Depp has taken on the task of challenging himself to portray "larger-than-life" roles, starting with a supporting role in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon in 1986, then playing the title character in the romantic dark fantasy Edward Scissorhands (1990). He later found box office success in the fantasy adventure film Sleepy Hollow (1999), the fantasy swashbuckler film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its sequels, the fantasy film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland (2010) and voicing the title character in the animated action comedy western Rango (2011). He has collaborated on nine films with director, producer and friend Tim Burton.
Depp is regarded as one of the world's biggest film stars. He has gained worldwide critical acclaim for his portrayals of such people as screenwriter-director Ed Wood in Ed Wood, undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco, "gonzo" journalist Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, cocaine kingpin George Jung in Blow, author J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, the Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, and the Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Films featuring Depp have grossed over $3.2 billion at the United States box office and over $8 billion worldwide. His most commercially successful films are the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which have grossed $3 billion, Alice in Wonderland, which grossed $1 billion, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which grossed $474 million, and The Tourist, which grossed $278 million.
Depp has been nominated for major acting awards, including three nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor. Depp won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for The Curse of the Black Pearl. He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness World Records as the highest paid actor, with earnings of $75 million. Depp was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2015.
Early life
Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells; 1935–2016), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp (born 1938), a civil engineer. Depp is of mostly English ancestry, with some ancestors from elsewhere in Europe. He is descended from a French Huguenot immigrant, Pierre Deppe or Dieppe, who settled in Virginia around 1700. He is also of 3/2048 African descent, as he descends twice over from an African slave whose biracial daughter, Elizabeth Key Grinstead, was the first woman of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in North America to sue for her freedom from slavery and win (in 1655).Depp is a 20th cousin of Elizabeth II.
Early life
Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells; 1935–2016), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp (born 1938), a civil engineer. Depp is of mostly English ancestry, with some ancestors from elsewhere in Europe. He is descended from a French Huguenot immigrant, Pierre Deppe or Dieppe, who settled in Virginia around 1700. He is also of 3/2048 African descent, as he descends twice over from an African slave whose biracial daughter, Elizabeth Key Grinstead, was the first woman of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in North America to sue for her freedom from slavery and win (in 1655).Depp is a 20th cousin of Elizabeth II.
Depp moved frequently during his childhood. He and his siblings lived in more than 20 different places, eventually settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970. Depp's parents divorced in 1978 when he was 15.His mother married Robert Palmer (died 2000), whom Depp has called "an inspiration to me".
With the gift of a guitar from his mother when he was 12, Depp began playing in various garage bands. A year after his parents' divorce, he dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. He attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success. The Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to Six Gun Method, but the group split up before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song "Mary", which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut Geffen Records album Young Man's Blues.
On December 20, 1983, Depp married Lori Anne Allison, the sister of his band's bass player and singer. During their marriage she worked as a makeup artist while he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for pens. His wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to pursue an acting career. Depp and his wife divorced in 1985.
Acting career
Early film roles and 21 Jump Street (1984–1993)
Depp's first film role was in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), in which he played the boyfriend of heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and one of Freddy Krueger's victims. After a starring role in the comedy Private Resort (1985), Depp was cast in the lead role of the skating drama Thrashin' (1986) by the film's director, but the decision was later overridden by its producer. Instead, Depp appeared in a minor supporting role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War drama Platoon (1986).
Depp became a popular teen idol during the late 1980s, when he starred as a police officer who goes on an undercover operation in a high school in the Fox television series 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. He accepted this role to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him. Despite his success, Depp felt that the series "forced [him] into the role of product." He subsequently decided to appear only in films that he felt were right for him.
Depp's first film release in 1990 was John Waters' Cry-Baby, a musical comedy set in the 1950s. Although it was not a box office success upon its initial release, over the years it has gained a cult classic status. Depp's second 1990 film was Tim Burton's film Edward Scissorhands, in which he played the title character opposite Dianne Wiest and Winona Ryder. It was a critical and commercial success that established him as a leading Hollywood actor[citation needed] and began his long association with Burton. Producer Scott Rudin has stated that "basically Johnny Depp is playing Tim Burton in all his movies"; although Burton disapproved of the comment, Depp agrees with it. In his introduction to Burton on Burton, a book of interviews with the director, Depp called Burton "... a brother, a friend, ... and brave soul".
Depp had no film releases in the following two years, with the exception of a brief cameo in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), the sixth installment in the A Nightmare of Elm Street franchise. He appeared in three films in 1993. In the romantic comedy Benny and Joon, he played an eccentric and illiterate silent film fan who befriends a mentally ill woman and her brother; it became a sleeper hit. He then starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a drama about a dysfunctional family. In his review of the film, Todd McCarthy of Variety said that "Depp manages to command center screen with a greatly affable, appealing characterization."Depp's final 1993 release was Emir Kusturica's surrealist comedy-drama Arizona Dream, which opened to positive reviews.
1994–2002
In 1994, Depp reunited with director Tim Burton, playing the title role in Ed Wood, a biographical film about one of history's most inept film directors. Depp later stated that he was at the time depressed about films and filmmaking, but that "within 10 minutes of hearing about the project, I was committed." He found that the role gave him a "chance to stretch out and have some fun" and that working with Martin Landau, who played Bela Lugosi, "rejuvenated my love for acting". Ed Wood received critical acclaim, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times writing that Depp had "proved himself as an established, certified great actor" and "captured all the can-do optimism that kept Ed Wood going, thanks to an extremely funny ability to look at the silver lining of any cloud." Depp was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance.
The following year, Depp starred in three films. He played opposite Marlon Brando in the box-office hit Don Juan DeMarco, as a man who believes he is Don Juan, the world's greatest lover. He then starred in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, a Western shot entirely in black-and-white; it was not a commercial success and had mixed critical reviews. Depp's final film of the year was in the financial and critical failure Nick of Time, a thriller in which he played an accountant who is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.
In 1997, Depp starred alongside Al Pacino in the crime drama Donnie Brasco, directed by Mike Newell. He portrayed Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI Agent who assumes the name 'Donnie Brasco' in order to infiltrate the mafia in New York City. To prepare for the role, Depp spent time with the real-life Joe Pistone, on whose memoirs the film was based. Donnie Brasco was a commercial and critical success, and is considered to contain one of Depp's finest performances.[citation needed] In 1997, Depp also debuted as a director and screenwriter with The Brave. He starred in it as a poor Native American man, who accepts a proposal from a wealthy man, played by Marlon Brando, to appear in a snuff film in exchange for money for his family.
Depp was a fan and friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, and played his alter ego Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Terry Gilliam's film adaptation of Thompson's pseudobiographical novel of the same name.
Depp's next venture with Burton was the period film Sleepy Hollow (1999), in which he played Ichabod Crane opposite Christina Ricci and Christopher Walken. For his performance, Depp took inspiration from Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall and Basil Rathbone. He stated that he "always thought of Ichabod as a very delicate, fragile person who was maybe a little too in touch with his feminine side, like a frightened little girl."
2003–present
Depp has generally chosen roles which he found interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office. Critics[who?] have often described Depp's characters as "iconic loners". Depp has referred to some of his less-successful films as "studio-defined failures" and "box office poison", and said that he thought the studios neither understood the films nor did a good job of marketing them.
In 2003, Depp starred in the Walt Disney Pictures adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was a major box office success. He earned widespread acclaim for his comic performance as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Depp has said that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me", and that he modeled the character after The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards[38] and cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew. Studio executives had at first been ambivalent about Depp's portrayal, but the character became popular with audiences. According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was a major draw for audiences.
Depp was again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland (2004). The following year he starred as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which reunited him with director Tim Burton, with whom he had not collaborated since Sleepy Hollow. The film was a box office success and had a positive critical reception, with Depp being nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Chocolate Factory was followed by another Burton project, stop-motion animation Corpse Bride (2005), in which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort.
Personal life
Family, relationships and domestic violence allegations
Depp married makeup artist Lori Anne Allison from December 20, 1983; they divorced in 1985. He was later successively engaged to actresses Jennifer Grey and Sherilyn Fenn in the late 1980s before proposing in 1990 to his Edward Scissorhands co-star Winona Ryder, for whom he tattooed "WINONA FOREVER" on his right arm. From 1994 until 1998, he was in a relationship with English supermodel Kate Moss.
Following his breakup from Moss, Depp began a relationship with French actor and singer Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate in France in 1998. They have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 1999), and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III (born 2002). Depp stated that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything ... You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny. All the math finally worked." In 2007, Depp's daughter was hospitalized at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London due to a serious E. coli infection, which resulted in temporary kidney failure. To show his gratitude for her recovery, Depp visited the hospital in November 2007, dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit, and spent four hours reading stories to the children. He also donated £1 million to the hospital the following year. Depp and Paradis announced their separation in June 2012.
Depp subsequently began dating actor and model Amber Heard, whom he had met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011. They were married in a private civil ceremony at their home in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce on May 23, 2016, and five days later filed for and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp, stating in her court declaration that "during the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me". She stated that the latest incident of violence had taken place on May 21, and provided statements by two witnesses—her and Depp's mutual friend iO Tillett Wright and neighbor Raquel Pennington—and photographs of her battered face as evidence. Wright had called the LAPD during the incident, but Heard stated to them that it was a "verbal dispute only", and the Capt. Don Graham, who oversees the LAPD's Central Division told that the officers saw "no evidence of a crime at that time".
In response, Depp's lawyers said that Heard was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse". On May 31, Heard gave a statement to the LAPD on the incident on May 21; her lawyers said that she had initially been reluctant to involve law enforcement in the case "stemmed from a wish to protect her own privacy and Depp's career", but "Johnny's team has forced Amber to give a statement to the LAPD to set the record straight as to the true facts, as she cannot continue to leave herself open to the vicious false and malicious allegations that have infected the media." The following day, People published images of Heard's injuries from an alleged earlier incident of domestic violence, and on June 4, Wright published an essay on Refinery29, in which she wrote about witnessing evidence of abuse throughout the marriage, and criticized the media for victim-blaming Heard when she decided to go public about it. Later that month, Heard sued Depp's friend, comedian Doug Stanhope for defamation after he wrote in a column for TheWrap that she was blackmailing Depp, and withdrew her initial request for spousal support.
A settlement was reached in the divorce case on August 16, 2016, with Heard to receive US$7 million and dismiss the restraining order against Depp. She also dropped her lawsuit against Stanhope, and issued a joint statement with Depp, which said that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Heard stated that she would donate the entire proceeds from the divorce to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In December 2016, she filed a Request for Order at the Los Angeles Superior Court, as Depp had failed to fulfill the requirements of the settlement. Depp's attorney filed papers disputing this. The divorce was finalized on January 13, 2017.
Legal problems
Depp was arrested in Vancouver in 1989 for assaulting a security guard after the police were called to end a loud party at his hotel room. He was also arrested in New York City in 1994 after causing significant damage to his room at The Mark hotel, where he was staying with Moss. The charges were dropped against him after he agreed to pay $9,767 in damages. Depp was arrested again in 1999 for brawling with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with Paradis.
In 2012, disabled UC Irvine medical professor Robin Eckert sued Depp and three security firms, claiming to have been attacked by his bodyguards at a concert in Los Angeles in 2011. During the incident, she was allegedly hand-cuffed and dragged 40 feet across the floor, resulting in injuries including a dislocated elbow. She argued in court that as the security guards' direct manager, Depp failed to intervene, even though he did not actively take part in the battery. In October 2012, it was decided that Eckert could seek compensation and punitive damages from Depp, with a trial date set for August 12, 2013. Depp ultimately settled with Eckert for an undisclosed sum.
In April 2015, Heard and Depp breached Australia's strict biosecurity laws when they failed to declare their two Yorkshire Terriers to the Australian Customs Service when they flew by private jet into Queensland, where he was working on the fifth Pirates installment.
Australian quarantine regulations, which are aimed at keeping rabies out of the country, require dogs from outside the country be quarantined a minimum of ten days. Heard was charged with two counts of illegally importing the dogs into the country and one count of producing a false document. Shortly afterwards, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said: "If we start letting movie stars even though they've been the 'sexiest man alive' twice to come into our nation, then why don't we just break the laws for everybody? It's time that Pistol and Boo [the dogs] buggered off back to the United States." In September 2015, when promoting his film Black Mass at a press conference for its world premiere in Venice, Depp joked that he "killed his dogs and ate them ... under direct orders from some kind of sweaty big-gutted man from Australia".
In April 2016, Heard appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to falsifying quarantine documents, stating that she was sleep deprived and made a mistake. The two biosecurity charges were dropped, and she was placed on a one-month good behaviour bond, paying a $1,000 fine for producing a false document. Heard and Depp also released a video in which they apologized for their behavior and urged people to adhere to the biosecurity laws. The Guardian called the case the "highest profile criminal quarantine case" in Australian history.
In March 2016, Depp cut ties with his management company The Management Group and accused them of improperly managing his money. The Management Group later sued Depp for unpaid fees and countersued him for damages alleging that Depp was responsible for his own fiscal mismanagement. Depp filed new papers, including receipts from America's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to have the countersuit dismissed.
Political and religious views
Depp stated to the German magazine Stern in 2003 that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth—that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine misquoted him and his words were taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview. CNN added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006 edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, in the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that perceived him as a "European wannabe", saying that he liked the anonymity of living in France while in a relationship with Paradis and his simpler life there. Depp became a U.S. resident again in 2011, because France wanted him to become a permanent resident, which he said would require him to pay income tax in both countries.
On the October 16, 2011 episode of Larry King Live, when asked if he had faith, Depp replied, "Yes. I have faith in my kids. And I have—I have faith, you know, that as long as you keep moving forward, just keep walking forward, things will be all right, I suppose, you know. Faith in terms of religion, I don't—religion is not my specialty, you know."
Claims of Native American ancestry and Comanche adoption
In interviews in 2002 and 2011, Depp stated that he "guesses" he has Native American ancestry, and that his "great-grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian." He has cited as evidence for his ancestry family stories and Kentucky lore among non-Natives, rather than any genetic testing or third-party genealogical research. Depp's claims came under question when Indian Country Today Media Network stated that Depp has never inquired about his heritage nor does the Cherokee Nation recognize him as a member. This has led to criticism from the Native community, including of his choice to portray Tonto, a Native American character, in The Lone Ranger (2013).Critical response to his claims from the Native community also included satirical portrayals of Depp by Native comedians.
Depp was adopted as an honorary son by LaDonna Harris, a member of the Comanche Nation, on May 22, 2012, making him an honorary member of Harris' family, but not a member of the tribe.
Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp
Selected filmography
Main article: Johnny Depp filmography
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Platoon (1986)
Cry-Baby (1990)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Benny & Joon (1993)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Ed Wood (1994)
Dead Man (1995)
Don Juan DeMarco (1995)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Ninth Gate (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Before Night Falls (2000)
Chocolat (2000)
Blow (2001)
From Hell (2001)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Secret Window (2004)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Corpse Bride (2005)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Public Enemies (2009)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
The Tourist (2010)
Rango (2011)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
The Rum Diary (2011)
Dark Shadows (2012)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Transcendence (2014)
Into the Woods (2014)
Mortdecai (2015)
Black Mass (2015)
Yoga Hosers (2016)
Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016)
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
LAbyrinth (2017)
Musical recording discography
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