Johnny Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, the youngest of four children. His family moved to Miramar, Florida, when he was seven. In school, he developed a bad-boy reputation and experimented with drugs. He dropped out of school in his junior year and joined a rock group that was good enough to open concerts by the likes of Iggy Pop and Talking Heads. Actor NICOLAS CAGE suggested that Johnny Depp audition for Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Playing an undercover cop on the television series 21 Jump Street for four years, Johnny Depp was paid $45,000 per episode. For Cry Baby (1990), John Waters wrote the part of Wade Walker, a delinquent biker, with Johnny Depp in mind and paid him $1 million to take the lead.
So Johnny Depp was drawn to excentric roles from the beginning, leading up to the bizarre title part in Edward Scissorhands (1990) for Tim Burton. In Benny and Joon (1993), Johnny Depp played an eccentric, dyslexic silent-movie buff. In What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), he played yet another off-center character. With The Brave (1996), Johnny Depp tried his hand at writing and directing as well as acting and was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival of 1997. Don Juan DeMarco (1994) was one of his most entertaining and popular films, putting him in company with MARLON BRANDO and FAYE DUNAWAY. Johnny Depp's character calls himself Don Juan because he claims to be the world's greatest lover, who supposedly has seduced more than 1,500 women. This character is put under the care of a clinical psychiatrist, Jack Mickler, played by Brando.
Donnie Brasco (1997) with AL PACINO did quite well at the box office. This time, Johnny Depp played an undercover cop who had penetrated the Mafia but is seduced by the Mafia lifestyle. His next film was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel. As in Donnie Brasco, Johnny Depp tried to absorb the character of the larger-than-life gonzo journalist. The movie, which stressed hallucinogenic special effects, was perhaps Johnny Depp's least successful venture. Sleepy Hollow (1999) his third film with Tim Burton, featured Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, not as a schoolteacher, but as a forensic detective investigating murders caused by the Headless Horseman.
The Astronaut's Wife, directed by Rand Ravich in 1999, featured Johnny Depp as an astronaut who returns from a mission to outer space but as not quite the same man. One critic described Johnny Depp as having an uncanny talent for blending into his role. ROMAN POLANSKI chose Johnny Depp to play the lead in The Ninth Gate (1999), an unscrupulous book dealer named Dean Corso who is searching for a manuscript that has supernatural powers. In Blow (2001), directed by Ted Demme, Johnny Depp played overweight, middle-aged drug dealer George Jung. In From Hell (2001), Johnny Depp again plays a drug addict but this time as Scotland Yard inspector Fred Abberline who picks up clues in his druginduced hallucinations. Unfortunately, his clues do not lead him to solve the identity of Jack the Ripper.
He played the mute César, a gypsy riding a white horse who symbolizes Prince Charming, in The Man Who Cried, which is set in Russia in 1927 and was written and directed by Sally Potter in 2001. Made on a low budget, it grossed less than $1 million and received more negative than positive reviews. When Jim Jarmusch wanted to make his odd postwestern, Dead Man (1995), he cast Johnny Depp to play the lead character, oddly named for the poet William Blake, in a cast that included ROBERT MITCHUM, Gabriel Byrne, Alfred Molina, and Iggy Pop.
This was a perfect, offbeat Johnny Depp role, in a movie by a hip young director making a cult film. Johnny Depp has carved his niche by playing oddball roles in a number of aggressively uncommercial films, some of which succeeded because of Johnny Depp's participation. Johnny Depp has a large following of loyal fans who will follow him to the offbeat roles described above. So far, even in a commercial Disney film like Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), he has seemed beyond compromise.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Webworldarticles.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
This article was sent to us by:
Damon C. Mitchell at
08102010
1. Robert Aldrich produced many social and political movies
All articles in this directory are property of their respective authors. Additionally, read our Privacy Policy
© 2010 WebWorldarticles.com - All Rights Reserved. Partners: Gunblade Saga