Born and raised in Lyndhurst, New Jersey,[1] Johnsen is a general contractor, and he has a son with his wife Gianna Caruso, his high school sweetheart.

Both Wayne and Gianna have been inducted into the Hall of Fame at St. Mary High School in Rutherford, New Jersey,[2] her for softball and him for football.

[citation needed] Johnsen (16-1) won a unanimous decision recently on the under-card of the WBA Championship fight between Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah.

[3] He was one of the featured boxers on the boxing reality television series, The Contender 3, which premiered September 4, 2007 on ESPN.

Johnsen lost the Bronze medal match versus Sam Soliman to finish in 4th place in the tournament.