Don Johnson Biography

Actor, director, musician, producer. Born Donald Wayne Johnson on December 15, 1949 in Flat Creek, Missouri. Johnson's father was a farmer and his mother was a beautician. He didn't get his start in acting until he entered the University of Kansas and later, the American Conservatory Theatre. A professional actor by his late teens, Johnson's earliest stage and screen assignments frequently found him cast as a fallen innocent.

In 1970, he gained national attention as the 20-year-old star of the counterculture comedy The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He received critical and popular acclaim again in 1975 with the cult favorite A Boy and His Dog. He then fell off the radar for over a decade, not making his comeback until 1984 with the role of Sonny Crockett in the trend-setting TV cop series Miami Vice. The series lasted until 1989, earning Johnson a Golden Globe Award and celebrity status.

He followed the series with memorable performances in TV movies, including Ben Quick in the 1985 remake of The Long Hot Summer. During the 1995-96 season, Johnson enjoyed another career renaissance as the star of Nash Bridges, another detective show, this time filmed on the West Coast. That year, he also costarred as Kevin Costner's adversary in the Ron Shelton golf comedy Tin Cup.

More recently, Johnson tried to make a return to series television. He starred as a gruff, burnt out lawyer named Grant Cooper on 2005’s Just Legal. On the show, Cooper takes on a 18-year-old law school graduate as his associate, Skip Ross (played by Jay Baruchel), who helps revive Cooper's interest in the law. It was cancelled after only a few episodes.

Since then, Johnson has made headlines for his financial troubles. He almost lost his Aspen, Colorado ranch because of his unpaid debt to a lending company in 2006. He was able to stop the foreclosure by making a payment of $14.5 million. That same year, Johnson and his wife welcomed their third child together—a son. He has been married to Mary "Kelley" Phleger since 1998. They also have a daughter, Atherton Grace, and a son, Jasper. 

Before settling down, Johnson received a lot of much publicity for his numerous romantic liaisons. After two annulled marriages to a dancer and a musician, Johnson married actress Melanie Griffith in 1976. The couple divorced in 1977, remarried in 1989, and divorced a second time. The couple has one daughter, Dakota. Johnson also has a son, Jesse, by Patti D'Arbanville.

© 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.