Johnny Depp Update
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Johnny Depp Biography
Initially known as a teen idol
thanks to his role on 21 Jump
Street and tortured pretty-boy
looks, Johnny Depp survived the
perils of adolescent heartthrob
status to earn a reputation as a
respected adult actor. His
numerous collaborations with
director Tim Burton, as well as
solid performances in a number of
critically acclaimed films, have
allowed Depp to carve a niche for
himself as a serious, if
idiosyncratic performer, a real-life
role that has continuously
surprised critics intent on writing
him off as just another photogenic
Tiger Beat casualty.
Born in Kentucky and raised in
Florida,Depp had the kind of
upbringing that would readily lend
itself to his future portrayals of
brooding lost boys. After his
parents divorced when he was 16,
he dropped out of school a year
later in the hopes of making his
way in the world as a musician.
Depp fronted a series of garage
bands; the most successful of
these, The Kids, was once the
opening act for Iggy Pop. During
slack times in the music business,
Depp sold pens by phone. He got
introduced to acting after a visit to
L.A. with his former wife, who
introduced him to actor Nicolas
Cage, who encouraged Depp to
give it a try. The young actor made
his film debut in 1984's A
Nightmare on Elm Street (years
after attaining stardom, Depp
sentimentally played a cameo in
the last of the Elm Street series),
and his climb to fame was
accelerated in 1987, when he
replaced Jeff Yagher in the role of
undercover cop Tommy Hanson in
the Canadian-filmed TV series 21
Jump Street. Biding his time in
"teen heartthrob" roles, Depp was
first given a chance to exhibit his
exhausting versatility in the title
role of Tim Burton's fantasy
Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Following the success of Edward
Scissorhands, the actor made a
conscious and successful effort
never to repeat himself in his
subsequent characterizations. He
continued to gain critical acclaim
and increasing popularity for his
work, most notably in Benny Joon
(1993), in which he played a
troubled young man who fancies
himself the reincarnation of
Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton,
and What's Eating Gilbert Grape
(1993), which cast him as its title
character, a young man
dissatisfied with the confines of
his small-town life. Following
Gilbert Grape, Depp outdid himself
in Burton's Ed Wood (1994), with
his outrageous but lovable
portrayal of the
angora-sweater-worshipping
World's Worst Film Director. The
same year, he further exercised
his versatility playing a 19th
century accountant in Dead Man,
Jim Jarmusch's otherworldly
Western. With his excellent
portrayal of the titular undercover
FBI agent in Mike Newell's 1997
Donnie Brasco, Depp continued to
ascend the Hollywood ranks. After
a starring turn as Hunter S.
Thompson's alter ego in Terry
Gilliam's trippy adaptation of -Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998),
Depp tried his hand at sci-fi horror
with The Astronaut's Wife in 1999.
That same year, he again
collaborated with Burton on Sleepy
Hollow, starring as a prim, driven
Ichabod Crane in the remake of
Washington Irving's classic tale of
gothic terror. Appearing the
following year in the small but
popular romantic drama Chocolat,
Depp jumped back into the big
time with his role as real-life
cocaine kingpin George Jung in
Blow (2001) before gearing up for
roles in the Jack the Ripper thriller
From Hell (2001) and Robert
Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in
Mexico (2003).
In what was perhaps his most
surprising departure since Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas, Depp
shed his oftentimes angst-ridden
persona for a role as flamboyant
pirate Jack Sparrow in 2003's
Pirates of the Caribbean. Essaying
the crusty role in the manner of
drunken, debauched rock star --
Depp publicly admitted Keith
Richards was his inspiration -- the
actor added a dose of off-kilter fun
to an above-average summer thrill
ride, and found himself with his
biggest hit and first Oscar
nomination ever.
By this point in his wildly varied
career even Depp's most devoted
fans would be hard pressed to
speculate on the trajectory of his
future career, and the only
certainty seemed to be that
whatever role he accepted, it
would be chosen on his own
terms. Shortly after making his
maiden voyage into the horrific
world of Stephen King with an
amusingly disheveled
performance in Secret Window,
Depp warmed to a wider audience
with another Oscar nominated
performance as author J.M. Barrie
in the critically acclaimed Finding
Neverland. An tale of wonder
based on the friendship that
inspired Barrie to pen the classic
tale -Peter Pan, Finding Neverland
earned nearly wide praise from
audiences and critics alike. After
once again re-teaming with
director Burton for a both a vocal
performance in the animated
feature The Corpse Bride, and a
role as mysterious candy magnate
Willy Wonka in 2005, Depp reprised
his popular role as Jack Sparrow in
not one but two back-to-back
Pirates of the Caribbean sequels -
the first of which, entitled Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man's
Chest, shattered box office
records. He also made plans to
again work with Tim Burton, this
time on an adaptation of Sweeney
Todd. Around this time Depp also
began flexing his producing
muscles lending his talent in that
capacity to both a big-screen
adaptation of Hunter S.
Thompson's The Rum Diary, and
the sweeping historical drama
Shantaram
In addition to his acting, Depp has
also gained a certain dose of fame
for his romantic involvements with
several starlets and celebrities,
including Winona Ryder, Sherilyn
Fenn, and Kate Moss, and in 1999,
fathered a daughter with French
singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, as
well as a son in 2002. He was also
the owner of the Viper Room, a
popular L.A. nightspot which
gained notoriety when actor River
Phoenix died of a drug overdose
on its doorstep in 1993. Hal
Erickson, All Movie Guide
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