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What Happened to Don Johnson? Find Out Where the Award-Winning ‘Miami Vice’ Actor Is Now
From 1984 to 1989, Don Johnson portrayed Detective James “Sonny” Crockett in the crime drama Miami Vice. After landing the role of a lifetime, the actor’s resume continued to grow as he cemented his status as a Hollywood heartthrob.
What Happened to Don Johnson?
Don, born in 1949, in Flat Creek Township, Missouri, was involved in theater in high school, something he hoped to pursue after graduation. Though he had made minor appearances in other films and television series like Law of the Land and The Rookies before 1984, his Miami Vice role was what put him on the map as an international phenomenon.
After five seasons on the hit NBC series, Don looked toward the next chapter of his career.
“When we got to the end of the fifth season, obviously Universal wanted me to make more episodes. They basically said, ‘You can do it any way you want. You can do two-hour movies if you want. You can do all this,’” the Book Club actor told Yahoo! Entertainment in December 2022.
He was ready to let the show go, despite persistence from network executives to sign on for another season.
“And I just said, ‘You know what? This is done. This character’s been done. We’ve told every possible story that you can imagine,’” Don admitted. “‘I have fatigue [from] playing the character. And I imagine that we’re messing with fire if we continue to throw this out there.’ It would’ve still sold soap. But I’m not so sure that there would’ve been much for me beyond that.”
Where Is Don Johnson Now?
After Miami Vice, Don joined the cast of Nash Bridges as the eponymous Nash Bridges in 1996. Alongside Cheech Marin, the Golden Globe winner starred in the police procedural series until 2001. In the years that followed, he appeared in Just Legal, Machete, Eastbound & Down, Blood & Oil and more.
In 2019, Don appeared in the mystery film Knives Out and several episodes of the Watchmen TV series. From 2021 to 2022, he starred in multiple episodes of Kenan. In early 2024, it was announced that Don was joining the cast of the Ryan Murphy medical drama Doctor Odyssey. Joshua Jackson also joined the cast of the show, which set a September 2024 premiere date.
“He’s an amalgamation of men that I’ve known throughout my life in authority,” Don told TV Insider of his character in the show, Captain Robert Massey. “The ones who are the most effective are the kindest. They know how to get people to follow you; they command respect and not demand it.”
Is Don Johnson Married?
Don has been married five times to four different women. Perhaps his most famous relationship was with Melanie Griffith, whom he was married to in 1976 before they divorced that same year. They were married a second time from 1989 to 1996.
Currently, Don is married to kindergarten teacher Kelley Phleger. The couple tied the knot in 1999 and have been inseparable ever since.
“They want their time together with their family to be sacred,” a friend of the star told Closer Weekly in November 2019. “They live a charmed life.”
How Many Children Does He Have?
The Sick Note alum is a dad of five kids. Don welcomed his eldest son, Jesse Johnson, with ex-girlfriend Patti D’Arbanville in 1982. His second child, Dakota Johnson, arrived in 1989 during his second marriage to Melanie. Don shares his three younger children, Grace, Jasper and Deacon, with his current wife, Kelley.
Don has a close relationship with all of his kids, “but is trying to make up for lost time with them,” the friend said.
“He’s a doting, involved dad with the younger three. And nothing makes him happier than when his whole brood is together,” the insider added.
Family still remains at the center of his universe, even though he is reigniting his career.
“I don’t have any vices,” he once said. “Except my children.”
And while he and Dakota are both superstars in their own right, Don admitted to People in May 2023, “We don’t get involved in each other’s worlds, we’re father and daughter. She’s a professional I’m a professional.”
