EARLY LIFEJohnny 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 Johnny's personal manager) and Debbie. The Depp family has Cherokee, Irish and German ancestry; Johnny has said he doesn't know the origin of his surname, but he repeatedly jokes that the name translates to "idiot" in German. Johnny's maternal great-grandmother, Minnie, was a full-blooded Cherokee, and his father also has distant Cherokee heritage. The family were constantly on the move during his childhood, and he and his siblings lived in more than twenty different locations, finally settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970. Johnny's parents divorced in 1978, and he dropped out of school a year later to become a rock musician. His 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." Johnny married Lori Anne Allison, 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. Johnny 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 Johnny'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 Johnny to
pursue an acting career. In 1985, Johnny and Lori divorced.
CAREERJohnny'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. Johnny was later cast in a lead role on the FOX TV television series, 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. The series'success turned Johnny into a popular teen idol during the late 1980s. Johnny 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." Johnny 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. Johnny 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 Tim Burton, as Johnny starred in several of his films, including Ed Wood
(1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Corpse Bride (2005). Johnny, 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. Johnny also accompanied Thompson and was his road manager on one
of Thompson's last book tours.
Johnny's film characters have been described by the press as "iconic loners," and Johnny 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. Johnny 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.  Johnny'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, Johnny'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 Johnny's Jack Sparrow character closely resembles Johnny's own personality,
although Johnny himself said that he modeled the character after Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and cartoon
character Pepe Le Pew. Johnny, 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. He next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was a major success at the box office.
Johnny'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; Johnny 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. He has voiced Captain Jack Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.  In late June 2006, several reports indicated that Johnny 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 writer Hunter S. Thompson in a film version of Thompson's book,
The Rum Diary. He will next play Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd.
PERSONAL LIFESince his first marriage ended, Johnny has been dating and is now in a long-term relationship with French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis. The couple have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born May 27, 1999) and son John Christopher "Jack" Depp III (born April 9, 2002). Johnny has noted that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything". The family divides their time between Los Angeles and a villa in France. Johnny also owns an island in the Bahamas, where he spends some of his time with his family.Source: IMDB.com Edited by: EOTGP TEAM |