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Biography

Johnny Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky to John Christopher Depp, Sr. and Betty Sue Wells. He has one brother, Danny, and two sisters, Christie (who now is Depp's personal manager) and Debbie. The Depp family has mostly Irish, German and Cherokee ancestry. The book "Johnny Depp: A Kind of Illusion" states that the Depp family originated with a French huguenot Pierre Deppe who settled in Virginia. Johnny Depp has said he doesn't know the origin of his surname, but he repeatedly jokes that the name translates to "idiot" in German (which is actually true) . Depp's maternal great-grandmother, Minnie, was a full-blooded Cherokee, and his father also has distant Cherokee heritage. The family was constantly on the move during Depp's childhood, and he and his siblings lived in more than twenty different locations, finally settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970, when he was 7. Depp engaged in self-harm as a child, due to the stress of dealing with family problems and his own insecurity. He has seven or eight scars from practicing self-harm. In a 1993 interview, he explained his self-injury by saying that his "body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist".

Depp's parents divorced in 1978, and he dropped out of school a year later to become a rock musician. (As he explained on Inside the Actors Studio, he attempted to go back two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician, which Depp said was "really sweet.") Depp's mother bought him a guitar at the age of twelve, and he began playing in garage bands. He played with a band named, "The Kids," who had modest local success and set out for Los Angeles, California in pursuit of a record deal. At this time, they changed their name to "Six Gun Method." Depp married Natasha Colangelo, his makeup artist, and the sister of the drummer of the band, on December 20, 1983. The marriage caused friction between the band members, and the group split before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently also collaborated with the band "Rock City Angels" and co-wrote the song "Mary," which appeared on their debut for Geffen Records, "Young Man's Blues." During Depp's marriage, his wife worked as a makeup artist and he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for ink pens. Later, his wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to pursue an acting career. In 1985, Depp and Natasha divorced.

Johnny Depp's first major role was in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. In 1986, he also appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Depp was later cast in a lead role on the FOX TV television series, 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. The series' success turned Depp into a popular teen idol during the late 1980s. Depp found the status an irritant, noting that he felt "forced into the role of product" and describing it as a "very uncomfortable situation and I didn’t get a handle on it and it wasn’t on my terms at all." Depp promised to himself that after his contract on the series had expired, he would only appear in films that he felt were "right" for himself.

Depp left his teen idol image in 1990, after playing the quirky title role in the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film's success began a long association with Burton, as Depp starred in several of his films, including Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Corpse Bride (2005). Depp, an avid fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on Thompson's novel of the same name. Depp also accompanied Thompson and was his road manager on one of Thompson's last book tours.

Depp's film characters have been described by the press as "iconic loners," and Depp has noted that this period of his career was full of "studio defined failures" and films that were "box office poison," stating that he believes film studios never "understood" the films he appeared in and did not know how to properly market them. Depp has also said that he specifically chose to appear in films that he found personally interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office.

Depp's status as a major star was solidified with the success of the 2003 Walt Disney Pictures film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, where he was highly praised for his lead performance as the wacky pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. The performance was initially received negatively by the studio bosses who saw the film, but the character became popular with the movie-going public; in 2006, Depp's co-star from the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, Bill Nighy, described the role as likely being "one of the most popular performances of recent times." The film's director, Gore Verbinski, has said that Depp's Jack Sparrow character closely resembles Depp's own personality, although Depp himself said that he modeled the character after Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp, who has noted that he was "surprised" and "touched" at the positive reception given to the film, was nominated for an Academy Award for the role. In 2004, he was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, this time for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland. Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was a major success at the box office.

Depp's most recent film is the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened on July 7, 2006 and grossed $135.5 million in the first three days of its U.S. release, breaking a box office record in reaching the highest weekend tally ever. The next sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean will be released May 25, 2007; Depp has mentioned his attachment to his Captain Jack Sparrow character, specifying that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me," and expressing his desire to portray the character in further sequels. Depp has voiced Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

In late June 2006, several reports indicated that Depp has joined the cast of the upcoming science fiction-action film, I Am Legend, which also stars Will Smith and will begin filming in September of 2006. He has denied rumors that he has been offered to play either musician Michael Hutchence or writer Edgar Allan Poe in upcoming film biographies, although it has been confirmed that he will portray Paul Kemp, the main character in a film version of writer Hunter S. Thompson's book, The Rum Diary.



––Wikipedia
Filmography
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Finding Neverland