He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series Miami Vice, for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

[11][7] He moved back home to Wichita for his senior year of high school, working part-time as a butcher's apprentice and ladies' shoe salesman.

[11] When he was kicked off the school's football team, Johnson enrolled in a drama class to earn enough credits to graduate.

[19] In 1984, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor, Johnson landed a starring role as undercover police detective Sonny Crockett in the Michael Mann/Universal Television cop series, Miami Vice.

As Miami Vice's Sonny Crockett, the undercover detective and professional stubble-cultivator who lived on a houseboat with his pet alligator Elvis, he embodied masculine cool in the era of coke binges and Lamborghinis".

[30] Johnson's work on Miami Vice earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama, in 1986.

[33][34] Between seasons on Miami Vice, Johnson gained further renown through the TV miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985), a remake of the 1958 film.

[36] In 1988, he starred in the romantic comedy Sweet Hearts Dance, alongside Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels and Elizabeth Perkins.

[37] In 1989 he played the sheriff of Los Angeles County Jerry Beck in John Frankenheimer's film Dead Bang.

[40][41] He appeared alongside Mickey Rourke in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991),[42] and in Sidney Lumet's thriller Guilty as Sin (1993), opposite Rebecca De Mornay.

[43] Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, Jaime P. Gomez, Kelly Hu, Wendy Moniz, Annette O'Toole, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as his daughter Cassidy, and James Gammon as his father Nick.

Johnson portrayed the title role, an inspector (later promoted to captain) for the San Francisco Police Department.

In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the West End of London production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.

In October 2010, he began appearing on the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing Kenny Powers' long-lost father, going by the alias "Eduardo Sanchez".

He also reprised his role as Sonny Crockett for a Nike commercial with LeBron James in which the NBA player contemplates acting and appears alongside Johnson on Miami Vice.

[48] Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett.

[51] In 2018, he starred as the character of Arthur, the love interest of Vivian, played by Jane Fonda in Bill Holderman's romantic-comedy Book Club.

[56] In April 2024, it was revealed that Johnson would be starring in the Ryan Murphy drama television series, Doctor Odyssey, which premiered on ABC and Hulu on September 26, 2024.

[62] During the first half of 1972, Johnson met Melanie Griffith, the 14-year-old daughter of his Harrad Experiment co-star Tippi Hedren.

[69] Johnson was then briefly involved with Dead Bang co-star Penelope Ann Miller before reuniting with Melanie Griffith.

[69] They conceived a child close to the start of 1989,[60] Dakota Johnson (born October 4, 1989), and were married again from June of that year until 1996.

On April 29, 1999, Johnson married San Francisco socialite and Montessori nursery school teacher Kelley Phleger, former longtime girlfriend of Governor Gavin Newsom,[72] at the Pacific Heights mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty.

[85] In May 2008, within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado, home to foreclosure, Johnson paid off his $14.5 million debt.