From Studio Portraits documentary, Johnny Depp: Under His Skin

Interesting facts:
Depp is part Cherokee (Native American); as a child he dreamed of being Bruce Lee or the first white Harlem Globetrotter; was in a band called The Kids where he was a bassist; married make-up artist Lori-Ann Allison in 1983, was engaged to Winona Ryder in 1989, dated supermodel, Kate Moss and is currently in a relationship with French singer, Vanessa Paradis with whom he has two children.

Johnny Depp, the "unpredictable/outcast/misfit/eccentric/fiercely imaginative/misunderstood/sexy/charismatic/marvellous to look at/creatively adventurous risk-taker":
Depp has said

"I have a strange allergy to conformity"

- identified with the outcast and the musunderstood ever since his difficult childhood moving from place to place

"always been attracted to things on the darker side, especially when I was very young"

- Depp had a strange fascination with 19th Century serial killer, Jack the Ripper;
- his older brother introduced him to non-conformist writers which built the eccentric cool guy

The Beginnings of Johnny Depp's Acting Career:
- met Nicolas Cage (Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), who persuaded him to take a "stab at acting"

- Depp's first film audition (he was currently star and pretty-boy teen idol of Fox's crime drama series 21 Jump Street) was for Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street. Craven said that there

"was something totally different about Johnny..."

- but he didn't cast him until during one casting session, Craven's 13 year old daughter convinced him to cast Depp, despite Craven saying to her...

"...doesn't he look rather sickly, kinda pale..."

and the 13 year old fighting back...

"No. He's dreamy."

Johnny Depp to Edward Scissorhands to mainstream hit...
1989 - At 26, Depp met 17 year old Winona Ryder at a film premiere. They both worked on Burton's Edward Scissorhands, where they were not only real life lovers, but on-screen as well!

On casting Depp as Edward, producer Denise Di Novi said that when Depp walked into the casting she saw those...

"Big gentle doe eyes, shy.."

- perfect for Edward! Depp kept thinking of the faces of dogs he had owned. "The eyes of new-born babies. Dogs have that unconditional love. If you scold a dog, he cowers in a corner. As soon as you call him back, he's there, and all is forgotten."

Johnny Depp through another's eyes:

"They [Depp and Burton] are both unique visualists who seem to like very much of the same stuff
and see the world which is skewed in very much the same way."...

"He's [Depp] like Marlon [Brando], in that he's different, unique,
intelligent and makes choices interestingly."

- Martin Landau (who starred in Burton's Ed Wood (1994)

"They have the same sense of humour, contempt for fame and refusal to take
themselves seriously."

- Faye Dunaway, on both Depp and Brando whom she starred with in Jeremy Leven's Don Juan de Marco

"It's very much a cliché, but every director's leading man is a handsomer
version of themselves. I think Johnny Depp is that for Tim."

- director of Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selik