Johnny Depp-Biography

When Johnny Depp was only 12 years old, his mother, Betty Sue Palmer, brought him a guitar. Depp started playing in various garage bands, his first band being in honor of his girlfriend, Meredith. Johnny dropped out of high school just an year after his parents divorce, just to become a rock musician. According to him, he attempted to return to school two weeks later, but his principle told him to follow his dream of becoming a musician. Johnny Depp initially played with the Kids band. This band had initial modest success. The band then went to Los Angeles to sign a record deal and changed its name from the Kids to Six Gun Method. But unfortunately the band split before signing the deal.

Johnny Depp later collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song "Mary", which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut for Geffen Records titled Young Man's Blues.Johnny Depp fell in love with his band's bass player's sister Anne Allison and married her on December 24, 1983. Anne Allison was a makeup artist. After their marriage also Anne worked as makeup artist, but Depp worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for ink pens. Later Anne his wife, introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to pursue an acting career. In 1985, Depp and Allison divorced. After this marriage ended, Depp dated and engaged Sherilyn Fenn whom he met on the sets of the 1985 short film Dummies.

In 1994, Johnny Depp was arrested and questioned by police due to a complaint lodged by a New York City hotel staff, for causing serious damage to the hotel suite. In 1999 Depp was again arrested for brawling with paparazzi outside a restaurant while he was dining in London with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis, with whom he had a had a relationship since 1998. Vanessa Paradis is a French actress and singer whom Depp had met while filming The Ninth Gate. The couple has two children. Daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp, born May 27, 1999 and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III, born April 9, 2002. In 2007, his daughter recovered from a serious illness, an E. coli infection that began to cause her kidneys to shut down and resulted in an extended hospital stay. However, earlier sources reported that she had blood poisoning due to stepping on a rusty tack.

Though Depp did not remarry but he states that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything." He says "You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny; kismet. All the math finally worked." The family divides its time between their home in Meudon, located in the suburbs of Paris, Los Angeles, and their villa in Le Plan-de-la-Tour, a small town an hour and a half from Saint-Tropez, in the south of France. Johnny Depp has also purchased a vineyard estate in the Plan-de-la-Tour area in 2007.

Johnny Depp is also famous because of the 13 tattoos stamped on his body. Out of these 13 tattoos, many of them signify important persons or events in his life, including an American Indian in profile and a ribbon reading "Wino Forever" which was originally "Winona Forever" and was altered after his breakup with Winona Ryder on his right biceps, "Lily-Rose" his daughter's name over his heart, "Betty Sue" his mother's name on his left biceps, and a sparrow flying over water with the word "Jack" his son's name on his right forearm. The sparrow is flying towards him rather than away from him as it is in Pirates of the Caribbean.

In 2003, Johnny Depp made news because of his quotes criticizing the United States in Germany's Stern magazine. Johnny commented that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth — that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." He later complained that the magazine misquoted him and the quotation was taken out of context. But, Stern stood by its story and CNN.com also affirmed it in its coverage of the interview. CNN added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The Newsweek's July 17, 2006 edition reprinted his "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, within the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Johnny Depp has also disagreed with the subsequent media reports that quoted him saying that he wanted to be painted as a "European wannabe" who enjoys the "simpler" life and anonymity that living in France provides.

Tim Burton is one of the closest friends of Johnny Depp with whom he has worked six times. Depp has even referred to working with Burton as "coming home", and he wrote the introduction to Burton on Burton, a book of interviews with the director, in which he called Burton "...a brother, a friend,...and brave soul".