Dakota Mayi Johnson (born October 4, 1989) is an American actress. Her accolades include a nomination for a British Academy Film Award.
The daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, Johnson made her film debut at age ten with a minor role in Crazy in Alabama (1999), directed by her then-stepfather Antonio Banderas, and also starring her mother. After graduating from high school, she began auditioning for roles and had a minor part in The Social Network (2010). Johnson had her breakthrough playing the lead role in the erotic Fifty Shades film series (2015–2018). In 2016, she received a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination and was featured in a Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Johnson's profile grew with roles in the crime drama Black Mass (2015), the drama A Bigger Splash (2015), the romantic comedy How to Be Single (2016), the horror film Suspiria (2018), the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), the coming-of-age film The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), the psychological drama The Lost Daughter (2021), the romantic drama Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), and the romantic film Materialists (2025).
Owing to her parents' occupations, Johnson spent much of her childhood in their various filming locations and accompanying them to premieres, though she spent time in Aspen and Woody Creek, Colorado, where, in her teen years, she worked summers at the local market. In Woody Creek, she was neighbors with Hunter S. Thompson. She attended the Aspen Community School for a time. "I was so consistently unmoored and discombobulated, I didn't have an anchor anywhere," Johnson recalled. She attended the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California, for her freshman year of high school before transferring to the private New Roads School in Santa Monica, California.
Johnson became interested in modeling at age 12 after participating in a photo shoot with other celebrities' children for Teen Vogue. She subsequently earned an income modeling while attending high school in Santa Monica. She has struggled with depression since around age 14 and checked into rehabilitation. Even as a child, Johnson was interested in acting, having spent significant time on film sets with her parents, but they discouraged her from pursuing the profession until she graduated high school. After reaching that milestone, she applied to Juilliard School, performing in her audition monologues by Shakespeare and Steve Martin, but was not accepted.
That same year, Johnson signed with IMG Models. Though acting is her primary work, she has since modeled for MANGO brand's jeans line in 2009 and shot the "Rising Star" campaign for Australian fashion label Wish in 2011.
After graduating from high school, Johnson took Drama school with teacher Tom Todoroff until 2008. She signed with the William Morris Agency and started her acting career. She had a minor role in David Fincher's biographical film The Social Network (2010). She had a small role in the fantasy film Beastly (2011). Johnson starred in So Yong Kim's drama For Ellen (2012), alongside Paul Dano and Jon Heder. The film is about a struggling musician in the midst of a custody battle. Also in 2012, she played a student at a prep school in Christopher Neil's independent comedy Goats. Johnson starred in Nicholas Stoller's romance film The Five-Year Engagement and the comedy 21 Jump Street. She had a leading role for Chris Nelson's film Date and Switch.
In March 2012, Johnson had a leading role in the Fox comedy television series Ben and Kate. It was canceled on January 25, 2013, after one season. Johnson continued acting in films, with a small role in Need for Speed (2014). In 2013, she had a role as one of the new hires on the series finale episode of the NBC comedy series The Office.
On February 15, 2015, Johnson appeared on Saturday Night Lives 40th anniversary special and hosted SNL on February 28, 2015, making her the second daughter of a former SNL host (after Gwyneth Paltrow, whose mother Blythe Danner hosted during the show's seventh season in 1982) to host the show. Also in 2015, she reunited with her 21 Jump Street cast member Johnny Depp, playing the mother of his character's child in the feature film Black Mass. Jessica Kiang of IndieWire said that she "makes something of nothing" in her role. In 2015, Johnson starred in Luca Guadagnino's thriller A Bigger Splash, alongside Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Ralph Fiennes. Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers stated that Johnson showed that her character "has more on her mind than slithering seductively". According to Christy Lemire from RogerEbert.com: " A Bigger Splash allows Johnson to be both funnier and sexier than she was in Fifty Shades of Grey". The same year saw the release of Cymbeline, a modern film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, in which she starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Ed Harris. She also played a lead in the 2016 comedy How to Be Single, with Leslie Mann and her Date and Switch co-star Nicholas Braun. She performed a cover of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You", alongside Zani Jones Mbayise, Vanessa Rubio and Damon Wayans Jr. for the soundtrack of the film. Johnson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2016.
Johnson starred in Luca Guadagnino's supernatural horror film Suspiria (2018), a remake of the Suspiria, in which she played an American dancer in Berlin who enrolls in an academy run by a coven of witches. David Ehrlich of IndieWire described Johnson's performance in the film as "thrillingly unrepentant". Also in 2018, she starred in Drew Goddard's neo-noir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, with Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, and Chris Hemsworth. In the film, she played a hippie staying at a resort on the California-Nevada border where the lives of various people with suspicious pasts intersect. Screen Rant ranked Johnson's performance as the fourth-best in the film and stated that "she brings a reserved, under-the-surface power to her role".
In 2019, Johnson starred opposite Armie Hammer in Babak Anvari's psychological horror film Wounds, which is based on Nathan Ballingrud's horror novella The Visible Filth. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019. Johnson starred in the well-reviewed independent adventure film The Peanut Butter Falcon, alongside Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, and Bruce Dern. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2019. It became the highest grossing independent film of the year. She starred in Gabriela Cowperthwaite's drama film Our Friend, alongside Casey Affleck and Jason Segel. The film is based upon real life couple Nicole and Matthew Teague, faced with Nicole's impending death, see their best friend move in with them to help them out. She sang on three covers of songs for the film's soundtrack, including one of "If I Had the World to Give" by Grateful Dead. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the "intimacy of Ms. Johnson's performance is extraordinary. She is the least assertive of movie stars, yet the courage, despair and fury she finds in Nicole will lift you up and spin you around". While Gary Goldstein from the Los Angeles Times stated that Johnson "impresses with affecting range — from flirty, ebullient and adoring to stalwart, enraged and resigned; it's a lovely performance".
In 2021, she co-starred in The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and based on Elena Ferrante's novel of the same name. In December 2021, Boat Rocker Media acquired a minority interest for TeaTime Pictures. In 2022, she starred in the Netflix film adaptation of author Jane Austen's Persuasion. Johnson co-produced and starred in several films. She played a lesbian in Am I Ok?, which was directed by Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro. She played a young mother with an autistic child in Cha Cha Real Smooth, in which she starred opposite Cooper Raiff. Johnson played a cab passenger who has an emotionally profound interaction with a cabbie in the film Daddio, in which she starred opposite Sean Penn. Her performances in The Lost Daughter, Persuasion, Cha Cha Real Smooth, and Daddio were met with positive reception from critics and audiences.
In November 2023, Johnson departed WME and signed a representation deal with Creative Artists Agency. She played Madame Web in the superhero film Madame Web (2024), set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. It was produced on a budget of $80 million and was critically and commercially unsuccessful, earning her a second Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Speaking about the film's failure, Johnson went on to say "We don’t have control over how something turns out. (I) signed on to a movie that, by the end of shooting it, (was) a completely different script than what I attached to, and that is a crazy journey to go on as an artist. Because you’re like, ‘OK, I’m doing something with my actual body and my actual mind and my heart and my emotions,’ and it’s just being taken and fucked with, but you can’t do anything about it. Like, what am I going to do, fucking cry about Madame Web? No. I’m gonna laugh." Sandra Bullock Welcomed Dakota Johnson to the “Razzie Club” After Her ‘Madame Web’ Worst Actress Win
In 2025, she took a supporting role in the comedy Splitsville which she also served as a producer. That same year she took a leading role in the Celine Song directed romance Materialists (2025) co-starring opposite Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal.
Johnson is a tattoo enthusiast and has been named a brand ambassador for luxury fashion brand Gucci. In November 2020, it was announced that she had become an investor and co-creative director of Maude, a sexual wellness brand. In 2018, she collaborated with 300 women in Hollywood to set up the Time's Up initiative to protect women from harassment and discrimination.
Johnson is an avid reader. She launched a book club in March 2024.
Career
1999–2014: Beginnings
2015–2019: Breakthrough
2020–present
Personal life
Filmography
Film
1999 Crazy in Alabama Sondra 2010 Amelia "Amy" Ritter All That Glitters Dianica French Short film 2011 Beastly Sloan Hagen 2012 For Ellen Cynthia "Cindy" Taylor Goats Minnie 21 Jump Street Fugazy Audrey Transit Elizabeth Short film 2014 Date and Switch Em Need for Speed Anita Coleman Cymbeline Imogen Closed Set Leading Lady Short film 2015 Fifty Shades of Grey Anastasia "Ana" Steele Chloe and Theo Chloe Black Mass Lindsay Cyr A Bigger Splash Penelope Lannier In a Relationship Willa Short film Vale Rachel 2016 How to Be Single Alice Kepley 2017 Fifty Shades Darker Anastasia "Ana" Steele 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Anastasia "Ana" Grey Suspiria Susanna "Susie" Bannion Bad Times at the El Royale Emily Summerspring 2019 Wounds Carrie The Peanut Butter Falcon Eleanor Our Friend Nicole Teague 2020 The Nowhere Inn Herself The High Note Maggie Sherwoode 2021 The Lost Daughter Nina 2022 Cha Cha Real Smooth Domino Also producer Am I OK? Lucy Persuasion Anne Elliot 2023 The Disappearance of Shere Hite Shere Hite (voice) Documentary film; also executive producer Daddio Girlie Also producer 2024 Madame Web Madame Web Loser Baby Short film; directorial debut 2025 Splitsville Julie Also producer Materialists Lucy Mason 2026 Lowen Ashleigh Post-production; also executive producer
Television
2012–2013 Ben and Kate Kate Fox Main role; 16 episodes 2013 The Office Dakota Episode: "Finale" 2015 SNL 40th Anniversary Special Herself Television special Saturday Night Live Herself (host) Episode: "Dakota Johnson / Alabama Shakes" 2023 Slip Executive producer only 2024 Saturday Night Live Herself (host) Episode: "Dakota Johnson / Justin Timberlake"
Music video
2015 "Earned It" The Weeknd Lead Actress 2020 "Cry Cry Cry" Coldplay Co-directed with Cory Bailey 2022 "Biutyful" Writer
Awards and nominations
External links
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