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Arts and Entertainment

Who Is Dakota Johnson, Your New 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Star, Anyway?

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Yesterday, a collective "who?" met the announcement that Dakota Johnson had landed the coveted role of Anastasia Steele in the upcoming kinky sex-o-rama Fifty Shades of Grey. So where have you seen her before?

First of all, she's not Dakota Fanning. (Can't blame you if you went there first. That Dakota, star of War of the Worlds, is now 19, by the way.)

As you've read, Dakota Johnson is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. She got her acting start in 1999 in one of her mom's films, Crazy in Alabama, directed by her stepfather, Antonio Banderas. And did we mention her grandmother is The Birds star Tippi Hedren? That's a pretty star-studded lineage.

Besides her Hollywood heritage, the 23-year-old began modeling at age 12 after being featured in Teen Vogue. She was Miss Golden Globe in 2006, a presenter role that always goes to the children of stars. That same year, she also signed with IMG Models and modeled MANGO jeans.

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You surely remember her scene in the The Social Network as the barely dressed co-ed who has a one-night stand with Justin Timberlake, in which he tells her he founded Napster.

She was also Audrey, the girl Jason Segel dates while on a break from Emily Blunt in the Five Year Engagement and Fugazy, the competitive female undercover cop in 21 Jump Street.

From 2012-2013, she played "overly responsible single mom Kate" in the short-lived Fox sitcom Ben and Kate and appeared as one of the new hires on the finale of The Office.

She's also been cast as Imogen in a modern-day film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline with Ethan Hawke and Milla Jovovich, to be directed by Michael Almereyda, who also helmed the 2000 modern-day Hamlet with Hawke.

Let's not forget that mom Melanie Griffith was a bit of a sex bomb back in the day, with racy roles as porn star "Holly Body" in Body Double and a femme fatale in Something Dangerous.

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We now return you to your outrage that they didn't cast Emma Watson or _____ (fill in the blank) as Anastasia. There's actually a petition on Change.org to cast fan favorites White Collar star Matt Bomer and Alexis Bleidel (Gilmore Girls) instead of Charlie Hunnam and Johnson.

Related:
Charlie Hunnam, Dakota Johnson Cast As Christian And Anastasia In '50 Shades Of Grey' Movie

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