My name is Jessica Johnson, and my greatest personal accomplishment is learning to love my hair. When I was little, I had Shirley Temple-like bouncy blonde curls, but around the time I turned 7, it went through a Kafkaesque metamorphosis; it got longer, thicker, courser, and frizzed out to a mousey brown mess. Worse yet, about that time I started competitive rhythmic gymnastics and had to have it up in a bun for meets. It was torture for me and for my mom, who is Jewish and had a head of gorgeous black ringlets. I begged her to let me cut or dye it back to blonde like my very Scandinavian father, but she always refused, saying it was “perfect”. By the time I was 10, I’d nagged her persistently enough that she finally relented. I immediately got bangs and a perm. It looked awful, but it was the beginning of my journey of self-acceptance via my hair-style.

As I got older and wiser, I realized my mom was actually right about my hair being “perfect”, because I could use it as a tool for creating my own personal narrative. The color and texture allow it to take and hold any cut, color or product really well, and the fact that it grows twice as fast as other people’s hair means I’ve been able to try out a look, keep it for a while and then change it up to something different without dire consequences. I’ve had it down to my waist in its natural texture and color, which was once described as “granola earth-mother natural hot”, a quarter-inch long and dyed black with blonde frosted tips, which earned me the nickname “pixie”, and every length, style and color in between. The greatest thing about it is, no matter what I do with it, it always reflects my outwardly fun adventurous personality, and my honest, kind and driven inner nature.

I now know that my hair is actually a pretty apt metaphor for who I am as an actor. I come from a solid base of knowing and loving who I am, which I've earned through lots of struggle, trial and error. I’m always willing to go all-in and take any and all risks for a role, and to collaborate, adapt and make changes with my artistic team during the creative process to communicate the vision and message of our project.

I’m looking forward to seeing what story you, me and my hair will tell together.