Johnny Depp American Actor Known for Alice in Wonderland

Early life

John Christopher Depp II was born on 9 June 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, the youngest of four children. His father worked as a civil engineer and his mother as a waitress. The family moved often during his childhood before settling in Miramar, Florida, in 1970. His parents separated when he was in his mid-teens.

Music came first. He was given a guitar at the age of twelve and soon played in local bands. In 1979 he left Miramar High School to pursue a career as a rock musician. After a spell with a group called The Kids, he moved to Los Angeles with the band, where he took odd jobs to get by. When the group split in 1984 he turned to other musical collaborations, co-writing a song for the Rock City Angels. He married Lori Anne Allison in December 1983; they divorced in 1985.

Career

An introduction to Nicolas Cage led to an audition for Wes Craven, and Depp made his screen debut as Glen Lantz in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). A small part in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) followed. From 1987 he starred in the television series 21 Jump Street as a young undercover police officer, which made him a teen idol but left him keen to pick less conventional work.

The 1990s were defined by that choice. He began a long collaboration with director Tim Burton on Edward Scissorhands (1990), then played the filmmaker in Ed Wood (1994). Other roles from the decade include a young man in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), the undercover agent Joseph Pistone in Donnie Brasco (1997), the writer's alter ego Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999). In 1997 he made his debut as a director and screenwriter with The Brave, which he also starred in.

International stardom arrived in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in which he played Captain Jack Sparrow, a role he repeated in four further films through 2017. During the 2000s he also appeared in Chocolat (2000), Finding Neverland (2004), where he played the author J. M. Barrie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), in which he was Willy Wonka, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), his first role that required him to sing. In 2009 he played the bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies.

The 2010s brought Alice in Wonderland (2010), in which he played the Hatter, a lead part in The Tourist (2010), and the voice of the chameleon in Rango (2011). He returned to the Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) and took the part of Gellert Grindelwald in the first two Fantastic Beasts films. Other titles include The Lone Ranger (2013) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). In 2004 he founded the production company Infinitum Nihil.

Later work includes Minamata (2020), in which he played the photographer W. Eugene Smith, and Jeanne du Barry (2023), his first film performance in French. He returned to directing with Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness (2024), a drama about the painter Amedeo Modigliani and his most recent credit on record. His screen credits run to 83 titles, from 1984 to 2024.

Depp has remained active as a musician. He is a member of the band Hollywood Vampires, formed with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, and released the album 18 in 2022 with guitarist Jeff Beck.

Recognition

Depp was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Neverland and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He won a Golden Globe in 2008 for the last of these and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in 2004.

Other honors include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an Honorary César in 1999, the Medal of the City of Paris in 2006, induction as a Disney Legend in 2015, the Donostia Award at the San Sebastian film festival in 2021, and a Serbian state decoration. He also won three MTV Movie Awards and a People's Choice Award in 2011. In total his record lists twelve wins and three nominations.

Personal life

Depp was married to Lori Anne Allison from 1983 to 1985, and to the actress Amber Heard from 2015 to 2017; both marriages ended in divorce. He has two children, among them the actress Lily-Rose Depp.