The next Kristen Stewart or Jennifer Lawrence? Though her name may not be well-known yet, Dakota Johnson has just been cast as the female lead of the much-anticipated movie adaptation of author E.L. James' erotic trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. Johnson, 23, will star as college graduate Anastasia Steele opposite Charlie Hunnam's billionaire businessman character Christian Grey.
The decision, officially announced on Monday, Sept. 2, was met with instant criticism from fans for casting relative newcomers. Here, Us Weekly uncovers five things you might not know about Johnson.
1. She has famous parents. Johnson is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, who were married for six months in 1976 and again in 1989 for seven years. "My beautiful child Dakota has been chosen to play Anna Steele in 50 Shades!!!" Griffith, 56, tweeted Sept. 2. "Look out world! Here she comes!!! #proudmama." Johnson, however, doesn't like to brag abut her parents. The actress told Interview magazine in April 2012, "For me it's just my family, it's the way I grew up and it's my mom and my dad . . . sometimes it's kind of a drag to talk about.
2. She made her acting debut at age 10. Johnson and her half-sister, Stella Banderas, played daughters to real-life mom Griffith in the 1999 film Crazy in Alabama, which was directed by stepfather Anthonio Banderas. Johnson told Access Hollywood in 2012 that Griffith and Banderas, who married in 1996, don't help her with acting, but do give advice on "normal life things."
3. She's slept with Justin Timberlake . . . on screen. The actress played Stanford college Amelia Ritter in 2010's The Social Network, who introduces Timberlake's Sean Parker character to Facebook following a random hookup. "[Director] David Fincher told me that I managed to make a thankless character pretty awesome," she recalled to Interview magazine of her small role in the film. "I thought that was really cool because I think [Fincher is] really cool."
4. She's already been a leading lady. Johnson played the lead role of Kate Fox, a single mom to a 5-year-old daughter, in the 2012 FOX TV series, Ben and Kate. "I think that we're trying to bring back the idea of family being really important, instead of just having a TV show about funny people doing funny things all the time," Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter. Sadly, the comedy show was canceled after one season.
5. She's no stranger to sex scenes. In 2012's The Five-Year Engagement, Johnson shared some outrageous between-the-sheets moments with Jason Segel. "Those things are always a little uncomfortable at first," she admitted to Interview magazine at the time, "but the whole point of the scene is just to show how ridiculous this girl is, so I made a complete fool of myself."
