Dakota Johnson (birthname:
Dakota Mayi Johnson) is best known for her recurring role as Anastasia Steele in
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015),
Fifty Shades Darker (2017), and
Fifty Shades Freed (2018). Johnson had been discouraged from pursuing an acting career by her acting parents, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Still, he did take on her first of several supporting roles in her child role in
Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring her mother Melanie and directed by ex-stepdad Antonio Banderas.
Once she was an adult actor, Johnson took on a string of supporting roles in David Fincher’s
The Social Network (2010),
Beastly (2011),
Goats (2012), Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s
21 Jump Street (2012),
The Five-Year Engagement (2012),
Date and Switch (2014), and
Need for Speed (2014), as well as a supporting role in filmmaker So Yong Kim’s fine indie film,
For Ellen (2012), with Paul Dano, Jon Heder, and Jena Malone, and which premiered at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals.
Dakota Johnson made her career breakthrough as Anastasia in the Sam Taylor-Johnson-directed mega-hit,
Fifty Shades of Grey, which earned $569.7 million globally; and followed with the James Foley-directed sequel,
Fifty Shades Darker (2017), grossing $381 million, and again under Foley’s direction in
Fifty Shades Freed (2018), earning $372 million worldwide. Johnson was cast as Imogen opposite
Ethan Hawke’s Iachimo in filmmaker Michael Almereyda’s adventurous Shakespeare adaptation,
Cymbeline (2014), with
Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, Anton Yelchin, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Bill Pullman, and Delroy Lindo, and grossing $3.2 million for
Lionsgate.
After starring in the widely panned and little-seen drama,
Chloe and Theo (2015), Johnson was cast by director-producer Scott Cooper in his Whitey Bulger crime biopic starring Johnny Depp,
Black Mass (2015), with Joel Edgerton,
Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, and Kevin Bacon. He earned $99 million after its Venice Film Festival premiere. Johnson co-starred in her second consecutive Venice festival-premiering movie, this one with Ralph Fiennes, Mathias Schoenaerts, and
Tilda Swinton in the second film in director-producer Luca Guadagnino’s “Desire Trilogy,”
A Bigger Splash (2015), loosely based on Jacques Deray’s
La Piscine (1969) and David Hockney’s famed painting of the same name.
Dakota Johnson starred with Rebel Wilson,
Alison Brie, and Leslie Mann in the Christian Ditter-directed rom-com,
How to Be Single (2016), grossing a healthy $112 million for Warner Bros. Johnson reunited with filmmaker Luga Guadagnino in the starring role in the money-losing ($7.9 million globally) remake of the Dario Argento giallo classic,
Suspiria (2018), released by Amazon Studios and premiering at the Venice film festival. Johnson was cast by director/writer/producer Drew Goddard for 20
th Century Fox’s neo-noir,
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), co-starring Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo,
Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth, but under-performing at the box office with a $32 million worldwide gross.
Dakota Johnson co-starred with Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, and John Hawkes in co-directors/writers Tyler Nilson’s and Michael Schwartz’s indie hit,
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), grossing a strong $23 million for distributor Roadside Attractions after premiering at the South by Southwest film festival. Johnson appeared opposite Jason Segel and Casey Affleck in the biopic
Our Friend (2019), directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Johnson played herself in the Bill Benz-directed mockumentary,
The Nowhere Inn (2020), alongside Annie Clark, Carrie Brownstein, and Toko Yasuda (also portraying themselves), premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and then released by IFC Films. Johnson co-starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross in Working Title Films’ music-themed
The High Note (2020), with Kelvin Harrison Jr., Zoe Chao, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard, and Ice Cube, but lost money for distributor Focus Features.
Dakota Johnson took on one of her most challenging roles to date and delivered one of her most effective performances in filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal’s drama,
The Lost Daughter (2021), based on the Elena Ferrante novel and starring
Olivia Colman, with Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Dominczyk, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris, and earning three Oscar nominations. After starring in and producing the streaming
Am I OK? (2022), Johnson was a producer and star of the Sundance hit,
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), with Cooper Raiff,
Raul Castillo, Brad Garrett, and Leslie Mann.
Dakota Johnson then starred as Anne in a widely panned modernized version of Jane Austen’s
Persuasion (2022), directed by Carrie Cracknell and co-written by Ronald Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow, with Cosmo Jarvis, Henry Golding, and Richard E. Grant. Johnson served as a voice-over narrator and an executive director for the doc,
The Disappearance of Shere Hite (2023), directed and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and then released by IFC Films.
Johnson co-starred in writer-director Christy Hall’s two-hander drama,
Daddio (2023), opposite Sean Penn, which was bought by Sony Pictures Classics for a 2024 release after its Telluride film festival premiere. Shifting for the first time to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Johnson starred in the title role of the Sony Pictures Releasing/Columbia Pictures adventure,
Madame Web (2024), directed by
S.J. Clarkson, with
Sydney Sweeney,
Celeste O’Connor, Isabella Merced, and
Tahar Rahim.
Johnson joined the ensemble of director/writer/producer/star
Michael Angelo Covino’s American comedy,
Splitsville (2025), co-written by co-star
Kyle Marvin, and co-starring
Adria Arjona, Nicholas Braun and O-T Fagbenle, and which premiered in the Cannes Premiere section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, and then released by Neon, which also was a major co-producer with Topic Studios. Johnson co-starred with
Chris Evans and
Pedro Pascal in director/writer/producer
Celine Song’s romantic comedy,
Materialists (2025), produced by Killer Films and released widely by A24.
Dakota Johnson then shifted to the psychological thriller genre as co-star of director/producer Michael Showalter’s MGM-backed
Verity (2026), adapted by screenwriter/producer Nick Antosca from (fellow producer) Colleen Hoover’s novel and co-starring
Anne Hathaway (who also produced) and
Josh Hartnett under Michael Showalter’s direction, and released by Amazon MGM Studios.
