Background
Born in Devon, England, Johnstone grew up hating school, finding that it blunted his imagination and made him feel self-conscious and shy.
Born in Devon, England, Johnstone grew up hating school, finding that it blunted his imagination and made him feel self-conscious and shy.
He subsequently became a play-reader, director and drama teacher there, where he chose to reverse all that his teachers had told him in an attempt to create more spontaneous actors.
He is also an educator, playwright, actor and theatre director After teaching at a working-class school in Battersea, London in the early 1950s, Johnstone was commissioned to write a play by the Royal Court Theatre in 1956. In the 1970s, Johnstone moved to Calgary, Alberta to teach at the University of Calgary.
He is featured in the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.