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JOHNNY DEPP BIOGRAPHY |
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Born in Kentucky and raised in Florida,Depp had
the kind of upbringing that would readily lend itself to his
future portrayals of brooding lost boys. After his parents
divorced when he was 16, he dropped out of school a year later
in the hopes of making his way in the world as a musician. Depp
fronted a series of garage bands; the most successful of these,
The Kids, was once the opening act for Iggy Pop. During slack
times in the music business, Depp sold pens by phone. He got
introduced to acting after a visit to L.A. with his former wife,
who introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who encouraged Depp to
give it a try.
The young actor made his film debut in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm
Street (years after attaining stardom, Depp sentimentally played
a cameo in the last of the Elm Street series), and his climb to
fame was accelerated in 1987, when he replaced Jeff Yagher in
the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the Canadian-filmed
TV series 21 Jump Street. Biding his time in "teen heartthrob"
roles, Depp was first given a chance to exhibit his exhausting
versatility in the title role of Tim Burton's fantasy Edward
Scissorhands (1990). Following the success of Edward
Scissorhands, the actor made a conscious and successful effort
never to repeat himself in his subsequent characterizations. He
continued to gain critical acclaim and increasing popularity for
his work, most notably in Benny & Joon (1993), in which he
played a troubled young man who fancies himself the
reincarnation of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and What's
Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), which cast him as its title
character, a young man dissatisfied with the confines of his
small-town life.
Following Gilbert Grape, Depp outdid himself in Burton's Ed Wood
(1994), with his outrageous but lovable portrayal of the
angora-sweater-worshipping World's Worst Film Director. The same
year, he further exercised his versatility playing a 19th
century accountant in Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch's otherworldly
Western. With his excellent portrayal of the titular undercover
FBI agent in Mike Newell's 1997 Donnie Brasco, Depp continued to
ascend the Hollywood ranks. After a starring turn as Hunter S.
Thompson's alter ego in Terry Gilliam's trippy adaptation of
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Depp tried his hand at
sci-fi horror with The Astronaut's Wife in 1999. That same year,
he again collaborated with Burton on Sleepy Hollow, starring as
a prim, driven Ichabod Crane in the remake of Washington
Irving's classic tale of gothic terror.
Appearing the following year in the small but popular romantic
drama Chocolat, Depp jumped back into the big time with his role
as real-life cocaine kingpin George Jung in Blow (2001) before
gearing up for roles in the Jack the Ripper thriller From Hell
(2001) and Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).
In what was perhaps his most surprising departure since Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas, Depp shed his oftentimes angst-ridden
persona for a flamboyant role as a long undead pirate in 2003's
Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition to his acting, Depp has
also gained a certain dose of fame for his romantic involvements
with several female celebrities, including Winona Ryder,
Sherilyn Fenn, and Kate Moss, and in 1999, fathered a daughter
with French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, as well as a son in
2002. He was also the owner of the Viper Room, a popular L.A.
nightspot which gained notoriety when actor River Phoenix died
of a drug overdose on its doorstep in 1993. |
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