John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II, an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and musician, was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro Kentucky. Depp has German, Cherokee, and Irish ancestry. His parents, Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, Sr., a civil engineer. Depp has a brother Daniel, who is a novelist, and two sisters, Christie (his personal manager) and Debbie.
In 1987, Depp starred in a lead role on the Fox TV television series, 21 Jump Street. Depp's first major role was in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. Some of his films are Cry-Baby (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Dead Man (1995), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Ninth Gate (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and Pirates of the Caribbean (2003,2006,2007,2011).
In 1997, Depp recorded a solo album, played slide guitar on the Oasis song "Fade In-Out" from Be Here Now and "Fade Away" on the "Don't Go Away" single. Depp played acoustic guitar in the movie Chocolat and on the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He has appeared in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' music video "Into the Great Wide Open".
Depp has featured in films that have grossed over $2.6 billion at the United States box office and over $6 billion worldwide. Depp has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times. Depp won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Johnny Depp and his wife Vanessa Paradis grow grapes and have wine making facilities in their vineyard in Plan-de-la-Tour north of Saint-Tropez. Depp enjoys playing the guitar, reading, acting, art, collecting things, and painting. Depp says,“What I love to do is paint people’s faces, y’know, their eyes. Because you want to find that emotion, see what’s going on behind their eyes.” Depp has 13 tattoos, many of them represent important persons or events in his life.
Depp has a relationship with Vanessa Paradis, a French actress and singer whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate. They have two children: a daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp was born May 27, 1999, and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III was born April 9, 2002.
In 2007, his daughter recovered from a serious illness, an E. coli infection and stayed for nine days before she made a full recovery. To thank Great Ormond Street Hospital, Depp visited the hospital dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit and spent 4 hours reading stories to the children. He later donated about $2 million to the hospital in 2008.
