Johnson was born in Tucson, Arizona, the son of Grove and Virginia Johnson. The family moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, and later, Dallas, Texas, where Johnson graduated high school in 1977. After competing in rodeos as a youth, he began his professional rodeo career in 1984 and was discovered by a movie scout looking for cowboys to star in a beer commercial. This led to his stint as the Marlboro Man and modeling gigs for Calvin Klein before he started acting. His first role was in a 1986 episode of the CBS soap opera Dallas.
