by Jason Birchmeier Alexz Johnson is a Canadian teen pop singer and actress who rose to international fame on the music-themed teen drama series Instant Star and its series of soundtrack albums. Born Alexzandra Johnson on November 4, 1986, in New Westminster, British Columbia, she began studying music at a young age and ultimately got into acting as well. Her big break into show business came in 2000 when she was cast as Annie Thelan, the lead role in the Disney television series So Weird during its third season. A few years later in 2004 she was cast as Jude Harrison, the lead role in Instant Star, a CTV teen drama about an adolescent music star on the rise who must deal with overnight fame as well as personal drama. The show was nominated for numerous Gemini Awards and broadcast in over 100 different countries. On each episode of Instant Star, Johnson's character performs a song, some of which she herself had a hand in writing. These songs were compiled on a series of soundtrack albums released by the Universal-distributed Orange Record Label: Songs from Instant Star (2005), Songs from Instant Star, Vol. 2 (2006), Songs from Instant Star, Vol. 3 (2007), and Songs from Instant Star, Vol. 4 (2008). Around the time the show was coming to an end, Johnson won a solo recording contract with Epic Records and began working on a full-length album debut scheduled for release in 2009. Meanwhile, she also began expanding her acting career to include films such as Final Destination 3 (2006) and Devil's Diary (2007).