It is safe to say that Dakota Johnson’s chances of pursuing an acting career were very high: she is Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson’s daughter, and Tippi Hedren’s granddaughter, which is why she grew up on sets, among props, and close to movie cameras. Indeed, Johnson made her acting debut in 1999, at the young age of 9, when she played a small role in Crazy in Alabama, a film directed by Antonio Banderas, with her mother in the lead role. However, she did not appear in any other projects until 2010, when she returned to the big screen with The Social Network, David Fincher’s three-time Oscar winning drama about the creation of Facebook.
From then on, Johnson has been involved in numerous productions, but the one that launched her to fame was the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, which she starred in alongside Jamie Dornan. In this trilogy, the actress plays Anastasia Steele, a timid young woman who ended up having an affair with a peculiar billionaire. The trilogy is inspired by the eponymous E.L. James novels and, contrary to the books’ acclaim, the film adaptation was not well received by critics. Although Anastasia is by far the role most associated with Johnson, the actress has many more brilliant performances. Here’s a look at some of Dakota Johnson’s best performances.
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6 The High Note
This 2020 movie was directed by Nisha Ganatra, and features Johnson as Maggie, the overworked assistant of Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), a music star whose talent landed her on top of her game. Maggie spends her days running errands for her boss, willing to fulfill every whim, but she dreams of becoming a music producer, and is secretly preparing an album of her boss’ best singles. However, when Grace’s manager (Ice Cube) offers the singer a chance to take her career in another direction, both women come up with a plan that may change their lives forever. The cast of The High Note is rounded out by Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bill Pullman and Zoe Chao. The movie received rave reviews and even garnered a few awards.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Black Mass
James Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp) grew up with his friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) on the streets of South Boston. They meet again as adults, but their paths have diverged: Connolly is an important player in the Boston FBI office, and Bulger became a leader of the Irish mob. Both men team up for a collaborative mission with a goal in common: to eliminate the Italian mob. This unthinkable alliance triggers several violent events that allow Whitey to elude the law’s control, consolidate his power and become one of the most powerful gangsters in Boston’s history.
Black Mass is a 2015 movie directed by Scott Cooper. Johnson plays the part of Lindsey Cyr, Whitey’s former girlfriend and also the mother of his only child. Kevin Bacon, Benedict Cumberbatch and Peter Sarsgaard complete the cast of this film adaptation based on the best-seller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob.
4 Our Friend
In this 2019 film Dakota stars as Nicole, a woman who must face the hardest time of her life when she learns she has terminal cancer and only six months to live. Together with her husband Matthew (Casey Affleck) they decide to cope with it and tell their two daughters. To help them and ease the situation Dean (Jason Segel), the couple’s best friend, moves into their house for a while to take care of their daughters and lend them a helping hand during this difficult time. But the impact of this situation will be much greater than anyone could have imagined. Our Friend was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and is inspired by a true story. Upon its release the movie received rave reviews from both experts and the audience.
3 A Bigger Splash
This remake of the French film La Piscine was directed by Luca Guadagnino and tells the story of a married couple enjoying a quiet vacation in Sicily, when their peace is interrupted by the appearance of the wife’s old lover, a lying, profiting man who is accompanied by his attractive daughter. When her husband begins to seduce her ex lover’s daughter, a spiral of jealousy and suspicion begins among the four of them, with irreversible consequences. The cast of A Bigger Splash is headed by Tilda Swinton (Marianne Lane, the singer), Ralph Fiennes (Harry Hawkes, the old lover), Johnson (Penelope Lanier, Hawkes’ attractive daughter) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Paul De Smedt, Marianne’s partner).
2 The Peanut Butter Falcon
This film is written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz. It was released in 2019 and garnered several nominations and awards including the NBR award for Best Independent Film. In The Peanut Butter Falcon, we follow the story of Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a boy with Down Syndrome who runs away from his residence to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Out of a series of circumstances he meets Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a criminal who is also on the run and subsequently becomes his trainer and ally. Their adventure leads them both to meet Eleanor (Johnson), a somewhat peculiar nurse who has been sent to find Zak, but decides to join them on their journey through Northern California.
1 The Lost Daughter
The Lost Daughter marks the directorial debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal. This recent film features a prominent cast including Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and Peter Sarsgaard and is based on Italian author Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name. The film follows Leda, a divorced college professor and mother of two daughters. When they leave home to stay with their father in Canada, Leda feels both lonely and liberated, so she decides to take a seaside holiday in a small coastal town in southern Italy. During her stay, the woman becomes obsessed with a young mother named Nina (played by Johnson, looking almost unrecognizable) and her daughter, which will force her to confront issues from her past and maternity.
