Actor Johnny Depp has become one of cinema's most popular stars best known for taking on eccentric and off beat characters.However Depp didn't have his heart set on an acting career he wanted to be a musician, dropping out of school to pursue his dream.It was Nicholas Cage that encouraged him instead to turn his hand to acting.Soon he was a popular teen idol after the success of 21 Jump Street during the late eighties. After small parts in Vietnam war picture Platoon and A Nightmare on Elm Street his first major movie role came in Tim Burton's 1990 picture Edward Scissorhands.A modern day story of Beauty and the Beast Edward Scissorhands was to become one of many of the actor's characters that were described as iconic loners.What's Eating Gilbert Grape followed with the Depp in the lead role of Gilbert, who cares for his mentally handicapped brother and morbidly obese mother, and a second collaboration with Tim Burton in Ed Wood, which was met well critically but did poorly at the box office.

Despite many of his movies being 'studio defined failures' the actor stuck to his guns and only appeared in movies that he found personally interesting and refused to conform to choosing roles that would succeed at the box office.

He went on to star in Dead Man, Donnie Brasco and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, all of which made little impact upon release.

A third collaboration with Tim Burton in 1999 with Sleepy Hollow was to be the most successful movie of Depp's career to date grossing over $200 million worldwide, despite being criticised for the amount of violence and bloodshed.

However it was to be his role in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl that secured Johnny Depp's status as a Hollywood heavyweight and serious box office draw.

The character of Captain Jack Sparrow was a favourite with the cinema going public and has become one of the most iconic big screen characters of recent times.

Despite initial reservations from the studio over Depp's casting and the way in which he portrayed Jack Sparrow the film went on to gross $654 million worldwide and earnt Depp a Best Actor nomination at the 76th Academy Awards.

Since then the actor has enjoyed a string of success including Finding Neverland, which earnt him a second Oscar nod for Best Actor, and starring as Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Depp broke with tradition, having never filmed a sequel, to return to the character of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Despite mixed reviews and some critics claiming that Depp had sold out by returning to this character the movie broke a string of records when it was released, taking $136 million in the first three days in America alone, eventually going on to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

He returned to this character for the third time in At World's End and again, despite the mixed reviews, remained popular with cinema go-ers grossing $960 million and was the fifth highest grossing movie of 2007.

In 2008 Depp returns to the big screen with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, his sixth collaboration with Tim Burton, and adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's hit musical.

Benjamin Barker is a simple barber with a beautiful wife and child. But he is falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin who has an eye on Barker's wife.

Fifteen years later Barker returns to London under the guise of Sweeney Todd. Recognised by pie maker Mrs Lovett Todd is informed that he wife is dead and his now teenage daughter is Judge Turpin's ward.

Together they devise a plan of revenge, with Todd practicing his murderous barbering skills on an unsuspecting general public, with the remains made into meat pie filling by Mrs Lovett.

Despite Depp's reservations about his singing abilities he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, the film also won Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

More success was to follow for the actor as he gained his third Oscar nomination for Best Actor for the role.

It has recently been announced that he will star in Michael Mann's Public Enemies as gangster John Dillilnger with Christian Bale and Shantaram is also in pre-production.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is released 25th January.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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