To say that Johnny Depp is an unorthodox actor would be a bit of an understatement having made a career out of off the walls roles that other actor wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
You may have noticed the American actor is rather a good looking fellow and TV show 21 Jump Street made him a teen pin up, a role he wasn't all together comfortable with.
But then he met Tim Burton and that perfect off the wall character came in the form of Edward Scissorhands.
Also starring Dianne Wiest and Winona Ryder the modern day beauty and the beauty tale followed the gentle Edward, who just so happens to have scissors for hands, who falls in love with the daughter of the woman who takes him in.
It was the return of the lower budget movie for Burton, taking just $20 million to make, and it went onto become a critical success and earnt Depp a Golden Globe nomination.
The success of Edward Scissorhands kicked off a long standing partnership between Depp and the filmmaker, Alice In Wonderland being their seventh collaboration.
Over the years the actor took on roles that he found interesting rather than taking on projects that would be box office successes.
Throughout the nineties he starred in Ed Wood, Dead Man and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas all of which were box office disasters, despite the latter now being considered a cult hit.
With the string of disastrous projects Depp was considered box office poison but he continued to take on roles that he found interesting.
His biggest box office success came in 1999, teaming up once again with Burton, for Sleepy Hollow.
Depp took on another rather odd character in the form of Ichabod Crane who is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of 3 people with the culprit being the legendary apparition, the Headless Horseman.
Unlike their last project Ed Wood this time around Sleepy Hollow was met well by the critics and gave Depp his biggest box office gross. The film easily made back it's $80 million budget as it took over $206 million worldwide.
Depp's career continued to have ups and down as Blow was a minor box office success compared to Chocolat, and adaptation of the Joanne Harris novel was a critical and commercial hit.
However Depp's career changed beyond recognition in 2003 when he took on the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
At the time the pirate movie had not done well at the box office and, despite Disney being behind the project, a movie based on a theme part ride didn't seem like a very good idea.
Depp shocked the cast and crew with his portrayal of Sparrow and Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, believed that he was ruining the film.
But upon release Depp's performance turned out to be a turn of pure genius as Curse of the Black Pearl was a huge box office success.
Depp went on to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, losing out to Sean Penn, and the actor has never looked back.
Captain Jack Sparrow has become one of the biggest movie icons of all time and two more Pirates movies saw it become one of the most successful franchises of all time, Dead man's Chest alone broke through the $1 billion barrier.
2004 brought a more straight laced role of Depp as he starred in Finding Neverland as James Matthew Barrie, the writer of Peter Pan.
Another Oscar nomination came his way and Depp was one of the biggest, and most successful names in Hollywood.
His box office success with Pirates of the Caribbean allowed him to return to the smaller off beat roles that he enjoyed as he appeared in The Libertine as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.
Fans of Depp & Burton has to wait until 2005 until they were to work together again on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Depp which comes as no surprise, took on the role of the socially stunted Willy Wonka in a movie that was another commercial smash.
Depp's creepy central performance earnt him another Golden Globe nod as the movie went on to gross over $474 million at the global box office.
Two more Burton projects came in quick succession as he lent his voice to The Corpse Bride before taking on the musical Sweeney Todd.
Sweeney Todd, which was based on Stephen Sondheim musical, on paper really shouldn't have worked but Depp and Burton once again worked their magic to produce a film that topped the box office both sides of the pond.
As the murderous barber Depp found himself, once again, in contention for a Best Actor Oscar, losing out to Daniel Day Lewis for There Will Be Blood.
In the last couple of years the actor has continued to mix and match his roles finding success as gangster John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies before stepping in for Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Alice In Wonderland is the first collaboration between Depp and Burton since Sweeney Todd as the visionary director reworks the classic story.
And another slightly odd character came the way of Depp as he takes on the role as the Mad Hatter.
And 2010 looks set to be a busy year for the actor with Rango, which he lent his voice to, and The Rum Diary already completed.
He is currently filming The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is also in the pipeline.
Alice In Wonderland is released 5th March
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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