Anjelah Johnson

Anjelah Nicole Johnson (born May 14, 1982) is an American actress, comedienne, and former NFL cheerleader. Johnson is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv during its 13th Season. Her characters include a Vietnamese nail salon employee and a rude fast food employee named Bon Qui Qui. --- Johnson was born and raised in San Jose, California in a devout Christian family. She is of Mexican-American and Native American descent. She was a Pop Warner cheerleader from the age of 8 and was active in sports including soccer, softball and track. She also practiced various dancing styles, such as hip hop and break dancing. She began acting as a senior in high school and was especially interested in affecting different accents. She later studied speech communications in college. She subsequently became a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders after being inducted in 2002. As a member of the Oakland Raiderettes she was named Rookie of the year and performed in Super Bowl XXXVII. After three years of college, Johnson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an entertainment career. She decided to become a comedian in 2005 and began doing stand-up comedy after a friend suggested that she join a joke writing class. Prior to that she had been working as an actress in Los Angeles and was taking improv classes in church. She quickly began to headline her own shows after being a featured comedian in just three shows. As a featured comedian, the comedy clubs that hired her gave her preferential treatment over even the headliners after noticing that her routines were popular with the audiences. Her stand-up routine comprising her impression of a Vietnamese nail salon employee received much attention on YouTube, and a year after beginning her stand-up career, in 2007, Johnson joined the cast of sketch comedy show MADtv, as a featured performer. Because of the impending writers strike, Johnson was often given only a few lines in the scripts during her tenure on the show, as the writers had to produce more scripts at a faster pace and thus opted to write more for the already established performers. However, her character Bon Qui Qui, a fast food employee who treats customers rudely, which she wrote herself was received well. The clip made its way to YouTube where it gained a large following, quickly outstripping her already popular nail salon routine in views. In 2008, Johnson was nominated for an ALMA Award for Outstanding Female Performance in a Comedy Television Series for her work on MADtv. --- Johnson married Group 1 Crew member Manwell Reyes in 2011.