CJ Johnson served as president of the Jury of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025. As a film critic, he appears regularly on three flagship programs on ABC Radio Australia: Afternoons, Evenings and Nightlife.

He lectures on cinema at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and leads their annual international tours Festival Lumière in Lyon and The Dream Factory: Hollywood in Los Angeles. Starting in 2026 he will be the resident expert speaker on Regent and Oceania Cruises for the Pacific.

Johnson is vice president of the Film Critics Circle of Australia, lectures at Sydney Film School, and is in demand as a speaker, host and moderator, with clients including private clubs, distributors, cinema chains and cultural groups. He served on the jury of the 47th Norwegian International Film Festival in 2019 and the Oberhausen Short Film Festival in 2023.

He has studied at Brown University, The American Repertory Theatre Institute of Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.