Kristen Johnson

Johnson was born in Glens Falls, NY and grew up in Carmel, Indiana.[1] Her mother, Sunny Johnson, was also a performer, being best known as a clown.[2] Sunny, who was featured on the front cover of The Linking Ring magazine in March 2002, still lives in Carmel, where she owns a clowning supplies company.[3] Johnson began learning magic when she was a teenager and used it to earn money to help pay her way through college.[2]

Johnson and her husband Kevin Ridgeway are Christians and, under the name Living Illusions, built up a reputation as performers specializing in faith based events. These included the Will Graham Celebration with evangelist Billy Graham's grandson in May 2008.[4] In 2007 they launched a full-length touring theater show under the name Breathless, which has played across the United States.

Johnson's signature escape is the Full View Water Torture Cell - in which she is chained up and locked inside a water filled tank from which she escapes in full view of the audience. The full view aspect differentiates it from Houdini's water torture cell escape, which required a curtain to be drawn to obscure him from the audience while he escaped.[5] She performed the original version of the stunt as part of the Worldwide Escape Artist's Relay in 2005, which was an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of escapes performed in a day.[6]

On October 29, 2006, during the 4th Annual International Escape Convention, Johnson was presented with The Masters Award by Thomas Blacke of Escape Masters magazine. She performed a new version of her Full view water cell, making her one of only two artists to have performed at the first four international escape artist conventions that had been held.[7]

Full View Water Torture Cell

Johnson's Water cell stunt requires her to hold her breath while she picks a series of locks that fasten chains and secure the lid of the cell. She averages 2 minutes and 48 seconds underwater on one breath, however, she has occasionally taken up to 3 minutes and 18 seconds to free herself. The longest time she has ever held her breath is 5 minutes and 2 seconds. She ends her shows with this escape and has performed it as often as 30 times in ten days. She offers a $10,000 challenge to anyone who can prove that she takes a second breath, uses an underwater breathing apparatus or a key once she has dropped below the water. Wayne N. Kawamoto from About: magic has written: "Her escape was the most dramatic and involving that I have ever witnessed. Johnson set a high bar for the other performers that will be difficult to match."[8]

On January 16, 2009, while performing her Water Torture Cell escape during the halftime show of a basketball game featuring the Detroit Pistons versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, Johnson lost consciousness while attempting to open the top of the cell. She had to be quickly rescued by assistants. A week later she successfully performed the Water Torture Cell at Ford Park Event Center in Beaumont, Texas. This was her 600th performance of the escape. [9]

• Ridgeway & Johnson
• Living Illusions