[14] Johnson was interested in acting as a child, having spent significant time on film sets with her parents, but they discouraged her from pursuing the profession until she graduated high school.

[5] In 1999, Johnson made her film debut in Crazy in Alabama, where she and her half-sister Stella Banderas played daughters to their real-life mother, Melanie Griffith.

[12] Though acting is her primary work, she has since modeled for MANGO brand's jeans line in 2009 and shot the "Rising Star" campaign for Australian fashion label Wish in 2011.

Johnson's breakthrough came with her leading role as Anastasia "Ana" Steele in the erotic romantic drama film Fifty Shades of Grey, which was released in February 2015 and brought her international recognition.

[29] Johnson won the role over Lucy Hale, Felicity Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Danielle Panabaker, and Shailene Woodley.

Also in 2015, she reunited with her 21 Jump Street cast member Johnny Depp, playing the mother of his character's child in the feature film Black Mass.

[33] In 2015, Johnson starred in Luca Guadagnino's thriller A Bigger Splash,[34] alongside Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Ralph Fiennes.

[35] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers stated that Johnson showed that her character "has more on her mind than slithering seductively".

[37] The same year saw the release of Cymbeline, a modern film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, in which she starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Ed Harris.

[39] She performed a cover of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You", alongside Zani Jones Mbayise, Vanessa Rubio and Damon Wayans Jr. for the soundtrack of the film.

[citation needed] Johnson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2016.

[41] Also in 2018, she starred in Drew Goddard's neo-noir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, with Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, and Chris Hemsworth.

In the film, she played a hippie staying at a resort on the California-Nevada border where the lives of various people with suspicious pasts intersect.

[42] Screen Rant ranked Johnson's performance as the fourth-best in the film and stated that "she brings a reserved, under-the-surface power to her role".

[45] Johnson starred in the well-reviewed independent adventure film The Peanut Butter Falcon, alongside Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, and Bruce Dern.

[50][51] She sang on three covers of songs for the film's soundtrack,[citation needed] including one of "If I Had the World to Give" by Grateful Dead.

[53] While Gary Goldstein from the Los Angeles Times stated that Johnson "impresses with affecting range — from flirty, ebullient and adoring to stalwart, enraged and resigned; it's a lovely performance".

[57] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that "she's lovely to look at and can never be accused of overacting, but in terms of conveying single-minded drive, Johnson is no match for [Tracee Ellis] Ross's carefully calibrated tonal swings between imperiousness, self-awareness, isolation and down-to-earth intimacy.

[64] Johnson played a cab passenger who has an emotionally profound interaction with a cabbie in the film Daddio, in which she starred opposite Sean Penn.

[70][71][72] Johnson was previously involved in long-term relationships with musician Noah Gersh[20][73] and actor Jordan Masterson.

[74][75] She dated Matthew Hitt, the lead vocalist of Welsh indie rock band Drowners, intermittently for almost two years until 2016.