One Tree Hill

Background:

Actor, director and writer Paul Johansson is best known for his portrayal of Dan Scott on the WB/CW hit series “One Tree Hill” (2003-2010) and Nick Wolfe on the short lived “Highlander: The Series” spin off “Highlander: The Raven” (1998-1999). He also portrayed Austin Peale on “Lonesome Dove: The Series” (1994-1995) and “Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years” (1995-1996), John Sears in “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1993-1994), Nick Comstock on “Parker Lewis” (1991-1993) and Greg Hughes in “Santa Barbara” (1989-1990). In addition, he appeared in “She's So Lovely” (1997), “John Q” (2002), “The Notebook” (2004), “Alpha Dog” (2006) and “Novel Romance” (2006), among other films. Johansson won a Daytime Emmy Award for his writing on the TV film “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie” (2004), where he also picked up a Daytime Emmy nomination for his directing effort. The former athlete also directed several episodes of “One Tree Hill” and is the director of the film version of Ayn Rand's novel “Atlas Shrugged” (2011).

Johansson was once married to actress Gabriela Oltean. He lives in Los Angeles and enjoys skiing, basketball and reading. His favorite television shows are “Larry Sanders,” “Politically Incorrect” and “South Park.”

Basketball

Childhood and Family:

Paul Joseph Otto Johansson was born on January 26, 1964, in Spokane, Washington. He is the son of former professional hockey player Earl “Ching” Johnson. His father later changed the family name to Johansson to honor his Swedish heritage. Raised in the Vancouver area in Canada, Paul was an athlete like his father and played for the Canadian National Basketball Team and the University of British Columbia. He considered a professional career in the NBA but with an English degree from UBC, decided to pursue a career as a writer. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he discovered he enjoyed acting.

In 2005, Paul divorced actress Gabriela Oltean.

Atlas Shrugged

Career:

Paul Johansson made his professional acting debut in the popular NBC soap opera “Santa Barbara,” where he played Greg Hughes from 1989 to 1990. His first television film appearance was in “Swimsuit” (1989), a romantic comedy starring William Katt, Catherine Oxenberg and Nia Peeples. He then played Bart Jeffris in the television film “Laker Girls” (CBS, 1990), guest starred in the syndicated series “They Came from Outer Space” (1990, as Doug) and landed the recurring role of Nick Comstock in the second season of the Fox sitcom “Parker Lewis” (1991-1992).

Johansson made his feature film debut in “Soapdish” (1991), a comedy directed by Michael Hoffman and produced by Aaron Spelling that starred Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Shue and Teri Hatcher. The role was followed by a costarring turn, opposite Jeff Wincott and Cynthia Rothrock, in the 1992 direct-to-video martial arts film “Martial Law II: Undercover,” a sequel to the Steve Cohen directed “Martial Law” (1991). He next acted in Peter Foldy's thriller “Midnight Witness” (1993) and worked with Rae Dawn Chong, Sandra Bullock and Kris Kamm in the film “When the Party's Over” (1993), by Matthew Irmas.

Johansson successfully returned to the small screen by joining the cast of the long running Fox series “Beverly Hills, 90210” during its fourth season. He portrayed John Sears in 13 episodes from September 1993 to May 1994. Johansson had his first regular stint on the television series adaptation of Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “Lonesome Dove: The Series” (1994-1995), where he was cast as Austin Peale. He went on to reprise the role on “Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years” (1995-1996). The actor was also cast as Detective Bert Kling on the television film “Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice” (1996), opposite Dale Midkiff, and later reprised the role in the 1997 TV movie “Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave.” He then starred as Nick Wolfe in the short lived “Highlander: The Raven” (USA Network, 1998-1999), a spin off from “Highlander: The Series.” Johansson also appeared in episodes of “Burke's Law” (1994), “The 5 Mrs. Buchanans” (1994), “7th Heaven” (1997), “Dead Man's Gun” (1997), “Players” (1998), “Dharma & Greg” (1998), “Earth: Final Conflict” (1998) and “First Wave” (1999).

After about four years, Johansson resumed his film career with a small role in “She's So Lovely” (1997), a drama starring Sean Penn, John Travolta and Robin Wright Penn. He next played Michael in the film “Carnival of Souls” (1998), starring Bobbie Phillips, Shawnee Smith and Larry Miller, and starred with Andrew Divoff and Holly Fields in the 1999 horror sequel “Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies.” The actor entered the world of directing with a short film called “Conversations in Limbo” (1998), which he also co-wrote with Mick Davis. The drama starred Nick Cassavetes, Melissa Lahlitah Crider, Troy Duffy and Jason Priestley.

Entering the new millennium, Johansson guest starred in such shows as “Hope Island” (2000, as Steve Kramer), CBC's “Da Vinci's Inquest” (2000, as Tom Sprawl), “Andromeda” (2000, as Guderian), “The Drew Carey Show” (2001, as Ron Higgins), and “The District” (2002, as Father Patrick Debreno). He also supported Maureen O'Hara, Eric Stoltz and Trini Alvarado in the made for TV film “The Last Dance” (CBS, 2000). On the film front, he starred with Amanda Donohoe and Steven Bauer in Paul Matthews' “Glory Glory” (2002), worked with director Nick Cassavetes in the box office hit “John Q” (2002), starring Denzel Washington, and portrayed Henry Mullen in Anne Wheeler's “Edge of Madness” (2002), opposite Brendan Fehr and Corey Sevier. He also starred as Sean Leonard in 2003's “Dark Side,” alongside Janet Kidder and Jason Priestley.

Johansson's television career gained an important boost when he received the role of Dan Scott on the popular series “One Tree Hill” (WB, 2003-2006; CW, 2006-2010). He also directed several episodes of the series and in 2004, wrote, directed and appeared in the Showtime television film “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie,” starring Gena Rowlands, Kevin Zegers and David Schofield. He received a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Children/Youth/Family Special and a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special for his work on the show. The same year, he starred with Craig Sheffer and Kari Wuhrer in Paul Matthews' film “Berserker” and had an unaccredited part in Nick Cassavetes' “The Notebook,” based on the Nicolas Sparks novel of the same name. Johansson continued to appear in such films as 2005's “Window Theory” (directed by Andrew Putschoegl), 2006's “Alpha Dog” (directed and written by Nick Cassavetes), 2006's “A Trick of the Mind” (TV) and 2006's “Novel Romance” (with Traci Lords, Sherilyn Fenn and Mariette Hartley).

In 2008, Johansson portrayed Ben Compost in the web-based series “IQ-145,” starring Thomas Dekker. He then portrayed FBI Special Agent Kuntsler in Troy Duffy's “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” (2009), a sequel to Duffy's 1999's “The Boondock Saints,” and was cast as Gus in the thriller “Toxic” (2010), starring Susan Ward.

Recently, Johansson made his feature directorial debut with “Atlas Shrugged: Part One,” an adaptation of Ayn Rand's 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged.” Starring Taylor Schilling and Grant Bowler, the film is scheduled to be released on April 15, 2011.

Awards:

• Daytime Emmy: Outstanding Writing in a Children/Youth/Family Special, “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie,” 2004