American actor and musician Johnny Depp is 61 years old. He was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States and was raised in Florida
Johnny Depp’s age sometimes comes as a surprise to many owing to the fact that he doesn’t look as old as he is. He was born on June 9, 1963, hence, the Golden Globe Award winner has been alive for almost six decades and has been active in Hollywood for more than half of that period.
Johnny Depp Was Born In The Early 1960s
The charismatic actor was born John Christopher Depp II on June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States. He is the youngest of four children born to John Christopher Depo, a civil engineer, and Betty Sue Depp later Palmer (née Wells).
Now 61, Depp’s family essentially lived a nomadic life that ensured they moved from place to place for the first few years of his existence on earth. They eventually settled in Miramar, Florida, in 1970 when he was seven years old, and the actor spent the better part of his formative years there.
Depp’s parents divorced in 1978 when he was 15 years old, and his mother later married Robert Palmer. He attended Miramar High School but dropped out to pursue a career in show business, a decision that appears to have paid off in more ways than one.
Johnny Depp Began His Show Biz Career As A Teenager
Johnny Depp left high school to become a rock musician. However, it is important to confirm that he did so as a 16-year-old teenager. A couple of weeks after deciding to leave school, a young Depp had a change of heart and decided to return to school.
He was restrained from doing so by the school principal who encouraged him to follow his dreams of being a musician. He listened and later joined a band called The Kids in 1980. At this point, we feel the need to unveil the fact that Johnny’s mom had set him on the path of music with the guitar she gifted him when he was 12 years old.
Johnny moved to Los Angeles, California, with his band in 1983, shortly after his wedding to Lori Anne Allison, the sister of his bassist. Unfortunately, the band dissolved in 1984, and the band members, including Depp, went their separate ways. The musician and his then-wife, Lori, were married for only two years from 1983 to 1985, but they were married long enough for her to play a major role in his journey to become an actor.
She was the one who introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage and they soon became drinking buddies and fast friends. Somewhere along the line, Cage convinced Depp to try acting. Although his interest in acting had been piqued by reading a biography of James Dean and seeing the movie, Rebel Without a Cause, Depp has repeatedly said that he had no interest in acting and only took up acting roles to cover the bills that his musical career could not cover.
His feelings on the matter nonetheless, the actor and musician is best known for his acting roles rather than for his career as a singer. He landed his first acting role in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street as the main character’s boyfriend, and ultimately one of Freddy Krieger’s victims.
Over his more than three decades in Hollywood, Depp has appeared in a ton of movies, and given that he began at the relatively young age of 21, it will be fun to explore how old he was when he portrayed some of his movie roles.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In A Nightmare On Elm Street?
Johnny Depp was only 21 years old when he auditioned for the role of Glen Lantz, Nancy Thompson’s boyfriend in the 1984 supernatural slasher film, A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The movie was Depp’s debut feature-length movie as an actor, and he executed his role to a semblance of perfection that announced his presence as an actor that filmmakers and directors kept their eye on.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In Edward Scissorhands?
A 27-year-old Johnny Depp played the role of Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 fantasy romance movie Edward Scissorhands. The movie was the actor’s 4th at the time, and he had already started to earn a reputation as a dynamic actor.
That dynamism was on show when he portrayed the role of an unfinished artificial humanoid who is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their daughter.
Depp’s character in the movie is portrayed as having scissors where his hand should be because his inventor died before making hands for him. The movie follows the character’s adventures in the community of the family who took him in.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Johnny Depp was 30 years old when he played the role of Gilbert Grape in the 1993 coming-of-age drama film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
The film, which also starred other now-well-known actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, and Darlene Cates, saw Depp play the role of a 25-year-old grocery store clerk who was also tasked with ensuring the well-being of his ailing mother Bonnie Grape (played by Cates), and intellectually challenged younger brother Arnie Grape (played by DiCaprio).
While the movie enhanced Depp’s growing reputation as a talented actor, it was his then-19-year-old co-star DiCaprio who gained a lot of accolades for his performances. He bagged his first nominations for the Academy Award, a feat that ensured his place in history as the 7th youngest Best Supporting Actor nominee, as well as the Golden Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In 21 Jump Street?
Johnny Depp Was 24 years old when he began appearing as Officer Thomas “Tom” Hanson in the American police procedural television series, 21 Jump Street. The series premiered on Fox network on April 12, 1987, with the series finale coming on April 27, 1991.
The series had five seasons and 103 episodes. Depp was a main character on the show, appearing in four of the five seasons, and 80 of the total 103 episodes. One could argue that the experiences he garnered from his performances in the series set him up nicely for subsequent movie and TV series roles.
On March 16, 2012, a feature-length film adaptation of the series was released. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and set in the same community as the series, the Owensboro, Kentucky-born actor, then 49 years old, reprised his role as Officer Tom Hanson in a cameo appearance, alongside other co-series stars such as Holly Robinson and Peter DeLuise.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In Charlie And The Chocolate Factory?
The 2005 musical fantasy film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory saw a then 42-year-old Johnny Depp play a starring role. Proving once again how adaptable he can be as an actor, Depp portrayed the role of the Wonka Chocolate Factory owner, Willy Wonka, who acts as a tour guide for Charlie Bucket (played by Freddie Highmore) and four other kids who won the contest of the Golden tickets which were placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide.
Due to the fact that the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was held in high esteem by a lot of fans, some of the characters had big shoes to fill. However, neither Depp nor the other actors were fazed by the daunting challenge of reproducing a similar or even better performance than the 1971 film.
Following the release of the film, audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A- on an A+ to F scale. Rotten Tomatoes’ review concluded that the movie was closer to the source material than the 1971 film. A. O. Scott of The New York Times essentially declared that despite some serious imperfections, the movie achieved the goal it set out to achieve which was to stoke the aesthetic appetite of children.
Being one of the famous faces in the movie, it was almost inevitable that Depp’s performance would be touched on by critics. For an actor of his stature, the reviews he got were less than flattering. Some of his critics compared him to Michael Jackson.
Roger Ebert was particularly scathing with his reviews claiming that Depp’s performance was the weak spot in an otherwise splendid movie. Depp took exception to the comparisons to Michael Jackson and claimed that he did not base his performance on the late king of pop. His assertion was backed by Burton who stated that Depp’s version of the Willy Wonka character did not like kids.
How Old Was Johnny Depp In Pirates of The Caribbean?
Johnny Depp was 40 years old when he began playing his most iconic movie role to date in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. The first installment of the American fantasy supernatural swashbuckler film series titled Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released in 2003 and the then 40-year-old actor played the role of Captain Jack Sparrow, a charismatic pirate.
The first installment of the series received positive responses from audiences and critics as well. It reportedly grossed over $654 million worldwide and Walt Disney Pictures confirmed that they would release more of the same.
In 2006, they lived up to their word with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and it was an even bigger financial success than the first one, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide on the day it premiered.
A year later in 2007, the 3rd film in the series titled Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was released and was equally a financial success pulling in around $960 million. The 4th and 5th installments titled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales were released in 2011 and 2017 respectively.
The 4th installment, On Stranger Tides, also pulled in more than $1 billion and became the second movie in the franchise to do so as the 8th film in history to do so. In total, the Pirates of the Caribbean film series grossed nearly $5 billion worldwide and became the 15th highest-grossing film series of all time as well as the first film series to have 2 or more movies gross more than a billion dollars.
The commercial and critical success of the film series also immortalized some of the actors and actresses who played starring roles in the film series including Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, and Kevin McNally among others. However, if there is one actor who the movie did more for his career than anyone else’s, that actor is Johnny Depp.
The film series has since become the actor’s calling card and anyone who has seen those expertly made movies will understand why Depp who reprised the role of Captain Jack Sparrow throughout the series is such a huge reason why the movie was successful. His eccentric, and sometimes funny performances endeared him to virtually all the fans of the movie series.
For his efforts in the first installment, The Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Actor. He also earned a nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical from Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of the pirate captain in The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest.
It almost seemed as if he would not get any lasting recognition for his portrayal of his most iconic character yet, but MTV Movie Awards thought differently as he went on to win the award for Best Male Performance in the first two installments of the movie series. He also received a nomination for Best Comedic Performance from MTV Movie Awards.
During the Teen Choice Movie Awards, Depp picked up more accolades for his work on the film series. First, his character’s fight/action sequence vs Geoffrey Rush’s character in the first installment earned him the Choice Movie: Fight/Action Sequence Award.
He would also pick up the Choice Movie: Liar Award for his performance in the first part of the series as well as the award for Choice Movie Actor in the first and second parts, as well as a host of other nominations and awards.
Johnny Depp And Amber Heard’s Age Gap
Johnny Depp is 23 years older than Amber Heard. Born Amber Laura Heard on April 22, 1986, the actor tied the knot with the actress in 2015. They were only married for a couple of years before divorcing in acrimonious circumstances.
A lot has been said and written about their time as a married couple, including the much-publicized defamation suit against Heard which the actor eventually won.
Ellen Barkin And Johnny Depp’s Age Difference
Ellen Barkin, born Ellen Rona Barkin on April 16, 1954, is almost 9 years older than Johnny Depp. Not much is known about Depp’s relationship with the American actress, but several sources confirm that they dated briefly in 1998. They met on the set of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but their relationship did not last very long.