Biography: Sharlene Johnston is the oldest of 5 children. Her parents, Michael and Sharon, met at a hospital in Cincinnati OH, where both worked. (Michael was an orderly, Sharon was a nurse). The relationship was unusual for the time since Michael was black and Sharon was white - newly moved to the US from Canada. The pair married in 1964 in Sharon's home city of Vancouver and Sharlene was born in 1966. Sharlene was followed by twin brothers Michael Jr. and Conrad two years later, Janet four years after that and the baby of the family, Lena, in 1977. Techincally, Sharlene and her siblings could at anytime claim Canadian citizenship, since her mother never naturalized and recently returned to her home country.

Sharlene showed an interest in dancing and acting at an early age, and her parent encouraged this. She grew up being teased and bullied because of her skin color (even though her mother is white, Sharlene considers herself black/African-American) and was once accused of stuffing the ballot box when she was voted the Homecoming Queen her senior year of high school--she was the only black girl in the entire senior class.

She moved into modeling and acting not long after finishing high school. She moved to Chicago to study acting and was cast in several series pilots, none of which really went anywhere until she was noticed by the producers of the CBS drama Knots' Landing. She played Debbie Porter over 21 episodes in two years. In 1994, she was cast in the role that exploded her into the public consciousness: Sally Hemings, the slave with whom Thomas Jefferson carried on a long affair and fathered several children with in Jefferson in Paris.

Johnston's life has been a whirlwind ever since. Consistently at the top of the A-list, SharJo has gone through two tumultous marriages: one early in her career to her Knots Landing co-star Charles Emerson and another to stage actor Jeff Kierney, who she recently co-starred with in the movie Eagle Eye.

Sharlene never stopped acting on television. Her best-known role is Zoë Washburne, the no-nonsense First Officer on the short-lived series Firefly. She reprised the role in the 2005 movie Serenity. She has been a recurring character on several crictially acclaimed but short-lived TV series and she often parlays her TV success to land big movie roles. Her biggest movie role to-date was the iconic role of Storm in the X-Men series of movies. She had never read the comics before taking the role, but has become a very public fan of the X-Men series and her alter ego. Sharlene is never one to shy away of doing her own stunts, and is known for being a bit of a daredevil.

SharJo is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and has often been linked romantically with her male co-stars, rumors which have always been found to be false. She does remain very close friends with several former co-stars (especially her Firefly castmates) and is known to suggest them to casting directors for roles in projects she works on. She tries to remain very down to earth and gives a great deal of her time to charities and causes close to her and her family. She takes part in Revlon's annual Walk/Run for women and most recently became involved with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. She and her sister recently raised almost $500,000 for the Haitian relief effort. Sharlene also appeared on the Haitian Relief telethon.

Her father, Michael, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. Sharlene recently bought her mother a $1.6 million dollar home in Shaughnessy Village, Vancouver BC. Her brothers Conrad and Michael, Jr. still reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her sisters Janet and Lena are based out of New York City; Janet manages Lena's musical and acting career.