Biography: Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is an award-winning actor who is also producing under the banner of his company, infinitum nihil.

Johnny Depp is an award-winning actor who is also producing under the banner of his company, infinitum nihil.

A three-time Academy Award® nominee in the category of Best Actor, Depp was honored with his first Oscar® nomination for his work in Gore Verbinski‘s 2003 blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which launched the hugely successful film franchise. He also won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® and an Empire Award and garnered Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his creation of Captain Jack Sparrow, who became an instant screen classic. Depp went on to reprise the role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, earning another Golden Globe nomination; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; and, most recently, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Depp’s second Oscar® nomination came for his performance in Marc Forster‘s acclaimed 2004 drama Finding Neverland. Additionally, he received Golden Globe, BAFTA Award and SAG Award® nominations for his portrayal of Peter Pan author James Barrie in the film.

Depp earned his latest Oscar® nod for his work in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, director Tim Burton‘s 2007 screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. For his performance in the film’s title role, Depp also won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

Dark Shadows marks Depp’s eighth collaboration with Burton, which began with the actor’s Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1990 feature Edward Scissorhands. He subsequently earned Golden Globe nominations for his work under Burton’s direction in Ed Wood, for which he won a London Film Critics’ Circle Award, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland, and he also lent his voice to Burton’s animated hit Corpse Bride.

Depp began his performing career as a musician, before segueing to acting. He made his feature film debut in the horror hit A Nightmare on Elm Street, followed by Oliver Stone‘s Oscar®-winning war drama Platoon. In 1987, he landed his breakout role on the hit television show 21 Jump Street. After starring in the series for four seasons, Depp returned to the big screen in John WatersCry-Baby.

His early film work also includes Benny & Joon, gaining a Golden Globe nomination; Lasse Hallström‘s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape; Don Juan DeMarco, with Marlon Brando; Mike Newell‘s Donnie Brasco; and Terry Gilliam‘s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In 1997, Depp made his writing and directing debut with The Brave, in which he also starred with Brando.

Depp’s long list of credits also includes such diverse films as Lasse Hallström’s Chocolat, for which he was Golden Globe-nominated; the Hughes brothers’ From Hell; Robert Rodriguez‘s Once Upon a Time in Mexico; Michael Mann‘s Public Enemies; The Tourist, earning another Golden Globe nomination; and The Rum Diary, which he also produced. In addition, he voiced the title character in 2011’s Oscar®-winning animated feature Rango, directed by Gore Verbinski, and was one of the producers on the Oscar®-nominated Hugo.

He is currently reunited with Verbinski, who is directing him in the Western The Lone Ranger, in which Depp stars as Tonto opposite Armie Hammer as the title character.

This Biography/Filmography of Johnny Depp is courtesy of Warner Brothers

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