Johnny Depp spent a decade on the fringes of Hollywood as a favorite of independent directors like Tim Burton and Lasse Hallstrom, until his unbridled originality and penchant for extreme characterizations found a worldwide audience with “The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003). Throughout the 1990s the actor built a strong critical and art house following portraying societal outsiders – from the anatomic anomaly “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) to cross-dressing B-movie director “Ed Wood” (1994) to twitchy drug-addled journalist Hunter S. Thompson in “Fear and Loathing
Johnny Depp has never won an Oscar??? How can this be? A lover, a pirate, an outlaw, a cop, a singing demon barber ... hard-edged drama, quirky drama, surreal comedy, lush romance, ghoulish fairytales ... he's done it all, more
Johnny Depp has a reputation as a fearless actor, routinely called the best of his generation. Sure, he's run through the standard-issue roles -- FBI agent, drug dealer, pirate -- but he never coasted on his matinee idol looks to
Started own rock group at age 13; subsequently played in 15 other bands
1983
Moved to Los Angeles with band, The Kids; played lead guitar
Sold ball-point pens by phone before he began acting
1984
Introduced by his then-wife Lori Allison to actor Nicolas Cage, who helped arranged a meeting with an agent who set up audition for his feature acting debut in Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street"; the director's daughter Jessica also played a part in convincing her father to cast Depp