It's been over 20 years since the alien "family" on 3rd Rock from the Sun last got an "incoming message from the Big Giant Head." But, for fans of the show and her character Sally Solomon, there have still been plenty of places to catch 3rd Rock star Kristen Johnston since the series ended in 2001. The actor won two Emmys for hilarious performance on 3rd Rock, and she's taken on more memorable roles since. Now 54, Johnston is still acting, including appearing on a brand new show that's winning over comedy fans this year. Read on to find out more about Johnston's life and career post-3rd Rock.
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Sally Solomon isn't the only character Johnston is known for. Soon after 3rd Rock from the Sun ended, Johnston joined Sex and the City for an episode as Lexi Featherston, a party girl who memorably fell to her death out of an apartment window. Around this time, Johnston also appeared in several episodes of ER, as well as the movies Music and Lyrics and Bride Wars.
More recently, Johnston starred in the sitcom Mom as Tammy. She was also in the 2019 movie The Wedding Year and the 2020 movie Small Town Wisconsin. This year, Johnston appeared on the comedy series Our Flag Means Death as The Widow Evelyn Higgins.
Before and after 3rd Rock, Johnston has also been a theater actor. Since the show ended, she has appeared in productions of Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and many more. In 2010, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for So Help Me God.
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Johnston's memoir, Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster, was released in 2012. In the book, she details her struggles with substance use—she began drinking in high school and taking pills during 3rd Rock.
"Certainly I struggled with it on that show but not to the extent where I missed stuff or was high during the show taping," she said on the podcast Heart of the Matter in 2021 when she was around 14 years sober (via Today). "So I was able to keep a lid on it for a couple of years and then we became married, me and my opiates, a couple years after 3rd Rock and it was a very abusive relationship."
In November 2021, Johnston reunited with her 3rd Rock co-stars for the 25th anniversary of the show. The cast appeared at Vulture Festival and took part in a discussion about the series.
Johnston has also reflected on her time on the sitcom in interviews. While speaking to CBS' Watch magazine in 2020, she said, "I've been so lucky because I'm a weird person to cast. I have a specific look and I'm not right for everything. So the fact that 3rd Rock was so perfect for me and happened when I was in my 20s was just one of those crazy, miraculous things. And it's happened in bigger and smaller ways later in my career where the role and project met up so perfectly."
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