John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor, producer, and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. He rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol.

Depp has taken on challenging and "larger-than-life" roles, starting with a supporting role in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon in 1986, then playing the title character in the romantic dark fantasy Edward Scissorhands (1990). He later found box office success in the fantasy adventure film Sleepy Hollow (1999), the fantasy swashbuckler film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its sequels, the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland (2010) and voicing the title character in the animated action comedy western Rango (2011). He has collaborated on eight films with director and friend Tim Burton.

Depp is regarded as one of the world's biggest film stars. He has gained worldwide critical acclaim for his portrayals of such people as screenwriter-director Ed Wood in Ed Wood, undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco, "gonzo" journalist Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, cocaine kingpin George Jung in Blow, author J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, the Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, and the Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger in Black Mass. Films featuring Depp have grossed over $3.1 billion at the United States box office and over $7.6 billion worldwide. His most commercially successful films are the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which have grossed $3 billion; Alice in Wonderland which grossed $1 billion; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which grossed $474 million; and The Tourist which grossed $278 million worldwide.

Depp has been nominated for major acting awards, including three nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor. Depp won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness World Records as the highest paid actor, with earnings of $75 million. Depp was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2015.

Early life

Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1963, the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. Depp moved frequently during his childhood. He and his siblings lived in more than 20 different places, eventually settling in Miramar Florida in 1970. In 1978, when he was 15, Depp's parents divorced. His mother married, as her second husband, Robert Palmer (died 2000), whom Depp has called "an inspiration to me".

With the gift of a guitar from his mother when he was 12, Depp began playing in various garage bands. A year after his parents' divorce, Depp dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. He attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success. The Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to Six Gun Method, but the group split up before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song "Mary", which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut for Geffen Records titled Young Man's Blues.

On December 24, 1983, Depp married Lori Anne Allison, the sister of his band's bass player and singer. During Depp's marriage, his wife worked as a makeup artist, while he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for pens. His wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to pursue an acting career. Depp and his wife divorced in 1985. Both Depp and his subsequent fiancé Sherilyn Fenn auditioned for the 1986 film Thrashin' and they were both cast, with Depp being chosen by the film's director to star as the lead, which would have been Depp's second major role. Depp was later turned down by the film's producer, who rejected the director's decision.

Career

Depp starred in a lead role on the Fox television series, 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. He accepted this role to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him. Depp's long-time friend Sal Jenco joined the cast as a semi-co-star as the janitor named Blowfish. The series' success turned Depp into a popular teen idol during the late 1980s. Despite this success, Depp felt "forced into the role of product." He subsequently decided to appear only in films that he felt were right for him. Depp and his co-stars, Peter DeLuise and Holly Robinson, briefly reprised their roles in cameo appearances in the series' 2012 feature film adaptation, which featured a much more comedic tone than the series.

Depp's first major role was in the 1984 classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the boyfriend of the heroine, Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) and one of Freddy Krueger's victims. The director of the 1986 American skating drama Thrashin' then cast Depp for the film's lead role; however, his decision was later overridden by the film's producer. In 1986, Depp appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Depp's first release in 1990 was Cry-Baby. Although the film did not achieve high audience numbers upon its initial release, over the years it has gained a cult classic status. Depp's next release that year saw him undertake the quirky title role of Tim Burton's film Edward Scissorhands, a critical and commercial success that established Depp as leading Hollywood actor and began his long association with Burton.

Personal life

Depp was married to makeup artist Lori Anne Allison from December 20, 1983 until their 1985 divorce. He was later successively engaged to actresses Jennifer Grey and Sherilyn Fenn in the late 1980s before proposing in 1990 to his Edward Scissorhands co-star Winona Ryder, for whom he tattooed "WINONA FOREVER" on his right arm.

In 1998, following a four-year relationship with British supermodel Kate Moss, Depp began a relationship with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate. Depp has two children with Paradis: daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 1999), and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III (born 2002). Depp stated that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything ... You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny. All the math finally worked." In 2007, Depp's daughter recovered from a serious illness, an E. coli infection that began to cause her kidneys to shut down and resulted in an extended hospital stay. To thank Great Ormond Street Hospital, Depp visited the hospital in November 2007, dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit, and spent four hours reading stories to the children. In 2008, he donated £1 million to the hospital. After 14 years together and following months of media speculation, Depp and Paradis announced their separation in June 2012.

Depp subsequently began dating actress and model Amber Heard in 2012; they met on the set of The Rum Diary. They married in February 2015, in a private civil ceremony at their home in Los Angeles. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016.

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