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Humble Beginnings and Stardom
Johnny Depp has always been a misfit even before he was an actor. When he was young, he didn’t plan to graduate high school, and ended up dropping out to become a musician. He was a guitarist for a band called the Kids. He and his band moved to Los Angeles. During his time in the band, he became a struggling musician, but ended up finding steady work as an actor since he was introduced to Nicolas Cage by his then-wife Lori Anne Allison. Nicholas helped Johnny to audition for Wes Craven for the low-budget horror film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street.’ The film achieved international success since it scared its audiences and featured a memorable kill by showing a young Johnny Depp being brutally killed by the boogeyman, Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund).
1980s
The following year, Johnny Depp starred in ‘Private Resort’ (1984). It was his debut as a leading character for a full-length film. It was a raunchy sex comedy about two boys (played by Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow) who are on the hunt for rich pretty girls in a Miami resort as guests for the weekend. In the following year, Johnny Depp had a role as a translating soldier in Oliver Stone’s award-winning 1986 film, ‘Platoon.’ In 1987, Johnny Depp had a crucial role in television in the show ‘21 Jump Street.’ He played as undercover Officer Tom Hanson, who went incognito in high school to arrest juvenile delinquencies. This made Johnny Depp not participate in full-length features for the last three years of the 1980s. In 1990, the show ended.
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1990s
At the start of the new decade, Johnny Depp returned to making cinematic movies. He and John Waters worked with one another to make ‘Cry Baby,’ where he plays the title character who is a greaser and attempts to win a school girl over in the 1950s. His second film in that year was ‘Edward Scissorhands.’ He began his first collaboration with director Tim Burton. Audiences loved the movie due to Tim Burton’s lighthearted and gothic fish-out-of-water story of an artificial man who has scissors for hands, who falls in love with a suburban girl (played by Winona Ryder).
In 1993, he starred in three films with outcast characters. The first one was ‘Arizona Dream,’ a surrealist comedy drama. The second being ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,’ a tale of a young man who lives in a small town who feels his life is dull because he is too busy taking care of his morbidly obese mother and his mentally disabled younger brother (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). However, his love interest (played by Juliette Lewis) helps him to put his life in a positive perspective. In the following year, he returned to collaborate with Tim Burton in the biopic, ‘Ed Wood.’ In this one, he plays as Edward J. Wood, one of Hollywood’s worst filmmakers ever. The film was not intended to insult the director. It was supposed to celebrate his unique eccentricities which are considered to be quirky for its fanbase and today’s audiences. During the 1990s, Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp collaborated with each other for two movies: ‘Don Juan DeMarco’ and Johnny Depp’s first directorial effort ‘The Brave.’ Around 1997, he ended up making another biopic, ‘Donnie Brasco.’ It focuses on an FBI agent who infiltrated the Mafia in New York City, which caused distress for his wife and children.
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In 1998, he worked with director Terry Gilliam for the movie ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.’ The film was a fictionalized autobiographical movie of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel of the same name. Throughout the movie, Depp’s portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson and his lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (played by Benicio Del Toro), goes through a drug-fueled experience in Las Vegas. In 1999, he starred in Roman Polanski’s ‘The Ninth Gate.’ He also made his third collaboration with Tim Burton in ‘Sleepy Hollow’ by playing Ichabod Crane, a quirky detective who hunts down the Headless Horseman (played by Christopher Walken).
2000s
In 2000, he appeared in two roles in ‘Before Night Falls,’ with Javier Bardem. He played as a man dressed in drag, and a lieutenant who keeps Javier Bardem’s character hostage. In 2001, he portrayed the drug kingpin George Jung in the biopic ‘Blow.’ He received critical acclaim for his performance.
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Johnny Depp received international fame by appearing in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003). The film became a financial and critical success. He also got his first Oscar nomination for his performance as the quirky and heroic pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. In the same year, Johnny Depp played the quirky FBI agent in ‘Once Upon A Time in Mexico,’ directed by Robert Rodriguez. In 2004, he played as J. M. Barrie, creator of the Peter Pan play in ‘Finding Neverland.’ It was a lighthearted story of J. M. Barrie using a family as an inspiration for the play. His performance as the playwright and author had helped him receive his second Oscar nomination.
In 2005, he had two films that were released by Tim Burton. He played the eccentric factory owner Willy Wonka in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’ Johnny Depp also provided voice work for Victor Van Dort, a down and out-of-luck groomsman in the animated movie ‘Corpse Bride.’
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In 2006 and 2007, he returned for his role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the movies ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest‘ and ‘At World’s End.’ He collaborated with Tim Burton again for the dark musical ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.’ He received his third Oscar nomination as the serial killer barber who is out for revenge. He was praised for his acting and singing. In 2009, he appeared in the John Dillinger biopic ‘Public Enemies,’ portraying the infamous bank robber during the Great Depression.
2010s
The following year, he and Tim Burton released ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with Depp as the Mad Hatter, as featured in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel. A year later, Johnny Depp did voice acting work for ‘Rango’ as a timid and quirky chameleon who becomes a sheriff of a small town. Johnny and Tim reunited once more to make their full-length feature adaptation of the TV show of the same name, ‘Dark Shadows.’ In 2013, he was reunited with the ‘Pirates’ director Gore Verbinski in the movie ‘The Lone Ranger.’ While Armie Hammer plays as the lead character, Depp plays as his trusty companion, Tonto. In 2015, Johnny Depp played as the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger in ‘Black Mass.’ Johnny Depp was so proud of his work, he even watched his own performance in that movie. He is not one to watch his own work.
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Despite the fact that he has taken some low-maintenance roles such as Kevin Smith’s ‘Tusk’ and ‘Yoga Hosers,’ he reprised his role as the Mad Hatter in ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass.’ He also took it upon himself to be in the mystery film ‘Murder on the Orient Express.’ In 2018, he also returned to voice acting for the animated feature ‘Sherlock Gnomes.’ In the same year, he played Grindelwald, a dark wizard in the movie ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.’ In 2020, he returned to the biopic genre by playing W. Eugene Smith in the film ‘Minamata.’ Smith was a photojournalist in the early 1970s who documented the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in the residents of a Japanese Village.
In Conclusion
Johnny Depp will always be one of Hollywood’s greatest actors of all time. He has built a fan base for big audiences all over the world. He is well-known for eccentric and quirky characters who are sometimes likable and charming. He will also dazzle cinephiles with his portrayal of famous figures who made their mark in history. Johnny Depp will always be an actor that will never be forgotten.
By Marco Castaneda
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