John Christopher Depp II
Johnny Depp landed his breakout role in 1987 playing undercover cop Tommy Hanson on television’s 21 Jump Street. He achieved worldwide fame as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, earning an Oscar nomination for 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl. Off-screen, he has two children with ex-partner Vanessa Paradis and was married to Lori Allison and Amber Heard.
Johnny Depp by the numbers — life, work, and family.
The relatives of Johnny Depp — parents, partners, children, and siblings.
Johnny Depp — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Betty Sue Wells, a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer, became parents to Johnny Depp on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky. He was raised in Florida, where he dropped out of school at age 15 to pursue music, fronting garage bands like The Kids. To support himself, he took a job as a ballpoint-pen salesman. A visit to Los Angeles with his first wife led to a meeting with actor Nicolas Cage, who encouraged him to try acting.
Depp made his film debut in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing a teenager stalked by Freddy Krueger. In 1987, he replaced Jeff Yagher as undercover cop Tommy Hanson on the TV series 21 Jump Street. A fruitful collaboration with director Tim Burton began in 1990 with the title role in Edward Scissorhands. He followed with critically acclaimed roles in Ed Wood 1994, Donnie Brasco 1997 opposite Al Pacino, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998. His portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl earned him an Oscar nomination and worldwide fame. He reunited with Burton for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005, Alice in Wonderland 2010, and Dark Shadows 2012.
Depp married Lori A. Depp in 1983 and divorced in 1985. He had a long-term relationship with French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis from 1998 to 2012, with whom he has two children: Lily-Rose born 1999 and Jack born 2002. He married actress Amber Heard in 2015, divorcing a few years later. He counted Hunter S. Thompson and Marlon Brando as close friends. Once, while celebrating his film Public Enemies, he left a $4,000 tip on a $4,400 bill at a Chicago steakhouse.
Captain Jack Sparrow, based on Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew, became one of cinema’s most iconic characters. Premiere Magazine ranked his performance #79 on its 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Disney Legends award, and an Honorary César. His philanthropy includes donating $2 million to Great Ormond Street Hospital after his daughter’s treatment and donating his salary for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to Heath Ledger’s daughter. Depp consistently took unconventional roles and frequently collaborated with Tim Burton.
Browse the complete filmography of Johnny Depp — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Johnny Depp — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Johnny Depp — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Anything I’ve Done up Till 27 May, 1999 Was Kind of an Illusion, Existing Without Living. My Daughter, the Birth of My Daughter, Gave Me Life.
I Don’t Pretend to Be Captain Weird. I Just Do What I Do.
The Only Creatures That Are Evolved Enough to Convey Pure Love Are Dogs and Infants.
One of the Greatest Things I’ve Ever Seen Happen Was the Morning I Opened the Newspaper and It Said That Some Very Powerful Government Officials Had Decided to Change the Name of French Fries to Freedoom Fries and French Toast to Freedom Toast. It Was Impressive. I Wanted to Write a Letter to Them Just to Thank Them, Just for Proving Globally That They Were Absolute Imbeciles.
America Is Dumb. It’s Like a Dumb Puppy That Has Big Teeth That Can Bite and Hurt You, Aggressive. My Daughter Is Four, My Boy Is One. I’d Like Them to See America as a Toy, a Broken Toy. Investigate It a Little, Check It Out, Get This Feeling and Then Get Out.
Taken in Context, What I Was Saying Was That, Compared to Europe, America Is a Very Young Country and We Are Still Growing as a Nation. It Is a Shame That the Metaphor I Used Was Taken so Radically Out of Context and Slung About Irresponsibly by the News Media. There Was No Anti American Sentiment. in Fact, It Was Just the Opposite. I Am an American. I Love My Country and Have Great Hopes for It. It Is for This Reason That I Speak Candidly and Sometimes Critically About It. I Have Benefited Greatly from the Freedom That Exists in My Country and for This I Am Eternally Grateful.
France and the Whole of Europe Have a Great Culture and an Amazing History. Most Important Thing, Though, Is That People There Know How to Live! in America They’ve Forgotten All About It. I’m Afraid That the American Culture Is a Disaster.
With Any Part You Play, There Is a Certain Amount of Yourself in It. There Has to Be, Otherwise It’s Just Not Acting. It’s Lying.
The Only Gossip I’m Interested in Is Things from the Weekly World News ‘Woman’s Bra Bursts, 11 Injured.’ That Kind of Thing.
I’m an Old Fashioned Guy . . . I Want to Be an Old Man with a Beer Belly Sitting on a Porch, Looking at a Lake or Something.
I’m Shy, Paranoid, Whatever Word You Want to Use. I Hate Fame. I’ve Done Everything I Can to Avoid It.
When Kids Hit One Year Old, It’s Like Hanging Out with a Miniature Drunk. You Have to Hold Onto Them. They Bump into Things. They Laugh and Cry. They Urinate. They Vomit.
This Is a Rumor Filled Society and If People Want to Sit Around and Talk About Whom I’ve Dated, Then I’d Say They Have a Lot of Spare Time and Should Consider Other Topics… or Masturbation.
The Character I’ve Played, That I’ve Responded To, There Has Been a Lost Soul Quality to Them.
Sure, I Find It Touching, Honestly, but Awards Are Not as Important to Me as When I Meet a Ten Year Old Kid Who Says, I Love Captain Jack Sparrow . . . That’s Real Magic for Me.
On a Film You Start to Get Closer and Closer with the People You’re Working With, and It Becomes Like This Circus Act or This Travelling Family.
If You Turn on the Television and See the Horrors That Are Happening to People in the World Right Now, I Think There’s No Better Time to Strive to Have Some Kind of Hope Through Imagination. I Think It’s a Time to Close Your Eyes and Try to Make a Change, or at Least Hope to Make a Change, or We’re Going to Explode.
I Suppose Nowadays It’s All a Question of Surgery, Isn’t It? of Course the Notion Is Beautiful, the Idea of Staying a Boy and a Child Forever, and I Think You Can. I Have Known Plenty of People Who, in Their Later Years, Had the Energy of Children and the Kind of Curiosity and Fascination with Things Like Little Children. I Think We Can Keep That, and I Think It’s Important to Keep That Part of Staying Young. but I Also Think It’s Great Fun Growing Old.
All the Little Films I’ve Done That Were Perceived by Hollywood as These Obscure, Weird Things, I Always Thought Could Appeal to a Larger Audience. I Mean, Box Office Is Such a Mystery to Me That I Can’t . . . You Know . . . I Have Enough Trouble Doing My Own Gig.
I Don’t Have a Mental Picture of the Houses We Lived in Because There Were so Many.
Marlon Brando Is Maybe the Greatest Actor of the Last Two Centuries. but His Mind Is Much More Important Than the Acting Thing. the Way That He Looks at Things, Doesn’t Judge Things, the Way That He Assesses Things. He’s as Important As, Uh… Who’s Important Today? Jesus, Not Many People… Stephen Hawking!
There’s Nothing You Know Nothing Else Like Music. Nothing That Touches Us on That, Uh, That Deep Level. Music Can Open up so Many Emotions That We Didn’t Know We Had. It’s the Magical Thing About Musicals, You Know, on the Stage or on Film or Whatever. Love Songs. They Work so Well Because Music Touches Us, Emotionally, Where Words Alone Can’t.
As a Teenager I Was so Insecure. I Was the Type of Guy That Never Fitted in Because He Never Dared to Choose. I Was Convinced I Had Absolutely No Talent at All. for Nothing. and That Thought Took Away All My Ambition, Too.
What I Said Was, the United States of America Is a Young Country Compared to Europe, Compared To, You Know, Other Countries. We’re Young. We’re 200 and Something Years Old.
There’s a Drive in Me That Won’t Allow Me to Do Certain Things That Are Easy. I Can Weigh All the Options, but There’s Always One Thing That Goes: Johnny, This Is the One. and It’s Always the Most Difficult It’s Always the One That Will Cause the Most Trouble.
Little-known facts about Johnny Depp — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
In 2007, Depp donated $2 million to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, thanking them for treating his daughter Lily-Rose’s E. coli infection that caused kidney failure.
He recorded a voice message for a 17-year-old British girl in a coma, at her parents’ request, hoping it would help her wake up.
Once painted over a billboard featuring his 21 Jump Street character because he disliked the picture and message; a security guard let him finish after recognizing him.
He named beaches on his own island in the Bahamas after ex-girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, his children, and public figures like Hunter S. Thompson and Marlon Brando.
Suffers from near-sightedness since birth and is nearly blind in his left eye, a condition he says cannot be corrected by surgery.
Donated his salary for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to Heath Ledger’s daughter, inspiring co-stars Jude Law and Colin Farrell to do the same.
Was close friends with Hunter S. Thompson until his death; Depp helped fulfill Thompson’s last wish to have his ashes shot out of a cannon.
Wears two silver skull rings to remind himself that life is short and every moment should be lived fully.
Was a great admirer and friend of Marlon Brando, who called Depp one of the greatest actors of his generation.
Based Captain Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards and the Looney Tunes character Pepe Le Pew.
Nicolas Cage got him his first acting job.
Closed the Viper Room for two weeks after River Phoenix’s death and closed it every October 31 until 2004, the date of Phoenix’s death.
Adopted Goldeneye, the one-eyed horse that played Gunpowder in Sleepy Hollow, saving him from the glue factory.
Refuses to allow paparazzi to photograph his children, as they did not ask for celebrity attention.
Is godfather to Tim Burton’s children Nell and Billy Burton with former partner Helena Bonham Carter.
Learned French to converse with Vanessa Paradis’ parents.
Dropped out of high school at age 16 to pursue a music career.
Was allergic to chocolate as a child.
Dated Vanessa Paradis from May 1998 to June 2012.
Sports his son’s nickname Jack tattooed on his arm and a beaded bracelet made by his daughter Lily-Rose.
As a teen, his band The Kids opened for Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, and The B-52’s.
Shot all his scenes for Once Upon a Time in Mexico in nine days and stayed to play a priest using his Marlon Brando impression.
Sold his share of the Viper Room in 2004, signing it over to Amanda Fox, daughter of his missing partner.
Turned down the role of Bruce Banner in Hulk 2003.
Claimed an armadillo was responsible for trashing a New York hotel room, saying it went crazy and jumped out the window.
Was considered for Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park 1993.
Originally cast as John Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith but turned it down due to overwork.
Wrote the foreword to Mark Salisbury’s biography of Tim Burton, crediting Burton for rescuing him from being a loser.
Has ancestry including English, Irish, Scots-Irish, French, Dutch, and German; DNA tests traced him to Elizabeth Key, a biracial woman who sued for freedom in the 1600s.
Is hugely interested in Jack the Ripper and starred in From Hell about the case.
His performance as Captain Jack Sparrow was ranked #79 by Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
Is a fan of the British series Midsomer Murders and would like to guest star.
Left a $4,000 tip on a $4,400 bill at Chicago’s Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse while celebrating Public Enemies.
As of 2011, his favorite characters he played are Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands, and Ed Wood.
Has been described as the jester of cinema, bringing Marlon Brando-like eccentricity to his on-screen persona.
Has two children: Lily-Rose Depp b. 1999 and Jack Depp b. 2002 with Vanessa Paradis.
Twice recorded with Oasis, notably playing lead slide guitar on Fade In-Out from Be Here Now when Noel Gallagher was too drunk to play.
Wanted gold-capped teeth for Pirates of the Caribbean; Disney CEO Michael Eisner liked them but told him to reduce the number.
A nightclub named Who Wouldn’t Like Johnny Depp? existed in Tartu, Estonia.
Is good friends with Helena Bonham Carter, partner of his best friend Tim Burton.
Was considered for Christian Slater’s roles in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Mobsters.
Has expressed interest in getting French, British, or Australian citizenship after retiring.
Was considered one of the top three actors of his generation by Dustin Hoffman.
Is a movie buff with encyclopedic knowledge but admits he watches few movies now, mostly children’s films.
Was awarded the Gary Cooper Spirit of Montana Award in 2005, though unable to attend.
Has appeared in three Best Picture Oscar nominees: Platoon won, Chocolat, and Finding Neverland.
Resides in France, Los Angeles, and an island in the Bahamas; divides time between Meudon and Plan-de-la-Tour in southern France.
Has two Ken dolls made in his likeness: Mad Hatter and Jack Sparrow; he collects Barbie dolls with his daughter.
Was considered for Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption.
Made six films with Helena Bonham Carter: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, and The Lone Ranger.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Johnny Depp.
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