Welcome to Dazzling Dakota Johnson your newest source dedicated American Actress Dakota Johnson. Dakota is best known for her role as Anastasia Steele Ffity Shades Trilogy but you may also recognise her as Alice in How to Be Single as Nicole Teague in Our Friend as Maggie Sherwoode in The High Note and most recently as Nina in The Lost Daughter. Presently, Dakota has starred in Persuasion which is due to premiere in 2022 and has been cast in an unknown role for a film titled Daddio. Dazzling Dakota Johnson aims to be your most up-to-date and comprehensive source for Dakota. Check back daily for all the latest news, photos and info. Thank you for visiting the site and supporting Dakota and her career!
Welcome to the Press Archive at Dazzling Dakota Johnson where you will find one of the largest and most comprehensive press article collection of American Actress Dakota Johnson. Presently the archive has 2 press articles and there is always more being added whether it be older or newer, so check back daily for all the latest press articles.
Welcome to the Video Archive at Dazzling Dakota Johnson where you will find one of the largest and most comprehensive video collection of American Actress Dakota Johnson. Presently the archive has 19 videos and there is always more being added whether it be older or newer, so check back daily for all the latest videos.
— Trivia
  • Daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.
  • Two maternal half-siblings: Alexander Bauer (son of Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith) and Stella Banderas (daughter of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith).
  • Four paternal half-siblings: Jesse Johnson (son of Don Johnson and Patti D’Arbanville), Grace Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Kelley Phleger), Jasper Johnson and Deacon Johnson (sons of Don Johnson and Kelley Phleger).
  • Ex-stepdaughter of Antonio Banderas.
  • Born in Austin, Texas and Melanie’s OB GYN was Noble Doss. Pictures of Melanie can be seen in Dr. Doss’s photo album in his office.
  • She is the third generation to be involved with the Golden Globes, as she was Miss Golden Globe in 2006, is the daughter of Don Johnson (Golden Globe winner for Miami Vice (1984)) and Melanie Griffith. (Golden Globe winner for Working Girl (1988)), and granddaughter of Tippi Hedren (Golden Globe winner for Most Promising Newcomer, 1964).
  • She denied that she was in a 30-day rehab program at the Visions Teen Treatment Center in Malibu, CA, for drug and alcohol addiction in September 2007. She said that the press misinterpreted the fact that she was in therapy as a teenager because of some issues with her parents, who have both battled substance abuse.
  • Niece of actress Tracy Griffith and production designer Clay A. Griffith.
  • Granddaughter of Peter Griffith.
  • She took down her Facebook profile, because she didn’t like being on it, even though she acted in the hit film The Social Network (2010) which is about the origins of Facebook.
  • Was considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon Magazine’s Young Hollywood Issue (May 2010).
  • On the audio commentary for the DVD release of The Social Network (2010), director David Fincher said that Dakota was “wonderful” in a “pretty thankless role,” since she has only one scene as Justin Timberlake’s one-night stand.
  • Once lived with musician Noah Gersh and later with actor Jordan Masterson.
  • Landed the coveted role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), the film adaptation of the best-selling erotic novel, by reading a long, sexually-explicit monologue from the Ingmar Bergman film Persona (1966). It was an unconventional choice for an audition piece, but Dakota felt that the filmmakers were looking for a leading lady who would address the sexy material in a mature, direct manner. When she advanced to screen testing she re-enacted the first and last chapters of the book with co-star Jamie Dornan.
  • As a child, she acted with her mother Melanie Griffith and her half-sister Stella Banderas in Crazy in Alabama (1999), but her family wouldn’t let her act again until several years later, after she graduated from high school.
  • She appeared in 21 Jump Street (2012), the film version of the hit TV series 21 Jump Street (1987). Her half-aunt, Tracy Griffith, had appeared as a guest star on the original series in the 1989 episode 21 Jump Street: Eternal Flame (1989).
  • Director Sean Baker considered casting Dakota and her real-life grandmother Tippi Hedren together in his film Starlet (2012) before deciding on Besedka Johnson and Dree Hemingway.
  • She affectionately calls her grandmother Tippi Hedren, “Mormor” (a Swedish word for grandmother). Tippi’s father was of Swedish descent. Dakota’s other ancestry is English, Welsh, German, Norwegian, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), Irish, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French Huguenot.
  • Has stated that she has never casually dated men, and that she has always had long-term relationships with her boyfriends.
  • Like her grandmother Tippi Hedren, she is an animal rights activist; she saved 12 horses from being killed in 2014 by paying for them.
  • Her Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) director Sam Taylor-Johnson recommended her to director Luca Guadagnino, who cast her in A Bigger Splash (2015), his remake of La piscine (1969) in the role originated by Jane Birkin. She was nervous replacing Margot Robbie, just days before filming, but co-star Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton calmed her down and affectionately nicknamed her “Cousin Duckie”. Guadagnino once again cast both Dakota and Tilda in the remake of Suspiria (1977), also titled Suspiria (2018).
  • Prior to landing the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), her most recognized roles included being Sean Parker’s (Justin Timberlake) one-night stand in The Social Network (2010), a cop posing as a high school student in 21 Jump Street (2012) and a neurotic ex-girlfriend in The Five-Year Engagement (2012). All three roles are considered by many to be scene stealing, but they totalled less screen time than the average music video.
  • She did not tell anyone about being involved in the auditioning process for the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). She has said that if the project fell through or she wasn’t selected, she didn’t want to have to explain herself or the process repeatedly. After she was cast, she couldn’t tell anyone for weeks as the studio prepared an official casting announcement.
  • After being selected for the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), she screen-tested with over 20 actors before the studio decided on who to cast as Christian Grey.
  • She replaced Abby Elliott as a young, single mother named Kate on the short-lived Fox sitcom, Ben & Kate (2012). The show lasted only 16 episodes before being canceled. The final three episodes were never aired in the US.
  • She started an exercise routine to prepare for Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), but not just because she wanted to look good on screen. She wanted Anastasia to have the appearance of an average, active college student.
  • She had to apply body make-up to cover her tattoos for Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). Her tattoos are visible in every other project and photo shoot she has done.
  • She auditioned in front of Judd Apatow for a role in HBO’s Girls (2012-2017) but was not selected. He later recommended her for a small role as a neurotic, sex-obsessed girlfriend named Audrey in The Five-Year Engagement (2012), which he produced. (Her performance as Audrey caught the attention of Jake Kasdan who cast her as a last-minute replacement in Ben & Kate (2012).) She became friends with Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann when they worked together in the film How to Be Single (2016). In fact, it was Mann who presented Dakota with both the Calvin Klein Spotlight Award in 2015 and the People’s Choice Award in 2016.
  • She reportedly beat out Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Shailene Woodley, Lucy Hale, Chloe Bridges, Felicity Jones, Kristen Stewart, and her Need for Speed (2014) co-star Imogen Poots to land the role of Anastasia in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015).
  • She did not use a body double for any scenes in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) except for one BDSM scene. A double was used for a scene involving her character Anastasia being whipped with a belt. Dakota did not want to participate in the scene to avoid personal injury and to avoid her body being marked in any way.
  • Whenever she is truly laughing she cries. She has stated that it has become a nuisance on film sets because she has to constantly have her make-up touched up in between takes.
  • Announced during the Saturday Night Live (2015) 40th Anniversary special on February 15, 2015 that she was set to host “SNL” on February 28, 2015.
  • Attended the New Roads School in Santa Monica, CA, for three years.
  • Has said her biggest sacrifice was accepting the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) because the entire world can see her completely naked.
  • Three things she always carries in her purse: keys, Chap-Stick and candy.
  • Her favorite song, on the Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) soundtrack, is “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones.
  • She took a flogger and several pairs of underwear from the set of Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). She said the underwear was too comfortable to leave behind.
  • Her favorite book is the 1955 novel,”Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov. Her real-life mother Melanie Griffith played Lolita’s mother in the 1997 film adaptation Lolita (1997).
  • Was a presenter at the 87th annual Academy Awards on February 22, 2015. Dakota attended the ceremony with her mother, Melanie Griffith.
  • Has been in an off-and-on relationship with Welsh model Matthew Hitt since 2014.
  • Has collaborated with Nicholas Braun thrice: they appeared together in Date and Switch (2014), in the short film In a Relationship (2015), and in How to Be Single (2016). They played a struggling young couple all three times.
  • Despite the fact that there have been continuous rumors stating she did not get along with her Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) co-star Jamie Dornan and vice versa, the two are actually on good terms with one another. She thanked him in her acceptance speech when she won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress by stating that she “couldn’t have done it without you”.
  • In 2016, she said that she regretted getting most of her tattoos, because it takes a long time to cover them up for her movie roles. The only tattoo that she doesn’t regret is a quote from Aldous Huxley’s Island that reads “Lightly my darling” inked in white, which matches the one her half-sister Stella Banderas has, too.
  • Several people have chosen to work repeatedly with Dakota because of her beauty, talent, and professionalism: producing team of Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti (The Social Network (2010) and The Fifty Shades Trilogy – Grey, Darker and Freed); actor Johnny Depp (21 Jump Street (2012) and Black Mass (2015)), actor Nicholas Braun (Date and Switch (2014), In a Relationship (2015), How to Be Single (2016)), writer Dana Fox (Ben & Kate (2012), How to Be Single (2016)), actor Jason Segel (The Five-Year Engagement (2012) and Our Friend (2019)), actor Armie Hammer (The Social Network (2010) and Wounds (2019)), actor Max Minghella (The Social Network (2010) and the short film Just a Minute (2015)), Nick Offerman (21 Jump Street (2012), Date and Switch (2014), Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)), actor Bill Pullman (Cymbeline (2014), The High Note (2020)), actor Ice Cube (21 Jump Street (2012) and The High Note (2020)), actress Leslie Mann (How to Be Single (2016), Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)), the team of director Luca Guadagnino-writer David Kajganich-actress Tilda Swinton (A Bigger Splash (2015) and Suspiria (2018)).
  • She dropped out of the film Under the Silver Lake (2018) because of scheduling conflicts, and her role went to her close friend Riley Keough. She had been a bridesmaid at Keough’s wedding to Ben Smith-Petersen in 2015.
  • Dakota deleted her private social media Instagram account and stopped posting pictures on her public account due to negative comments from internet trolls.
  • She drives an 1995 F-150 her grandpa gave her that he used on his ranch in Missouri.
  • The one special project that’s been passed down three generations in Dakota’s family is J.M. Barrie’s play Mary Rose. Her grandmother Tippi Hedren was originally set to star in the film adaptation for director Alfred Hitchcock in 1964, and she was heartbroken that the film was never made, because she and Hitchcock had a falling out. Tippi gave the play to her daughter Melanie Griffith, when she was a child, who also loved it. When Melanie grew up, she too wanted to play the title character with her then-husband Antonio Banderas as director, but after their production Greenmoon productions released flop movies like Crazy in Alabama (1999) and The Body (2001), financing collapsed for the project. As of 2018, Dakota is the right age to play Mary Rose, but the film studios have long ago decided that the project wasn’t commercial, so a film with her is also unlikely.
  • She self-identifies ambitious. With unwavering determination, she stuck to The Fifty Shades Trilogy – Grey, Darker and Freed even as her original leading man, Charlie Hunnam, quit before filming to be replaced by Jamie Dornan in the first film, and even when director Sam Taylor-Johnson and writer Kelly Marcel declined to work on the sequels. Her ambition extended to doing nude scenes with no hesitation with Jamie Dornan, whom she had never met before filming.
  • Dakota has never been public about her political views. However, at the February 26, 2017 Academy Awards ceremony, she and Academy Award winner Emma Stone wore pins showing their support for Planned Parenthood (which gives medical services to women) in protest of President Donald Trump and other Republicans who vowed to defund Planned Parenthood. In 2018, she said that she has never met Trump but is wary of his policies and his overzealous followers.
  • With her Razzie Award win for Worst Actress (for Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)) in 2016, she became a second generation Worst Actress winner. As her mother Melanie Griffith won Worst Actress in 1993 for both Shining Through (1992) and A Stranger Among Us (1992).
  • She is not related to her Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) director Sam Taylor-Johnson, even though they share the same last name. Nevertheless, the two women share a strong bond. The director had first seen Dakota in an eye-catching cameo in The Social Network (2010) and said she wanted to know more about her, and then cast her in her star-making turn. Even though, she declined to direct the sequels, she has continued to stay in touch with Dakota and has recommended her to other directors.
  • She strongly believes in protecting people from sexual harassment. Her grandmother Tippi Hedren has stated that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock harassed her when she was under contract to him, and she had to dissolve the contract to get away from him, thus sacrificing her career as a star. Dakota is one of the original signers of the Time’s Up movement and she donated money to the legal defense fund that was started in 2017 to help survivors of sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace. She wore the Time’s Up pin to the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January 2018. She showed up at the 2018 Global Citizen Festival and told women and girls to call her and share their stories about how they have suffered by being second-class citizens., because she will listen and amplify their voices.
  • In a televised interview, her ex-stepfather Antonio Banderas referred to Don Johnson as Dakota’s “biological father” — which implies that Don had comparatively little to do with raising her. Ironically, Dakota allegedly refused to even speak to Antonio following his split from her mother, Melanie Griffith. But when Antonio had a heart attack in 2017, Dakota reportedly “freaked out” and quickly reconciled with him. In 2019, she gave a moving tribute to him at the Hollywood Film Awards, while presenting him with a Hollywood Actor Award. She calls him “Papi”.
  • Is a supporter of Planned Parenthood.
  • Jimmy Kimmel is her next-door neighbor in Los Angeles.
  • In 2016, she was set to reunite with Matthias Schoenaerts, her handsome costar from A Bigger Splash (2015), for Sound of Metal (2019), but because of scheduling conflicts, both actors dropped out, and their roles were recast with Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke. She was disappointed, because she had wanted to work with Schoenaerts again, since she “adored him” and referred to him as a “sweetheart”. In 2018, she fondly recalled to Armie Hammer how she would watch Schoenaerts nap between takes on A Bigger Splash (2015). There is a playful picture of them on pinterest.com, where he is giving her a piggy ride.
  • In 2020, she became the first female director in her family when she co-directed with Cory Bailey the music video to Coldplay’s song Cry Cry Cry featuring her paramour Chris Martin.
  • She has expressed a desire to play the DC Comics character Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
  • She has been in a relationship with musician Chris Martin since October 2017.
  • Born at 2:49PM-CDT.