cynical

This is one of my absolute favourite actors and I found this article on “Msn Entertainment’ which explains just how unique an actor he really is.

We celebrate a movie star
who runs his career on his own terms

By Sean Axmaker
Special to MSN Movies

Is Johnny Depp a star because of his idiosyncratic choices or despite them? He doesn’t play by movie star rules, and he has consistently steered clear of big-budget, high-profile productions, focusing rather on a wide array of challenging roles and eccentric characters. Depp plays in the kinds of films that garner great reviews but small audiences. That is until the acclaimed actor starred in “Pirates of the Caribbean,” his first bona fide hit, which he made after taking a yearlong sabbatical to be with his romantic partner, French pop star Vanessa Paradis, and their newborn child.

Although Depp had small roles in a pair of iconic 1980s hits — as the doomed boyfriend in Wes Craven’s genre-reviving “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and as a young grunt in Oliver Stone’s landmark “Platoon” — it was TV that first put Depp on the map. “21 Jump Street” made Depp a pop icon, but it was the succession of vividly realized, often wildly eccentric screen characters that made him an actor to be reckoned with.

His Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is now on DVD, and he is preparing to bring his unforgettable punch-drunk pirate con-man Jack Sparrow back to the screen in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” Obviously, Depp still plays the Hollywood game by his own rules, and by the looks of it, he’s having as much fun as his characters.