Thursday Morning Man: Bryce Johnson!

I’ve seen some previews of the fall CBS drama Lonestar and am very excited that one of the cast members is Bryce Johnson, an actor I’ve been a fan of since his days as Josh Martin on the cult fave Popular which helped launch the careers of Sara Rue, Christopher Gorham and Tammy Lynn Michaels, among others.

Bryce’s character on Popular was the good looking jock and it mirrored his own high school years in Denver where he was captain of the varsity soccer team and co-captain of the school’s golf team. He was also elected class president of both his junior and senior year.

His first TV gig was five episodes of MTV’s Undressed as a college student with a gay roomate.

Since Popular, Bryce has worked steadily over the years in television and film. One of his movies, Harry + Max, screened at Outfest back in 2004 and was notable (and controversial!)  because he played a young guy involved in an affair with his younger brother! His character was straight in another Outfest entry, 2006′s Freshman Orientation and was a gay cheerleader in Bring it On Again.

Glee creator Ryan Murphy, who also created Popular and Nip/Tuck, cast the actor for a guest spot on the FX series as a corporal wounded in combat who is seduced by Bruno Campos’s plastic surgeon character.

Bryce, who has done scores of other guest spots on such series as House M.D., Without a Trace, NCIS, Drop Dead Diva, The Mentalist and CSI and has appeared in three episodes of the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.

The 33-year-old actor also starred opposite Greg In Hollywood Morning Man slum Austin Peck in the terrific indie flick Blue Tooth Virgin and had the lead in the films Sleeping Dogs Lie and Skulls III.