Kimmarie Johnson

Kimmarie Johnson was born Kim Marie Johnson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest child of Edward Frank Johnson and Caroline Ella Johnson. She was raised in Wilkinsburg, a borough on Pittsburgh's eastern edge, and later described her beginnings as "very humble", adding that she had seen bad things in her neighbourhood.

Her parents separated when she was about ten years old. She, her mother and her two brothers then lived with her maternal grandmother, Eleanor Elizabeth Taliaferro West, and afterwards with various relatives. As a teenager she became a surrogate mother to her oldest brother's infant daughter, Rhonda Deneen Johnson, a family bond later profiled by The Bakersfield Californian.

Her exact birth year is reported inconsistently. Wikipedia gives 8 April 1976, other published profiles give earlier years, and her family told TMZ she was 50 when she died. People Forever has not set a birth date until it can be confirmed.

Johnson attended Wilkinsburg High School. In her senior year she completed the Youth Competencies Program, a job skills course run by the Allegheny County Department of Federal Programs that was covered by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She was named homecoming queen in high school and again in college.

She studied elementary education and child psychology at California University of Pennsylvania, now part of Pennsylvania Western University. Later, in Los Angeles, she trained as an actress with Janet Alhanti in the studio of Margie Haber, took dance classes at several studios and studied improvisation at The Groundlings.

Modelling and pageants. After college Johnson moved to New York City and worked as a flight attendant on international routes. She was signed by Docherty, a Pittsburgh modelling agency, and modelled for Vidal Sassoon, Oscar de la Renta and United Colors of Benetton. Spotting a newspaper advertisement for Miss Pennsylvania USA, she entered with no pageant experience and won. As Miss Pennsylvania USA 1993 she competed at Miss USA 1993 in Wichita, Kansas, on 19 February 1993 and placed in the top six.

Acting. She moved to Los Angeles in 1996, modelling for the California Market Center and Lady Foot Locker while working at the El Rey Theatre. Her screen work included Let's Talk About Sex (1998), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1998, as Judy in "The Following Options"), V.I.P. (2000), Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Carman: The Champion (2001), 1st Testament CIA Vengeance (2001), Shadow Fury (2001), Spanish Fly (2003), Wanda at Large (2003), Gang Warz (2004), Break a Leg (2005), Diary of a Tired Black Man (2008), Legacy (2010), The Summer of Massacre (2011) and Tucker's War (2017). From 2007 to 2010 she took lead stage roles in Los Angeles, including The Dark Side of the Moon at The Next Stage, The Puppet Show and an adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Producing. She was executive producer of Young Man Kang's The Last Eve (2005), which won Best Action Feature Film at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival and Best Cinematography at the New York B Movie Film Festival, and of the television film Kimchi Warrior (2010).

Business. In 2011 she founded SkinGlow by Kimmarie, a natural skincare and beauty company based on Hollywood Boulevard. Its first product, Ori Shea Butter, launched in September 2012, followed by a coffee detox scrub, an oatmeal soap and marula oil. She continued to model and walk runways, and was the cover model for Grazia Slovenia in August 2026.

Johnson's son, Cameron Nino, was born in 2003, seven days after her oldest brother died. Her mother, Caroline Ella Johnson, died of cancer in 2004, about four months later. Johnson paused her career for several years to raise her son, who went on to perform as a musician under the name NINO.

She lived in Los Angeles for three decades but kept close ties to Pittsburgh. A friend recalled visiting the August Wilson African American Cultural Center with her in Pittsburgh a few months before her death.

Johnson championed an organic, preventative approach to skincare and said her company gave her a way to talk with women about their health as well as their appearance. Having had no mentor herself, she said she made a point of guiding young women, because "there are so many things that can be avoided if you know what they are."

Johnson is remembered as a Wilkinsburg girl who went from a newspaper pageant advertisement to the Miss USA finals and a long career in Hollywood film, television, theatre and modelling, and who built her own beauty business. News of her death was carried by TMZ, Page Six, the New York Post, The Independent, the Daily Mail, PennLive and Spanish language outlets, with Beverly Hills, 90210 fans noting her among the show's alumni who have died.

Miss Pennsylvania USA 1993, and a top six finalist at Miss USA 1993. Homecoming queen at Wilkinsburg High School and again in college. Named actress of the month by the Independent Filmmakers Alliance in 2006. The Last Eve, which she executive produced, won Best Action Feature Film at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival and Best Cinematography at the New York B Movie Film Festival.

Film: Let's Talk About Sex (1998), Vallery's Secret (2000), Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Carman: The Champion (2001), 1st Testament CIA Vengeance (2001), Shadow Fury (2001), Spanish Fly (2003), Gang Warz (2004), Break a Leg (2005), Diary of a Tired Black Man (2008), Legacy (2010), The Summer of Massacre (2011).

Television: Beverly Hills, 90210 (1998), V.I.P. (2000), Talk of the Town (2000), Wanda at Large (2003), Korean Report: Young Man Kang Goes to Hollywood (2004, as herself), Tucker's War (2017).

Producer: The Last Eve (2005), Kimchi Warrior (2010).

She was interviewed on The Stephen Savage Show, on K Popcorn Radio LA with Young Man Kang, and by Voyage LA magazine.

On 27 October 2026 Johnson suffered a heart event at her home in Los Angeles and was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with a heart aneurysm condition, according to her niece Rhonda Scott, who spoke to TMZ. She died peacefully on the afternoon of Wednesday 4 November 2026 after her heart stopped beating. Her family gave her age as 50. Funeral arrangements have not been made public.