Don Johnson Praises Daughter Dakota’s Successful Hollywood Career: ‘She’s a Wonderful Actress’

Proud papa! Don Johnson had no idea he’d become of one Hollywood’s most accomplished stars, let alone watch his kids follow in his famous footsteps. While recently chatting with The Guardian, the Miami Vice actor revealed nothing took him by surprise quite like the success of his daughter Dakota Johnson‘s acting career.

“I didn’t know that she wanted to do it. She hadn’t shared that with us,” the 69-year-old hunk said of Dakota’s choice to pursue a career as a Hollywood star. “So she’s 18, I think, at the time and I’m going: ‘OK, I’ll just keep my eye on her and reach out and catch her.'”

Although Don initially wanted to keep tabs on his daughter’s path to superstardom, he couldn’t help that Dakota was so independent. “Ha ha, that’s the last I saw of Dakota. She has the goods,” he gushed of his daughter, who rose to international fame after portraying Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. “She’s a wonderful actress, and in some ways better than her mother [Melanie Griffith] and me.”

As fans know, the Nash Bridges actor is the proud dad of five kids. Don welcomed his first child, Jesse Johnson, 36, with ex-girlfriend Patti D’Arbanville just a few years before he welcomed Dakota with ex-wife Melanie. After calling it quits with the Working Girl star, 62, Don married wife Kelley Phleger in 1999 and welcomed kids Grace Johnson, 19, Jasper Johnson, and Deacon Johnson, 13.

Don, who made his film debut in 1970’s the Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, then got candid about the topic of celebrity parents bankrolling their kids’ Hollywood careers. Although the Golden Globe winner admitted he “could write many books on that,” he insisted the importance of being able to draw the line.

“I think you destroy your children, I do. You start off wanting better for them than what you had for yourself, but the more you do for them, the more you cripple them,” he explained. “Struggle is the fuel that drives creativity, discovery and curiosity.”

Even though Don has dedicated much of his time to his highly respected acting career, nothing makes him happier than being a proud dad of five kids. “He’s a doting, involved dad with the younger three,” a friend close to the heartthrob shared with Closer Weekly of his kids with Kelly. “And nothing makes him happier than when his whole brood is together.”

Considering Don’s eldest child, Jesse, also established a successful Hollywood career, it’s safe to say the Johnson’s are one talented family!