Mel Johnson, Jr.

Mel Johnson, Jr. (born 1953) is an American actor, film producer, and Broadway performer from Long Island City, Queens, New York City. His stage career spans from 1974 to 2019, encompassing a wide range of musical productions on Broadway alongside significant work in film and television.

Johnson's Broadway career includes appearances in On the Twentieth Century, which ran from 1978 to 1979, and the concurrent production Eubie!, also from 1978 to 1979. He went on to appear in The Rink and Rap Master Ronnie, both in 1984, followed by Big Deal in 1986. Later credits include The Lion King, beginning in 1997, Hot Feet in 2006, Jekyll & Hyde in 2013, and Kiss Me, Kate in 2019. Beyond Broadway, Johnson appeared in the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park 2005 revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona.

In film, Johnson is perhaps best known for portraying Benny, a mutant cab driver and secret Martian agent, in the 1990 science fiction film Total Recall. His other motion picture credits include Off the Mark, American Blue Note, Murder by Numbers, Hideous!, Archibald the Rainbow Painter, and In the Shadow of the Cobra. A filmed version of Eubie! was released in 1981. Johnson also worked behind the camera as a producer, serving as creative head of Alchemy Entertainment/Big City Pictures, a label under Full Moon Entertainment. In that capacity he produced Ragdoll, The Horrible Dr. Bones, Killjoy, and The Vault.

On television, Johnson played Broca, the Cardassian character who succeeds Damar as leader of the Cardassian Union, in the final two episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Dogs of War" and "What You Leave Behind." He has also guest starred on The Munsters Today, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Practice, among numerous other television appearances spanning decades.