Johnny Depp Biography 5a731e

A biography of JOHNNY DEPP Born in Kentucky in 1963, Johnny Depp landed his first legitimate movie role in the film Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) after having taken on several smaller parts. Afterwards, he began studying acting. The lessons paid off in 1987, when he landed a role on television. He has since starred in several popular films and gained notoriety for his work on the silver screen. Depp has also become known for taking on darker roles, in films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Early Life Actor Johnny Depp was born John Christopher Depp II, in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, to parents John and Betty Sue Depp. Depp's father worked as a civil engineer, and his mother worked as a waitress and homemaker. The youngest of four children, Depp was withdrawn and a self-itted oddball. "I made odd noises as a child," he later revealed in an interview. "Just did weird things, like turn off light switches twice." Johnny and his family moved frequently to accommodate his father's job, finally landing in Miramar, Florida, when Johnny was 7 years old. The family lived in a motel for nearly a year, until his father found a job. Depp hated his new home and, by the age of 12 began smoking. "Puberty was very vague," he has said. "I literally locked myself in a room and played guitar." In 1978, when Depp was 15, his parents got divorced. As the youngest of four, it became Johnny's job to go to his father's office and pick up the weekly child money. The split caused a rift between Johnny and his father. At 16, Depp dropped out of high school and ed a garage band called The Kids. The group became successful enough, but they barely made ends meet. Depp lived for months in a friend's car.

Introduction to Acting In 1983, at the age of 20, Johnny met and married 25-year-old makeup artist Lori Allison. That

same year, the couple moved to L.A. with Depp's band in the hopes of striking it big. Still living on a shoestring budget, Depp and his band mates ed themselves by selling pens. A year later, Depp fell into acting when his wife introduced him to her ex-boyfriend, actor Nicolas Cage. Cage saw potential in Depp, and introduced the hopeful musician to a Hollywood agent. After several small roles as a film extra, Depp landed his first legitimate movie role in the horror film Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). By 1985 Depp's marriage had broken up. Depp started to study acting in earnest, and the lessons paid off in 1987, when he played the role of an undercover cop in a popular television series. The role thrust Depp into almost immediate stardom. He became a teen idol overnight; a title that he greatly resented. When his contract on the TV series expired in 1989, he leapt at the opportunity to pursue weightier roles.

Mainstream Success In 1990, Depp starred in the musical Cry-Baby (1990), which became a cult hit and succeeded in changing his image. That same year, he received an opportunity to exhibit his versatility as an actor in the titular role of Tim Burton's fantasy film, Edward Scissorhands. The movie not only established Depp as an A-list actor, but it also grossed more than $54 million at the box office. Following the film's success, Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, 1

idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprise critics and audiences alike.

Troubled Image and Relationship Depp's life began losing control as the star dabbled with drugs and spiralled into a deep depression. Around this time he also started a very public, destructive relationship with the waifish supermodel Kate Moss. Depp and Moss constantly made headlines for their unpredictable behaviour; in 1994, Depp famously trashed a New York hotel room after one of the couple's many fights. They split in 1998.

Box Office Star For Depp's next film project, he tried his hand at sci-fi horror with The Astronaut's Wife in 1999. The same year, he teamed up with Burton once again on Sleepy Hollow, starring as the prim, driven Ichabod Crane. He appeared the following year in the small but popular romantic drama Chocolat. Around the beginning of the turn of the century, Depp met another person who would become an important figure in his life; while filming the sci-fi drama The Ninth Gate (1999) in , Johnny met French actress, singer and model Vanessa Paradis. Paradis became pregnant with the couple's first child later that year. In May of 1999, the couple welcomed daughter LilyRose Melody Depp. Depp and Paradis had their second child, son Jack John Christopher Depp III, three years later. In 2004, Depp earned an Academy Award nomination for his starring role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the family adventure Pirates of the Caribbean. The film was a box office smash, and led to the creation of the Pirates franchise. At the end of that year,

Depp also turned in a critically acclaimed performance in Finding Neverland, in which he starred as Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie. The film earned him more than 10 award nominations, including both Academy and Golden Globe nods. Saying goodbye to Captain Jack, Depp took on the role of the main character in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, also in 2007. The dark and gory musical tells the tale of a barber who kills some of his customers, who are in turn baked into pies by his downstairs neighbour. Depp netted a Golden Globe Award for his work on the film. In 2009, two Depp films —The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Public Enemies—premiered with mixed results. He returned to box office success with the 2010 film adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland. The film, starring Mia Wasikowska as Alice, brought in more than $116 million in its opening weekend. Unfortunately, Depp's next big budget endeavour didn't fare nearly as well as his earlier films. In 2013, the A-list actor starred in the Disney film The Lone Ranger. The film—costing more than $215 million to produce—performed horribly at the box office and received lacklustre reviews. The film debuted in second place at the box office during its opening weekend, but only grossed $48.9 million. Disney executives expected a potential $190 million loss because of the film.

Personal Life In 2012, stories began to circulate that Depp and Paradis had split up. In a statement given to Entertainment Tonight, Depp's representative said that the pair "have amicably separated." Depp and Paradis had been together for nearly 14 years when they split. Depp met another future love interest on the set of a film while still publicly involved with Paradis. While filming The Rum Diary, he met co-star Amber Heard. The couple was seen publicly together for the first time in 2012, not long after Depp's split with Paradis. The couple got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2013 and tied the knot in February 2015.

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