John Christopher Depp II’s rise to fame has been a bumpy ride, including careers such as a rock star and a teen pin-up.
It all began on June 19th 1963 in the state of Kentucky. His father, John Sr. and his mother, Betty Sue, were a city engineer and a waitress. At the age of 7, Johnny lost his grandmother, who he called Pawpaw, and was devastated at the blow as they were very close. Then the family moved unsuccessfully at first to Florida. The family spent time in motels and were never really fixed in a place. His older siblings, Debbie, Christie and Danny all felt this, but for Johnny it was particularly hard.
Depp never fitted in well at school; he was suspended for mooning a gym teacher. By 12, he was smoking, drinking and taking drugs. At 13, he had lost his virginity. Johnny soon discovered rock music as an outlet for his rebellion. His mother gave him a guitar and he soon joined The Flame, a punk group. They soon found success supporting bands and changed their name to The Kids. At 16, he left school and his recently-divorced parents to go to Los Angeles.
At 20, Johnny got married to Lori Anne Allison, a make-up artist. However The Kids were struggling and Lori suggested that he went into acting and introduced him to her friend, Nicholas Cage. He was persuaded to audition and gained a part as a fit boyfriend eaten by a bed in A Nightmare On Elm Street. Depp still concentrated mainly on his music career, however The Kids split up afterwards and he continued acting. Despite divorcing his wife, Johnny decided to enrol at The Loft, a Los Angeles acting school. He quickly got a good part as Private Lerner in the Oscar-winning 'Nam drama Platoon. After that the work stopped coming, and though he joined a new band, Rock City Angels, he still remained fighting for money.
When he next got a job in a new TV series, 21, Jump Street, he turned it down, thinking it beneath a serious actor like himself. However, he needed the money and so reconsidered and took the role, guessing the show would only last one series. How wrong he was, the show took off, with and Johnny’s part as Officer Tom Hanson became the most popular character. He became a teen pin-up received about 10,000 fan letters per month. The steady income was good, but Johnny felt like he could never get a serious role again. Help arrived in the form of the director, John Waters, who was looking for a heartbreaker to star in his next work, Cry-Baby. He was astonished that Depp would wish to go into this genre, but Depp was desperate to stop being a pin-up and signed aboard.
21, Jump Street ended and Depp went for a part as Edward Scissorhands in the latest Batman movie. He outshone his co-star and fiancée, Winona Ryder, easily. He had already been engaged with two women since splitting up with Lori, Sherilyn Fenn and Jennifer Grey. Depp claimed that Winona was the one; however the split soon came in 1993.
After the split, Depp went through some fantastic parts and began to gain his place in Hollywood with such hits as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? and Arizona Dreaming. However, his personal life was suffering. He began to drink heavily and take drugs again. He also went into a state of minor depression when his friend, River Phoenix died.
In 1994, he met Kate Moss and began another relationship. He was arrested for various charges, including trashing a hotel room and fighting with paparazzi. However, his career was going from strength to strength. He got roles in many movies such as Ed Wood and Dead Man. He then directed and starred in The Brave, which he co-wrote with his brother, DP. However, the film never got a cinema release.
He split up with Kate Moss in 1998 and in the same year married Vanessa Paradis, a French singer and actress. They went to live in France and had two children, Lily-Rose Melody and Jack. He carried on fighting the media for privacy and normality, but his roles were far from normal. These featured Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow and Chocolat. Depp carried on with his music with his new group, P and took part in many music videos including the Hollywood Goes Wild LP.
After From Hell, Depp disappeared for a bit, before coming back suddenly with the box office hit, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. His part as Captain Jack Sparrow became the main attraction of the film. The hits came rolling back in with Finding Neverland, Libertine and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where he put a whole new, darker side on Willy Wonka compared to Gene Wilder’s.
With the second and third part of Pirates of the Caribbean already filmed and ready to come out, Depp will remain in the spotlight for a while to come. After all these achievements, however, the Muggle film industry has not yet awarded Depp with any award except an Honorary Cesar from the French. Hopefully, this will soon change.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/johnny_depp_biog.html
Subject: Johnny Depp 
