JoHnNy DePp BIO

Born in Kentucky and raised in Florida, JoHnNy DePp had the kind of upbringing that would readily lend itself to his future portrayals of brooding lost boys.Born in Kentucky and raised in Florida, JoHnNy 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. JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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 JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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), JoHnNy DePp tried his hand at sci-fi horror with The Astronaut's Wife in 1999.

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, JoHnNy 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), JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy 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, JoHnNy DePp shed his oftentimes angst-ridden persona for a flamboyant role as a long undead pirate in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean.