Childhood
John Christopher Depp III was born on June 9, 1963 to city engineer John Christopher and waitress/homemaker Betty Sue Palmer in the small town of Owensboro, Kentucky.
Raised in Florida, Depp dropped out of High School at the age of fifteen following the divorce of his parents to pursue a musical career as a guitarist.
However, Johnny then turned to acting and took an acting class with Peggy Feury at the Loft Studio, Los Angeles, California.
Depp's early life was turbulent, as he took to vandalism and narcotics. He fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one named The Kids.
His marriage to Lori Anne Allison made him more responible and he took up the job of being a ballpoint-pen salesman to support his family.
A visit to Los Angeles, California, with his wife, however, happened to be a blessing in disguise, when he met up with actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to turn to acting, which culminated in Depp's film debut in the low-budget horror classic, A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), where he played a teenager who falls prey to dream-stalking demon Freddy Krueger.
Career
After his first major acting assignment in Nightmare on Elm Street Depp went on to earn roles in several other films including Slow Burn and the Academy Award-winning Platoon.
Depp shot to fame when he replaced Jeff Yagher in the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the popular TV series 21 Jump Street. In 1990, after numerous roles in teen films, his first memorable performance came about when he portrayed the title role in Edward Scissorhands that shot his name to stardom.
Following the film's success Depp consistently selected off-beat roles that surprised critics and audiences alike.
After appearing in the sequel of Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Depp joined Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway in Emir Kusturica's Arizona Dream (1992), starred in Jeremiah S. Chechik's comedy Benny and Joon (1993).
Depp's popularity kept rising with appearances in many big screen films before re-joining with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood. In 1997, he played the undercover FBI agent in Donnie Brasco, opposite Al Pacino; in 1998 he appeared in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and then in 1999 he appeared in the Sci-fi horror, The Astronaut's Wife. The same year, he teamed up again with Burton in Sleepy Hollow, brilliantly portraying Ichabod Crane.
He closed his 1990 acting career with his mark on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 16, 1999 and starred in Roman Polanski's thriller The Ninth Gate.
He co-starred with Antonio Banderas in the finale to Robert Rodriguez's Mariachi trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and stole the show with his remarkable performance. The same year saw him in the marvelous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off... Captain Jack Sparrow.
The movie earned him both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. During 2004, Depp starred in The Secret Window, The Libertine, and And They Lived Happily Ever After.
