Got nothing to do for the next 5 minutes? Then you’ll be thrilled to find out what we have in store for you. Recently, actor Don Johnson appeared on Late Night With Seth Myers to discuss his daughter Dakota, a popular actress in her own right. He noted that she has never asked him for acting advice and that once she graduated from high school, she was determined to find success without expecting financial help from either of her famous parents, mother Melanie Griffith included. A mere three weeks after she received her high school diploma, she had accepted a role in The Social Network. And the rest is history. Here are a few more facts about Dakota Johnson that you might not have known.
She was discouraged from being a child actor
Having two parents in Hollywood (in addition step-parents such as Griffin’s ex Antonio Banderas) certainly makes it easier to get into the industry. But Melanie and Don weren’t thrilled with the idea of their daughter acting when she was still in school. They wanted her to live as normal a childhood as possible, which is why she didn’t launch a serious career as an actress until after she had graduated.
But she wasn’t entirely out of the limelight as a kid
Although she made her film debut at the age of 9 when she appeared in Crazy in Alabama as a daughter to her real-life mother Griffith (a film directed by Banderas), it would be her only movie as a child. But this doesn’t mean she wasn’t finding other ways to earn some money. She signed a modeling contract with IMG Models in 2006 at the age of 16. In 2009 she modeled for the Spanish-based clothing retailer MANGO line of jeans.
Her parents’ backgrounds couldn’t have been more opposite
Melanie Griffith grew up in an affluent household. Her mother is actress and animal activist Tippi Hedren, perhaps best known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie The Birds. Meanwhile, her father Peter Griffith was a child actor who performed on Broadway and eventually became an advertising executive. On the other hand, Don Johnson was raised in poverty, the child of poor Kansas farmers. But his acting talents — most notably as James “Sonny” Crockett in the TV series Miami Vice — made him wealthy and famous. Does all of this impress Dakota? Not really. In fact, she has stated that she gets tired of answering questions about being born to celebrity parents.
