One of four children, Johnson grew up in Elmira, Ontario and started experimenting with film and media in his final year of high school.
Johnson was in the running for school president when he and two friends made a Saturday Night Live inspired video featuring Supermarket Sweep host Tino Monte.
[2][1] J. J. Johnson attended Ryerson University's RTA School of Media and graduated in 2002 along with fellow Sinking Ship Entertainment founders, Blair Powers and Matt Bishop.
[1] On November 23, 2014, Sinking Ship Entertainment announced they would be co-producing Odd Squad along with Fred Rogers Productions for PBS Kids.
[10][11][12] Previously, Johnson had worked alongside Apple TV+ and Sesame Workshop to produce the reboot of the 1990's kids series Ghostwriter.