Birthplace: Owensboro, Kentucky
Best known as: Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
Johnny Depp was first famous as a heartthrob cop on the teenybopper drama 21 Jump Street (1987-1990). Then he gave up TV for the movies, playing the fantastical title character in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990) and winning critical acclaim in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Depp became known as a handsome and thoughtful actor who craved variety; In the 1990s he took a wide range of roles, from the lead in Don Juan DeMarco (1995, with Faye Dunaway and Marlon Brando) to Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999, with Christina Ricci). In 2001 he played real-life cocaine trafficker George Jung in the movie Blow (co-starring with Penelope Cruz), and in 2003 he played the comically swaggering pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (co-starring Orlando Bloom), helping turn that movie into the summer's surprise hit. Two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, appeared in 2006 and 2007. Depp also took on the role of fictional chocolatier Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Extra credit: Depp owns the Viper Room lounge in Los Angeles... He turned down the lead role in Speed (1994), which was then taken by Keanu Reeves... Pirates of the Caribbean was loosely based on the Disneyland thrill ride of the same name... Depp's longtime companion is French pop singer and actress Vanessa Paradis. They began dating in 1998 and have two children together: daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (b. 1999) and son John Christopher Depp III (also known as Jack, b. 2002).
