What do you want to be when you grow up?

The response to the question every student tries to answer throughout their lives came easy to 2018 Coppell High School alumni Macy Johnson, who knew right away that theater was where she needed to be. 

“[Johnson] is working so hard in what she loves to do and is creating good work at Baylor,” CHS 2018 alumni and former CHS Theater student Mark Beshai said. “[She is] very open and trusting which allows her to do great work. I see her going far.”

Johnson’s love for theater began in the CHS Auditorium, where she starred in musicals such as “42nd Street” during her junior year and “The Addams Family” in her senior year. The atmosphere of the program played a major role in her decision to become a theater major at Baylor University.

“CHS theater is where I met some of my best friends, but more importantly, it’s where I met people who could show me what a performer looks like,” Johnson said. “It was a very welcoming environment that I needed at the time. The love I felt in the program was a big part of what drove me into the arts.”

Her enthusiasm for theater led her to her first job in the field of voice acting her junior year. Johnson took a voice acting class at a studio and was quickly recognized for her natural talent. According to Backstage, an online job resource for actors, breaking into a voice acting career is challenging. Many budding voice actors need agents, demo reels and several professional classes to be deemed qualified for a job. 

Johnson made it onto their audition list and despite not getting a part, decided to continue auditioning until she landed a role. Thirty or so auditions later, Johnson was offered a job playing Dreadful Doll Izanami in the video game Smite. This, Johnson soon found out, would be the jump start she needed to fuel a prosperous career in the field. 

“It’s truly inspiring to see her doing what she loves and being so successful at such a young age,” said her brother, CHS sophomore Colton Johnson. “[I support her by] watching the shows and movies where she gets big roles and putting up with all the late night voice recording sessions.”

To remain on the radar of many important coworkers and directors, Johnson makes a point of following them on social media and making herself as available as possible for any jobs that might come her way. During her search for new work opportunities, a friend pointed her in the direction of a director who worked on anime. Johnson sent her a small clip of her work on Smite and soon after was invited to do an open audition and has since made a name for herself in the anime field of voice acting.

“For me, voice acting is very special because it allows you to isolate one of the most powerful tools an actor has,” Johnson said. “Working with anime specifically is interesting because the content has already existed in Japanese and your job is to make sure the emotion and the message get across the same way.”

Today, Johnson has a hefty list of experience to put on her resume, with more than 30 credits on her IMDb page. She has worked on several major shows like “Magical Girl Raising Project” and “Black Clover”, as well as played Yoshiko Hiiraji in the movie Human Lost and Ann in One Piece: Stampede. Her jobs do require her to travel to Dallas, which Johnson notes has substantial amount of opportunities for voice acting.

Johnson’s talent extends beyond voice acting. This semester, Baylor University is focusing on playwriting. She entered a contest called Play in a Day, where each student submits scripts they have written or conceptual ideas for directing and acting. Johnson submitted a script she had written for class and was chosen to be a playwright, meaning she had from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next morning to write an entire play, share it with the chosen directors and have the actors memorize their lines for the single-night performance in late February. 

“I love to write,” Johnson said. “The fact that this opportunity was given to me was so awesome. I never imagined being so stressed would pay off the way it did.”

In regards to family, her parents Tim and Lisa Johnson are very supportive of her career and achievements thus far.

“I know a lot of parents are afraid to let their kids go into acting because they worry about the financial stability of it, but my parents have always been all for it because they know that this is what I love and what makes me happy,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’ve proved to them that there’s happiness, if not success, in what I do.”

Currently, Johnson is working on an anime TV series “Smile at the Runway” in which she plays Chiyuki. The production for the show is currently stalled due to the outbreak of COVID-19. 

Follow Camila Villarreal (@fliipthewriter) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.