Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, to John Christopher Depp, Sr. and Betty Sue Palmer. The family moved to Miramar, Florida, in 1970 where he was raised. He has one brother, Danny, and two sisters, Debbie and Christie (who now is Depp's personal manager). The Depp family is mostly of Irish, German and Cherokee descent; though the Depp name is French in origin. Depp's great-grandmother, Minnie, was a Cherokee, and his father is also of partial Cherokee heritage. His family was always on the move during Johnny's childhood, and he and his brothers and sisters lived in more than twenty different places. Depp's mother bought him a guitar at about the age of 13, and he began playing in bands.
Depp's parents divorced in 1978 when he was 15, and he dropped out of school a year later to become a rock musician. He played with a band named "The Kids," who had local success. The band set out for Los Angeles in California, to try to get a record deal and changing their name to "Six Gun Method." During the time Depp married Lori Anne Allison, the sister of the drummer of the band, on December 20, 1983. This caused friction between the band members and they split, the record deal never having materialized. Depp also collaborated with the band "Rock City Angels" and co-wrote the song "Mary" which appeared on their debut for Geffen Records, "Young Man's Blues." In 1985, he and his close friend Earl Stevenson, a former U.S. Marine sergeant who also played his brother on A Nightmare on Elm Street, were both disappointed when they were turned down for a part in a music video being put together by the Wolf Brothers in Los Angeles.
Depp and his wife worked hard to make ends meet after moving in together .Anne worked as a makeup artist, and he worked a variety of odd jobs (he even worked as a telemarketer for a time). Later, Anne introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Johnny to turn to acting to support himself and his wife. His film career took off slowly, however, and in 1985 Depp divorced Allison. Since then, he has dated and been engaged to Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. Depp is now in a long-term relationship with French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate in 1998. Together they have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (b. May 27, 1999,) and son Jack John Christopher Depp III (b. April 9, 2002). The family divides their time between Los Angeles and a villa in the South of France, but it has been rumored that Depp is considering moving to Connecticut. He also owns an island in the Caribbean, where he spends some of his time, as well as property in the Cornwall region of England.
Johnny has admitted to engaging in self-mutilation as a child due to the stress of dealing with family problems and his own insecurity. He has seven or eight scars from practicing self-harm. In a 1993 Details interview he explained his self-injury by saying, "My body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist." In 1999, Depp admitted that to this day, his self-image and self-esteem are sometimes rocky, though he maintains that he is happier than he's ever been.
Trivia
Depp, a musician, can be heard playing slide guitar on the Oasis song "Fade In-Out" (from Be Here Now, 1997);playing acoustic guitar in the movie Chocolat, playing on the soundtrack to the movie Once Upon A Time in Mexico with his band Tonto's Giant Nuts; on Shane MacGowan's first solo album; and as a member of P, a group featuring Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes. (However, it has been acknowledged that Depp does not possess a good singing voice.) He also made an appearance on The Fast Show, with the "Suits you Sir!" sales men segment' a British comic sketch show.
Depp reportedly has 13 tattoos, including the inscriptions "Lily-Rose" (the name of his first-born child), "Betty Sue" (his mother's name), and "Wino Forever" (originally "Winona Forever"; Depp had the tattoo altered after his break-up with Winona Ryder); a sparrow that can be seen on his character Captain Jack in the film Pirates of the Caribbean is real also.
Depp played the role of Hunter S. Thompson in the film based on the novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is an avid fan of Thompson's work and was also a longtime friend of Thompson before Thompson committed suicide in 2005. Depp funded the construction of the giant Gonzo fist-shaped cannon that Thompson instructed was to be used to fire his ashes into the atmosphere.
Like many celebrities, Depp has had several run-ins with the law over the course of his career. His first arrest was in Vancouver for a late-night altercation in a hotel lobby. He was accused of selling drugs at his club The Viper Room, after actor River Phoenix died in front of the club from a drug overdose in 1993 though the owners were not involved in the tragic death. In 1994, Depp was arrested and questioned by police for allegedly causing serious damage to a New York hotel suite. He was arrested again in 1999 for getting into a fight with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis.
In the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Depp, the star of the original 1984 A Nightmare On Elm Street, can be seen on a television screen. He is credited in the film's end titles as "Oprah Noodlemantra", a moniker he reportedly uses when staying in hotels to give himself something amusing to get up to when he receives wake-up calls. 12.
