Don Johnson was an overnight success that took years of struggle.
In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, the “Miami Vice” star said he spent years living “below the national poverty level” before achieving Hollywood stardom.
“It leaves a mark. For years I feared losing everything. I managed it with meditation,” Johnson told the outlet of growing up in poverty.
Born to a 16-year-old mother and 19-year-old father in Flat Creek, Missouri, Johnson has memories of his childhood being both “interesting and idyllic” yet says his “parents’ absence and abuse felt like abandonment.”
Recalling his father as a “failed farmer” in Missouri, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where his dad went to work for Boeing and quickly moved up the ranks, while his mother worked as a beautician.
“I got my work ethic from them,” Johnson recalled.
Despite his father’s position at Boeing, he and his three younger siblings lived “in a small house with a single bathroom in projects built originally as employee housing for Boeing. We were still plenty poor.”
In May, he told Parade, “I had a lot of challenges when I was young – not physically, but emotionally and psychologically. I’m not going to get into a psychology session (laughs), but I only later discovered that’s what lights the fire in creativity and that those challenges are what is the fuel.”
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Johnson’s parents divorced when he was 11, and he initially lived with his mom, “but she was incapable of managing a 12-year-old hellion like me.”
“Eventually, I got in serious trouble and wound up in juvenile court. The judge thought I’d be better off with my father, so I moved in, and he taught me to hunt and fish. Those times were magical,” the actor recalled.
In his interview with Parade, Johnson recalled, “I was a wild thing, as you can imagine. (laughs) I was very inventive. I got in a lot of trouble, I got kicked out a few times. I graduated from Wichita South High School, and that’s where my life took a turn.”
He stumbled into acting after being kicked off the football team for falling asleep in a business class and had to take drama to make up the credits. But his teacher saw something in him and cast him as Tony in “West Side Story.”
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“The moment I stood on stage, it was a drug. The audience was showing me love, which more than made up for the stuff I didn’t get at home,” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal.
Johnson won a partial scholarship to the University of Kansas for a summer program that led to a full ride as a drama major, but he left his sophomore year to join the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1969, and while he landed roles in films like “The Harrad Experiment,” where he met Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith, he struggled to make a name for himself as an actor.
“[I] was cast in a lot of forgettable roles, including five unsuccessful TV pilots. For 15 years, I lived below the national poverty level,” he explained.
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In 1983, when Johnson was 34, he auditioned for “Miami Vice” and felt an immediate connection.
“I couldn’t believe somebody had seemingly been jotting down my thoughts, feelings and emotions. The part was meant for me,” he recalled. “The audition went well, so well that I was convinced it was a sure thing.”
However, “Then came the letdown. First the project was delayed, and then it was pushed forward. Months later, I landed ‘Cease Fire,’ an independent film in Miami. Just as I finished the movie, Tony Yerkovich, the creator of “Miami Vice,” called from L.A. to offer me the part. I was annoyed with the process but slipped right into the role.”
“Miami Vice” ran for five seasons on NBC and earned Johnson an Emmy nomination in 1985.
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“For the first year and a half, I was like, ‘I’m just going to stay focused here.’ I’d put in some pretty good struggles. I didn’t want it to all of a sudden – poof. It was kind of the end of the second season when I got my nomination for an Emmy, I realized, ‘Oh! Maybe there’s something to this,’” Johnson told Parade of his sudden success.
“I mean, I’m a farm boy from Missouri. It was a dream,” he added.
Johnson’s Hollywood career continued with his next hit series, “Nash Bridges,” running from 1996 to 2001 on CBS.
He continued working, adding movies like “Machete,” directed by Robert Rodriguez, and “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino, to his resume, as well as playing Jane Fonda’s romantic interest in the “Book Club” films.
The 74-year-old next stars in the Netflix thriller “Rebel Ridge,” playing the police chief.
When he’s not working, he spends time with his wife, Kelley Phleger, and their children at their family home outside Hollywood.
“As for my family house in Flat Creek, it’s still there. I bought it in 1999,” he told WSJ. “I haven’t been back since the start of the pandemic, but I’m looking forward to going soon. I’ve learned to appreciate the good memories there and the painful ones, too.”
