Johnson produced in 1988. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama. Bugsy was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama.

In 1994, Johnson founded the independent production company Gran Via Productions. Its first film, Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess, earned Johnson the Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award. He subsequently produced films including Donnie Brasco, Home Fries, Galaxy Quest, My Dog Skip, The Notebook, The Hunting Party, My Sister's Keeper and Secret in Their Eyes.

Johnson also produced The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 2005, followed by Prince Caspian in 2008 and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010. The first film received three Academy Award nominations and three BAFTA nominations, winning one award from each organization.

Johnson's professional association with Vince Gilligan began after Johnson judged a screenwriting competition won by Gilligan. Johnson later produced Gilligan's films Home Fries and Wilder Napalm, and became an executive producer of Breaking Bad.

He also served as an executive producer on The Guardian, Rectify, Halt and Catch Fire and Better Call Saul. His television credits include AMC's Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, the Netflix film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, and AMC's Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches.

Johnson produced The Holdovers, the 2023 film that reunited Paul Giamatti with director Alexander Payne after Sideways. The film received five Academy Award nominations and won the award for Best Supporting Actress for Da'Vine Joy Randolph. It also won two BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe awards for Randolph and Giamatti.

Johnson served for many years on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Producers Branch. He headed the Academy's Best Foreign Language Film Committee for seventeen years, before the category was renamed Best International Feature Film in 2020.