DIFFERENT SCREEN JOHNSON'S NOT JUST BASKETBALL PLAYER, HE ALSO CAN ACT.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

QUARTZ HILL - If Quartz Hill High guard Tony Johnson takes a dubious charge and falls dramatically to the floor, he could well be acting. He has the experience.

Johnson, the Rebels' leading scorer, has been a professional actor most of his life. He has appeared in feature-length and television movies with such stars as Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Sheen and Keifer Sutherland.

He played ``Kiki,'' an extraterestrial, in the 1997 science-fiction film ``The Arrival,'' which starred Sheen, and as a 4-year-old he was a regular cast member on the NBC sitcom ``Amen,'' playing the role of Little Chris, the pesky neighbor of star Sherman Hemsley.

``It really kind of stuck to me. It was exciting,'' said Johnson, who spent three years on ``Amen'' and also was cast as one of George Foreman's sons on his short-lived television show.

Shooting on location in exotic locales such as Mexico City and performing with Academy Award winners such as Goldberg has made Johnson something of a celebrity on the Quartz Hill campus.

``That's the best part about it. Meeting people and getting to go to different places,'' Johnson said.

Johnson is serious about his acting, but he's also dedicated to basketball. The junior shooting guard leads the Rebels in scoring, averaging about 15 points per game, 3 1/2 steals, 4 1/2 assists and almost five rebounds for the 17-6 Rebels, who share the Golden League lead with Littlerock.

Johnson has found a way to juggle his basketball and acting responsibilities. Two weeks ago, he read for a part in an upcoming Sean Connery film. That night, the Rebels hosted first-place Littlerock in a key Golden League game. His mother drove him back from L.A. to the Antelope Valley during the Friday commute.

``There was an accident on the freeway. We didn't think he'd make it back,'' Quartz Hill coach Bernard Nichter said.

The fashionably late Johnson walked into the gym three minutes before the start, trading his script for a basketball. He scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds in Quartz Hill's 59-50 victory.

Johnson rarely puts up eye-popping numbers, but he did score 20 second- half points to help Quartz Hill rally past Palmdale on Friday.

Nichter said Johnson is one of the Golden League's unappreciated stars and his basketball career doesn't need to end next year when he graduates.

His actor-uncle Reginald Johnson helped him break into the Hollywood scene, and his dad, Anthony, played guard at Texas Southern University and put a basketball in Tony's hands before he started acting.

``He's got the ability to play college basketball. . . . The sad thing is you don't play with your high school team and get noticed anymore,'' Nichter said. ``You have to play with all these all-star travel teams.''

Nichter understandably is more concerned about Johnson's basketball ability now. But he's impressed with Johnson's on-screen persona. Nichter rented ``The Arrival'' and gave Johnson a good endorsement, overlooking some of the dialogue.

``He said a swear word at the start of the movie. So me and my wife laughed about that,'' Nichter said. ``Tony is just amazing, because half the time you don't know whether he's serious or not. He puts on a character and you don't know if he's kidding.''

Despite working with Hollywood A-list actors and leading his basketball team to a possible league title, Johnson has remained humble. It's not easy, though. He has an official fan club.

And how flattering was it to read for a part as a young Michael Jordan in a television biography of the basketball icon?

Johnson didn't get the role, but he's on the lookout to bring his two passions together on the big or the small screen.

``I really don't want to have to choose because I love both (acting and basketball) so much,'' Johnson said. ``Maybe if I had to choose, I think I'd choose basketball.''

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Photo: Quartz Hill's Tony Johnson mixes on-screen drama with on-court drama.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer