A Unique Individual: Johnny Depp (Part I)

John Christopher “Johnny” Depp II, born on the 9th June 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky America, is the youngest of four children (Bingham 2005). Johnny Depp is one of the most talented actors of his generation. Despite his good looks, he hardly chooses glamorous roles (Bingham 2005), but instead Johnny has played “an incredible eclectic array of tongue-tied misfits, sensitive outsiders and eccentric renegades” (Johnstone 2006, 6).

While growing up Johnny was fascinated by old films about the Second World War and stuntman Evil Knievel, who represented a recklessness and danger that intrigued Johnny (Johnstone 2006). Other individual daredevils that also appeal to Johnny later in his life are writer Hunter S. Thompson, author of The Rum Diary and guitarist Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones (Johnstone 2006). By the age of fifteen, Johnny has lived in approximately 20 different places and in order to deal with the lack of stability, he developed a fantasy world which he could escape into (Johnstone 2006).

Johnny’s first love is music and has formed his first of many bands at the age of thirteen, which they called themselves Flame (Johnstone 2006). Johnny was exposed to live music and instruments throughout his childhood by his uncle, who was a Baptist minister and ran a gospel group (Johnstone 2006). 

At the age of twelve, his mother bought him an electric guitar, which he then spent hours, locked in bedroom playing (Bingham 2005). He taught himself to play by listening to records and jamming along to music from Aerosmith’s “Season of Wither” or albums by Alice Cooper and Kiss (Johnstone 2006). Johnny also listened to soundtracks albums A Clockwork Orange, Last Tango In Paris, albums by Bob Dylan and classical music by composers such as Brahms and Mozart (Johnstone 2006). His earlier influence also included the famous punk band Sex Pistols and U2, who was part of the “New Wave” music movement, and Iggy Pop (Bingham 2005 and Johnstone 2006). 

Johnny dropped out of high school at sixteen in 1979 and concentrated on writing songs and becoming a rock star (Bingham 2005 and Johnstone 2006). In 1983 Johnny married his first love and wife Lori Ann Allison and moved to Los Angeles hoping to make it big with The Kids, a band he later joined (Johnstone 2006). Life in LA was a struggle, the band was not doing well and in order to make ends meet and pay rent Johnny took a succession of low- paid jobs (Johnstone 2006). In 1984 prior to their divorce Lori Ann Allison introduced Johnny to her friend Nicolas Cage (Johnstone 2006). It was a meeting that has changed the course of Johnny’s life and entered him into the world of acting (Bingham 2005 and Johnstone 2006).

 To be continued...