Born in Canada in 1956. He graduated in economics at the University of Winnipeg and started his career in film in the 1980s. Maddin had a retrospective of his work presented at the 28th Mostra, with films such as "Archangel" (1990), "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" (1997), "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary" (2002), and "Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands" (2003). He has also directed the short film "My Dad Is 100 Years Old" (2005), the segment "Colorful Cat" of the movie "Invisible World" (2011), and the features "Brand upon the Brain" (2006), "My Winnipeg" (2007), "Keyhole" (2011), and "The Green Fog" (2017), all presented at the Mostra.

A one-time student of Guy Maddin, he first worked with the director as an additional camera operator in "My Winnipeg" (2007), presented at the 32nd Mostra. In "The Forbidden Room" (2015), presented at the 39th Mostra and his feature film directing debut, he also served as screenwriter, visual effects supervisor, and assistant editor. Johnson also directed "The Green Fog" (2017), presented at the 42nd Mostra.

Born in Canada, he worked with his brother, Evan Johnson, and filmmaker Guy Maddin in "The Forbidden Room" (2015), presented at the 39th Mostra, in departments like production design, animation, and editing. With his partners, he also directed the short documentary "Bring Me the Head of Tim Morton" (2015) and "The Green Fog" (2017), presented at the 42nd Mostra.