Johnny Depp's Biography

Who is Johnny Depp?

His father was an engineer and his mother was a waitress.

As a teenager Johnny Depp formed a band Bad Boys, and earned money playing at nightclubs. The band changed their name to The Kids and supported the likes of Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and Iggy Pop.

When the band started to struggle to make Depp a living, his then wife Lori Anne Allison introduced him to her friend Nicolas Cage, who in turn introduced him to his agent, which led to Depp getting a part in the film The Hills Have Eyes, and so, Depp's career as an actor started.

Johnny Depp's big breakthrough was when he was cast in Fox TV's series 21 Jump Street.

In terms of films, an early important credit was his acclaimed performance in the title role in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Johnny Depp would end up appearing in several Burton films.

Other notable film credits followed including What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, and Donnie Brasco.

In 1998 Johnny Depp got together with French singer Vanessa Paradis. They went on to have two children. When The Mirror asked Johnny Depp whether he believed in love at first sight and whether it had happened to him, he replied:

"Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 13 years ago, in Paris at the hotel where I was living, I was doing a film with Roman Polanski, The Ninth Gate. Across the room I saw this back and I saw this neck attached to the back, and I was sort of fascinated by it. It was a very beautiful, sculptural thing and then suddenly, the back and the neck turned, and it had a face, and it was Vanessa. It looked at me, and walked across the room and said, 'Hi, do you remember me?' I had met her years before, and at that moment, before I even said, 'Hi, how are you?' I knew it was over. I was done. I was in big trouble from that second on."

Johnny Depp continued his taste for playing unusual roles when he played Hunter S Thompson in Terry Gilliam's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

In 2003, he starred in a phenomenal commercial success, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, which spawned popular sequels.

In 2007, Johnny Depp won a Global Globe for his starring role in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Before settling down with Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Depp's romantic interests included Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Gray, Winona Ryder, and Kate Moss.

In 2010, Johnny Depp was cast alongside Angelina Jolie in the film The Tourist.

In 2011 he was cast as Tonto, in the movie remake of the 1950s TV show, the Lone Ranger.

In 2016, Johnny Depp's wife Amber Heard narrowly avoided a conviction in Australia for dog smuggling and the couple had to make a video showing their remorse for bringing two dogs Pistol and Boo into Australia by private jet.

Shortly afterwards, in May 2016, it was revealed that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were to divorce.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard settled their divorce in August 2016. They were married for just under 18 months.

In 2017, he starred in the film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express as well as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

In November 2020, Johnny Depp lost his libel case against the Sun over an article that called him a "wife beater".

Soon afterwards, Warner Bros announced that Mads Mikkelsen would replace Johnny Depp as rogue wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series.