Johnny Depp was born John Christopher Depp II, in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, to parents John and Betty Sue Depp. Depp’s father worked as a civil engineer, and his mother came from full-blooded Cherokee stock, and worked as a waitress and homemaker. The youngest of four children, Depp was withdrawn and a self-admitted oddball.
Johnny and his family moved frequently to accommodate his father’s job, finally landing in Miramar, Florida, when Johnny was 7 years old. The family lived in a motel for nearly a year, until his father found a job.
In 1978, when Depp was 15, his parents got divorced. As the youngest of four, it became Johnny’s job to go to his father’s office and pick up the weekly child-support money. The split caused a gap between Johnny and his father.
In 1990, after numerous roles in teen-oriented films, his first of a handful of great collaborations with director Tim Burton came about when Depp played the title role in Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Following the film’s success, Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, distinctive performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike.
He continued to gain critical commendation and increasing popularity by appearing in many features before re-joining with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood (1994).
He stole the show from screen greats such as Antonio Banderas in the finale to Robert Rodriguez’s “mariachi” trilogy, once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).
In that same year he starred in the marvellous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off: the charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow.
During his career, Depp has, unfortunately, gotten himself under bad public scrutiny. He was accused of selling drugs at his own club, The Viper Room, in regard to the legendary celebrity, River Phoenix, who died outside the club due to drug overdose in 1993.
The following year, Depp was arrested for smashing and trashing a New York suite. And, in 1999, he was arrested in London for being in a fight with paparazzi outside a restaurant. In 2004, he was again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland.
Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a major success at the box office and earning him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
In 2007, Depp’s daughter recovered from a serious illness, an E. coli infection that began to cause her kidneys to shut down and resulted in an extended hospital stay. Depp visited the hospital in November 2007, dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit, and spent four hours reading stories to the children.
In 2008 he donated £1 million (about $2 million) to the hospital. In 2013, Indian Country Today Media Network questioned whether “Tonto’s Giant Nuts”, the name of Johnny Depp’s band, was a wise choice given the actor’s role as Tonto.