Why Rhonda From Good On Paper Looks So Familiar
Netflix's latest romantic comedy, "Good on Paper," stars Iliza Shlesinger as a stand-up comedian named Andrea who meets a man who seems perfect at first, but maybe too good to be true. The film, which arrived on June 23, includes an ensemble cast designed to bring on the humor as well as sharp social commentary, including Margaret Cho as Andrea's best friend and Ryan Hansen as the manipulative Dennis. Even the bit players in this film are on point, and that includes Rebekka Johnson, who plays a rather sassy stewardess named Rhonda. She appears on the plane where Andrea meets her seemingly perfect date.
If you see her and are wondering why she looks familiar, it's definitely possible you've encountered her before. She's a comedienne, writer, and actress, and although her filmography isn't terribly extensive, she's made guest-starring appearances in series like "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "Arrested Development," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "American Dad!," "Ugly Americans" (a voiceover job) and others. Here are a few on-screen projects where you may remember her from.
She was a geriatric GLOW wrestler
Johnson is probably best known for her turn as Dawn Rivecca on Netflix's "GLOW." She's a scene-stealer from the start as one of The Beatdown Biddies, a supposedly geriatric team with Stacey Beswick (Kimmy Gatewood) that changes its name and gimmick to The Toxic Twins for Season 2. Her in-ring persona, Edna Rosenblatt, is tough as nails. Johnson has said that the show's producers gave her and Gatewood plenty of freedom to create their own dialogue and work on improvisation within the framework of the series, even starting with their first appearance in the first season.
"So, we took like an hour and wrote a bunch of old people jokes and they gave us several takes, so we had several options," Johnson told FanFest. "Then what is in that episode is actually the stuff we wrote. Honestly, that meant so much to me ... Acting and writing are my favorite things so when I saw that our jokes were in that episode I cried. I feel like I am living my dream and my joke about fiber cereal and making you s*** your pants is a culmination of everything I have ever done."
Johnson and the cast of "GLOW" were nominated for a 2018 Screen Actors Guild Award in the Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series category, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She was in an episode of Netflix's The Babysitters Club
If you've seen Netflix's 2020 version of "The Baby-Sitters Club," based on the books by Ann M. Martin, you may recognize Johnson from a guest-starring turn on that series. In the fifth episode of the first season, she played Natalie Barrett, the scattered divorced mother of three particularly rambunctious children who is described as "a little all over the place" by Dawn (Xochitl Gomez). It's fitting that Johnson stars in an episode headlined by a character named Dawn — but actually, it's probably no accident. It's very possible that Johnson got the gig from her association with "GLOW," as the producer of "The Baby-Sitters Club," Rachel Shukert, also worked on "GLOW."
It's also no coincidence that Johnson and Gatewood's "GLOW" characters are named Dawn and Stacey, just like two of the girls in "The Baby-Sitters Club." Shukert named the wrestler characters after the girls from the book series. "I feel like 'GLOW' and 'The Baby-Sitters Club' share a lot of DNA, honestly," she told the Chicago Tribune. "It's this group of women, or girls, who are very different from one another, who come from different backgrounds, and they're coming together with this shared vision of creating something larger than themselves and being something greater and finding their power in each other."
She and the Apple Sisters were on A Christmas Story Live!
Johnson is known as the co-creator of The Apple Sisters, a 1940s-style musical comedy trio that has performed both on TV and live. Although the Apple Sisters appeared very briefly in the live musical "A Christmas Story Live!," they're an act with some longevity. The L.A.-based group, featuring Johnson, Gatewood, and Sarah Lowe, has been around for 14 years (via Instagram), putting out videos, albums, and other media.
According to Gatewood, the group got started in New York City, when she and Johnson were the only female teachers at the Peoples Improv Theater and started working together. Johnson said that they got along well, and at the time, they were also trying to create a variety show with fellow comedian Lowe. She told Women.com, "And, instead of writing two different shows we thought, 'Why don't we all work together?' We decided to make a 1940s musical variety show which combines all the things that we love; singing and dancing, and comedy and LIPSTICK!"
History was made, and the group still performs live — or at least they did, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. They've been less active in the past few years online, but hopefully, that will change as things in the entertainment industry begin to ramp up again.