From a young age, Dakota Johnson knew she wanted to be an actress.
This fact was confirmed when her father, Don Johnson, appeared on the March 9 episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers and recalled a conversation he had with the 31-year-old star back when she was in high school. The topic came up after Seth Meyers asked if Dakota ever does or did ask Don for career advice.
"That bus left. She doesn't need any advice from me," the 71-year-old actor replied. "The funny thing about her is—we have a rule in the family that, you know, if you stay in school, you get to stay on the payroll. So, you go to college, you get to stay on the payroll. Towards the end of high school, I went to her and I said, 'So, do you want to go visit some colleges?' Or something like that. And she was like, 'Oh, no. I'm not going to college.'"
The Knives Out alum told his daughter this meant she "won't be on the payroll anymore" and asked how she was "going to manage." But Dakota simply told him, "Don't you worry about it."
He certainly didn't have to. "Three weeks later she had nailed down that part in David Fincher's The Social Network," Don said, "and the rest is, shall we say, cinema history."
Dakota actually landed her first role before the age of 10. She appeared in the 1999 film Crazy in Alabama—which starred her mom, actress Melanie Griffith.
And after The Social Network, she went on to act in a number of other films, including the Fifty Shades series, How to Be Single, Suspiria and Bad Times at the El Royale.
"She doesn't really call me for advice," Don said. "She calls me to say, 'Gosh, I would see you, but I've got three pictures I'm shooting at the same time.'"
In addition to talking about Dakota, Don discussed appearing in the Emmy-winning series Watchmen and working on Kenan Thompson's new show Kenan.
Watch the video to see his interview.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family).