One of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, Johnny Depp, stars in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Throughout his illustrious career, Johnny has appeared in several of director Tim Burton’s films, including “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Johnny is considered one of the world’s most famous movie stars and was listed as the highest-paid actor by Guinness World Records in 2012.
Johnny dropped out of high school, and began his career as a musician before moving into acting. He made his movie debut in 1984 with the horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The actor became a household name with his success on the television series “21 Jump Street.” Some of the star’s other notable films include “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Finding Neverland,” and “Donnie Brasco.”
In his personal life, Johnny has been married and divorced twice. He has also had long-term relationships with other women, including Winona Ryder, Kate Moss and Vanessa Paradis, who is the mother of his two children. Paradis and Johnny were together from 1998 to 2012.
Johnny has been on the receiving end of negative publicity, especially after his private life started unfolding in public. In 2015, he married Amber Heard, but she filed for a divorce in 2016, accusing Johnny of abuse. Paradis and some of the actor’s colleagues are among the people defending Johnny, saying that he is decent and not abusive.
Keep reading to learn more about Johnny’s family and his relationship with his lookalike children.
Johnny Depp (1987), (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Johnny was born on June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky. He is the youngest of four children. Unfortunately, Johnny encountered some hardships during his younger years. His parents divorced when he was just 15 years old, and he dropped out of high school the following year.
However, Johnny had big dreams. He received his first guitar at the age of 12 and quickly began playing in a variety of bands. It was clear that music was a huge passion for Johnny – and still is to this day. In fact, he even dropped out of high school in order to fully pursue a career as a rock star. Though he tried to go back to school, he ended up sticking with his original plan of pursuing music.
While taking this leap of faith does not work for everyone, it worked for Johnny. Although his band had split up, Johnny was able to find luck in another area of the entertainment industry: acting. His then-wife, Lori Ann Allison, introduced him to fellow actor Nicolas Cage, and the rest is history. The two men quickly established a great friendship and Cage encouraged Johnny to really consider pursuing a career in acting.
It wasn’t a far stretch for the latter as Johnny already had a clear love for the art. He was previously inspired by James Dean’s life and work, especially the film “Rebel Without a Cause.” Still, he had never really considered being an actor.
“I never wanted to be the guy people looked at,” Johnny told The Boston Globe. “I felt I could only be myself when I was alone, that I turned into some kind of novelty.”
Johnny Depp (1990), (Universal Pictures/Getty Images)
Soon enough, though, Johnny was going out for auditions with the help and advice of Cage. Johnny auditioned for a role in the Wes Craven 1984 classic horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and successfully landed the part of the boyfriend of the main character.
Even though Johnny hadn’t had acting experience, he continued to impress casting agents and directors, and continued to land more and more roles. His career was off to a great start as the up-and-coming star worked hard to make a name for himself.
By the end of the 1980s, Johnny was a certified teen idol. He especially found even more fame thanks to his role as an undercover police officer in the TV series “21 Jump Street.” The show first premiered in 1987 and aired more than 100 episodes until its end in 1991.
However, being a teen sensation wasn’t exactly the lifestyle Johnny wanted, so he began pursuing roles that he found more interesting. His resume quickly became more eclectic with each passing film as the established star began collaborating with Tim Burton. Many of their films together went on to find great success and are still considered cult classics to this day.
In 1990, Johnny played the title character in the Burton romantic fantasy film “Edward Scissorhands.” Another notable star who appeared in the movie was Winona Ryder, whom Johnny started a relationship with.
Johnny was not only adored by fans, but critics were also impressed with his work on the big screen. “Edward Scissorhands” even earned the actor his first ever Golden Globe Award nomination.
Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp (1990), (Ke.Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images)
Surprisingly, Johnny didn’t have any releases in the following years aside from a brief cameo in the 1991 movie “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare,” which was an installment in the “A Nightmare of Elm Street” franchise.
Thankfully, the actor made his way back to the big screen in 1993 with the romantic comedy, “Benny and Joon.” Sadly, the movie didn’t stir up much buzz, but that didn’t deter Johnny from continuing on with his already fantastic acting career as it still earned him award nominations.
Also in 1993, Johnny landed a leading role in the drama “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” It was a breakthrough role for Leonardo DiCaprio and the film received great reviews from critics. However, many of the award nominations were directed more toward DiCaprio’s performance rather than Johnny’s performance.
Johnny continued to find work in a variety of roles and film genres for the remainder of the 1990s. Some of his work during this time included “Don Juan DeMarco,” “Donnie Brasco” and “The Brave” – which Johnny also directed and wrote the screenplay for. He also reunited with Burton for an adaptation of “Sleepy Hollow.”
The following decade brought Johnny one of his most recognized roles to this day. In 2003, the actor starred as Captain Jack Sparrow in the adventure film “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The film was an instant hit with fans and critics alike, doing extremely well at the box office and earning plenty of awards and award nominations. It’s not surprising that the movie spawned a successful film franchise with Johnny reprising his role in the following four films.
Johnny Depp, Kate Moss (2005), (IMAGO / Landmark Media)
Johnny also continued working with Burton and starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Other notable Burton and Johnny collaborations include “Corpse Bride” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
However, Johnny faced some career setbacks in the late 2010s and early 2020s. He also had some setbacks within his personal life over the years prior, especially with his relationships.
Johnny and Winona Ryder met in 1989, as both actors began their rise to fame. Johnny recalled the chance meeting in an interview with Rolling Stone and said it was love at first sight.
According to People, Ryder and Johnny dated for three years and got engaged five months after their first date. Johnny declared his love for his then-fiance by getting “Winona Forever” tattooed on his bicep. However, Johnny later changed the tattoo, so it now reads “Wino Forever.”
After the breakup, Johnny was in another high-profile relationship with British supermodel Kate Moss. They met in 1994 and quickly became one of the most talked-about celebrity couples of the decade. Their relationship was marked by a whirlwind romance and was often in the media spotlight due to their glamorous and somewhat tumultuous lifestyle.
Johnny and Moss were known for their passionate and sometimes volatile relationship. They were frequently seen together at high-profile events and parties, embodying the 1990s rock-and-roll chic style.
The relationship lasted until 1998. In 2012, Moss revealed that after their breakup, she cried for “years.”
“There’s nobody that’s ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit. I believed what he said. Like if I said, ‘What do I do?,’ he’d tell me. And that’s what I missed when I left. I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust,” she explained further.
Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis (1999), (Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images)
In 1998, Johnny met Vanessa Paradis while in France filming “The Ninth Gate.” He recalled the moment in an interview with Daily Mail. For him, it was “love at first sight.” “She was wearing a dress with an exposed back,” Depp recalled, adding, “and I saw that back and that neck, and then she turned around and I saw those eyes, and — boom.”
“My life as a single man was done,” he recounted.
Johnny went further to describe the feeling he had looking at Paradis. “You have this feeling — I can’t really explain what it was, but I had it when I met her,” he recalled. “I saw her across a room and thought: ‘What’s happening to me?’”
Their whirlwind romance lasted for 14 years, and although the couple never wed, they welcomed two children together.
In an interview with Extra, Johnny explained why he and Paradis never walked down the aisle:
“I never found myself needing that piece of paper. Marriage is really from soul to soul, heart to heart. You don’t need somebody to say, okay you’re married… If Vanessa wanted to get hitched, why not… But the thing is, I’d be so scared of ruining her last name. She’s got such a good last name.”
Although Johnny’s relationship with Paradis ended in 2012, the actor still speaks fondly of his former love. “She’s a great mother and a great woman,” he said. “And when you’ve got a woman who’s been good to you, who you have a couple of kids with, you don’t just abandon ship. The love may change, but you keep loving her, no matter what.”
Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis, (IMAGO / Pond5 Images)
Johnny and Paradis have two children: daughter Lily-Rose Depp, born in 1999, and Jack Depp, born in 2002.
Lily-Rose followed in her father’s footsteps and is a well-known actress in her own right, starring in films such as “The King” and the HBO series, “The Idol.” However, little is known about her brother Jack, who has chosen to stay out of the limelight.
Johnny said in an interview with Rolling Stone that one particular incident cemented the love he has for his son Jack. In a conversation he had with Jack, the movie star had asked his son what he wanted with his life. When Jack said he had already formed a band, the star, who loves music and has even been featured in Alice Cooper’s Hollywood Vampires, revealed that this melted his heart because he realized that his son was also following in his footsteps.
Every dad is happy when he sees that his children admire what he does with his life and that they would like to take after him. No wonder Johnny has so many good things to say about his son Jack, who once appeared in “Yoga Hosers,” a 2016 Kevin Smith film in which Johnny and Lily-Rose also starred in.
While Lily-Rose is fluent in both English and French, she said she doesn’t have a preference between the two.
“Both feel very natural to me in different ways. I speak exclusively French with my French family, and exclusively English with my American family. So I feel very at home in both of them. I’ve always spoken French with my mom. That was important to her, and it’s important to me,” Lily-Rose shared.
Lily-Rose has also revealed her feelings about acting again with her dad. “Never say never,” she quipped.
Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Depp (2010), (IMAGO / ABACAPRESS)
With Lily-Rose’s star rising higher and higher in Hollywood, many have remarked on the similarities she shares with her famous parents. In May 2024, she became the face of the fashion brand ALL-IN’s newest campaign. The sepia-tinged, vintage-looking shots showed Lily-Rose wearing some of the brand’s tailored jackets, as well as short pants, tights and T-shirts as she lounged on a bed and posed on the ground surrounded by apples and an American flag. Lily-Rose later shared shots from the campaign shoot on her Instagram, which prompted fans to comment on the superb genes she inherited. While many agreed she looked “authentic as well as dreamy” and “oh so cute,” others disagreed over who she looked like more.
“You are divine 🤍,” one user wrote, while another said, “You look like your mum and your dad. Your mum and dad have created a work of art.🔥”
However, it wasn’t just her parents that users were reminded of. “I thought it was Kate Moss,” one user admitted.
In another campaign post, many called Lily-Rose “absolutely gorgeous” and claimed they were “obsessed” with her looks.
Some other users, however, believed the young star shared more similarities with one parent over the other.
“Welp unless you are blind she looks like her mother except for the gap in her mom’s teeth. Jack looks like his dad,” one user said.
Another user argued: “I think she looks like her Dad and Mom but she has Johnny’s eyes!”
Many also admired Lily-Rose’s style. She once described herself as “definitely a summer girl at heart.”
“I can’t wait to wear bikinis under everything, and swim all the time! Also excited to leave the jackets at home and wear tiny dresses all day and night,” she added.
Who does Lily-Rose remind you of more? Her French mom or her famous dad, Johnny Depp? Let us know, then pass this along to your friends and family to see what they think!
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