Actor, director, musician. Born John Christopher Depp II in Owensboro,
Kentucky, on June 9, 1963. Raised in Florida, Depp dropped out of school
at age 17 in hopes of becoming a rock musician. He fronted a series of
garage bands, including The Kids, which was once opened for Iggy Pop.
Depp got into acting after a visit to LA with his former wife, who
introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage. He made his film debut in 1984's A
Nightmare on Elm Street. In 1987, he leapt into stardom when he
replaced Jeff Yagher in the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the
popular Canadian-filmed TV series 21 Jump Street. In 1990, after
numerous roles in teen films, Depp received an opportunity to exhibit
his exhausting versatility in the title role of Tim Burton's fantasy
Edward Scissorhands.
Following the film's success, Depp carved a niche for himself as a
serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting
roles that surprise critics and audiences alike. He continued to gain
critical acclaim and increasing popularity for his work, most notably in
1993's Benny & Joon and in the title role of What's Eating Gilbert
Grape in 1993, which cast him as a young man dissatisfied with the
confines of his small-town life. In 1994, he re-teamed with Burton in
the lead role of Ed Wood.
In 1997, he played the undercover FBI agent in Mike Newell's Donnie
Brasco. After a starring turn as Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego in Terry
Gilliam's adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1998, Depp
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 a prim, driven Ichabod Crane. He appeared the following year
in the small but popular romantic drama Chocolat, followed by a
big-budget role as real-life cocaine kingpin George Jung in Blow in
2001. He starred in the terror drama From Hell in 2001 and Robert
Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico in 2002. In 2004, the actor
earned an Academy Award nomination for his starring role in the family
adventure Pirates of the Caribbean. At the end of that year, he turned
in a critically acclaimed performance in Finding Neverland, in which he
starred as Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie. In 2006, he returned as
Captain Jack Sparrow for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's
Chest, which broke a box office record in reaching the highest weekend
tally ever.
Off-screen, Depp has gained notoriety for his romantic involvements with
several female celebrities, including broken engagements to Jennifer
Gray, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anderson from
1983-1985. Depp has fathered two children with French singer/actress
Vanessa Paradis; Lily-Rose Melody born in 1999 and Jack born in 2002.
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