Dakota Johnson's birthday
Dakota Mayi Johnson was born on October 4th, 1989, in Austin, Texas, into a family that had been in show business for quite some time, as her parents are actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and her maternal grandparents were also professional actors. Since Dakota spent much of her early years moving around from set to set due to her parents’ work, it was only natural that she became interested in the profession too. Although she took an interest in acting at a young age, Johnson’s parents discouraged her from pursuing it until after she finished high school. However, she did pursue a modeling career, starting at age fourteen.
Dakota’s acting debut was alongside her mother and half-sister in the 1999 film, Crazy in Alabama, directed by her former stepfather, Antonio Banderas. After high school, she took acting lessons while she also worked as a model under the William Morris Agency. In 2010, she appeared in a minor role in box office hit The Social Network, followed by Beastly (2011) and For Ellen (2012.) Dakota’s first television role was in Fox’s comedy series Ben and Kate (2012-13), which only lasted one season. Her second TV credit is in the series finale of popular comedy show The Office in 2013. Since then, Dakota has been primarily focused on her film career. Her last television appearance was in 2015, as the host of the variety show Saturday Night Live.
In 2015, Dakota got the role that would launch into international fame as the female protagonist in romantic drama Fifty Shades of Grey (based on the well-known books of the same name.) Although the movie wasn’t very well received by the critics, it was still a box office success. She reprised her role for the sequels in 2017 and 2018. Johnson’s next movies were in leading roles or as part of a star-studded cast ensemble, such as Black Mass, A Bigger Splash and Cymbeline (2015), as well as comedy How to be Single (2016.) In 2018, she was cast in supernatural horror film Suspiria and neo-noir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, and although neither film fared well at the box office, her performance was nonetheless praised.
The year 2019 found her starring in horror film Wounds, adventure movie Our Friend and drama The Peanut Butter Falcon. In 2020, Dakota made her directorial debut in British band Coldplay’s music video for song “Cry Cry Cry.” That same year, Johnson starred in The High Note, which some critics considered as her best role to date. In 2021, she co-starred in psychological drama The Lost Daughter, and in 2021, Dakota appeared as the female lead in Netflix’s adaptation of Persuasion, a novel by Jane Austen. Dakota Johnson joined Sony’s Spider-Man universe in 2022 and is set to star as the titular character in Madame Web, set to be released in 2024.
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