About Me
It's been a bizarre and bumpy road for me. I tried to be a rock star, only to see my band split ... moved into serious acting, only to have my credibility destroyed by accidentally becoming a teen pin-up. Then, defying my idol-status, I threw myself into the cinematic underground and slowly, slowly proved myself to be one of the most adventurous and genuinely bohemian actors of my generation.I was born John Christopher Depp II on June 9th, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky - the self-styled "barbecue capital of the world". My father, John Senior, was a city engineer, and my mother, Betty Sue, a waitress. I was always very close to my mother, but perhaps even closer to my grandfather, who i knew as Pawpaw (I was known as Dipp or Deppity Dawg). I'd visit Pawpaw often, and happily recalls sunny days picking tobacco together. It was a terrible shock to me at seven-year-old when Pawpaw died.Also traumatic was to move to Florida soon afterwards.
I was a competent garage rocker. After trying out with various outfits, I joined punksters The Flame and found myself making $25 a night at Florida's nightclubs. There were drawbacks. Still underage, I had to enter clubs through the back-door and leave after the first set. But it was good, and got better. Changing our name to The Kids, the band started to take off, supporting such luminaries as Talking Heads, B-52's and Iggy Pop (I remembers my first self-consciously punky words to Iggy being "F*** you! F*** you! F*** you!". Iggy called me "a little turd" and ignored me). I had dropped out of High School at 16 to concentrate on music (my parents were divorced the year before). Now, in search of the big time, the band relocated to Los Angeles.By the age of 20, I was married, to make-up artist Lori Anne Allison, five years my senior. As The Kids were struggling, having to get day jobs to support ourselves (I was at one point selling ballpoint pens over the phone), she suggested me try acting, and introduced me to her friend Nicolas Cage. Cage persuaded a reluctant me to meet his agent, Ilene Feldman and she got me an audition for an upcoming movie by Wes Craven, already notorious for The Hills Have Eyes. After the tests, Craven turned to his young daughter for casting advice - she liked me. And so I made his feature-film debut as a hunky boyfriend devoured by a killer bed in A Nightmare On Elm Street.Thats when all this stuff started to me....
I was Called to 21, Jump Street,
Cry-Baby (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Freddie's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)
Benny And Joon (1993)
Arizona Dream (1993)
Ed Wood (1994)
Don Juan DeMarco (1994)
United States Of Poetry (TV series) (1995)
Nick Of Time (1995)
Dead Man (1995)
The Cannes Man (as myself) (1996)
Donnie Brasco (1996)
The Brave (1997)
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
LA Without A Map (as myself, TV) (1998)
The Source (1999)
The 9th Gate (1999)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Man Who Cried (2000)
Before Night Falls (2000)
Chocolat (2000)
Blow (2001)
From Hell (2001)
Lost In La Mancha (documentary) (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Secret Window (2004)
J.M. Barrie's Neverland (2004)
The Rum Diary (2004)
The Libertine (2004)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
