Johnny Depp made his film debut in 1984, and, aside from a stint on the police procedural television series 21 Jump Street in the late 80s, he focused most of his career on movie roles, often finding that the more bizarre the film, the better. While it all started with his partnership with Tim Burton, Depp soon moved into the realm of Hollywood leading men.

Johnny Depp’s career came to a crashing halt thanks to real-world controversies, but Depp has started his comeback in Hollywood, and it seems that the one-time beloved movie star might be ready for a late career resurgence. Depp’s career has included major highs and lows, evident in the films that defined his long Hollywood journey.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Like many young actors in the 1980s, Johnny Depp got his start with a small role in a slasher horror movie. In 1984, Depp made his movie debut in the Wes Craven slasher movie A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie is about a demon who kills people when they sleep, and it follows a young woman named Nancy who has to stop him.

Depp appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street as Glen Lantz, Nancy’s boyfriend at Springwood High. Like Nancy, his parents helped murder Freddy Krueger years before, and he is one of the people that Freddy exacts his revenge on with a memorable scene where he is killed in his bed, which then explodes with his blood after his death.

Depp also returned to the franchise for a cameo role in Freddy’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ: The Final Nightmare (1991), where he was in an anti-drug PSA announcement on TV (“this is your brain on drugs“) before Freddy hit him with a frying pan.

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

After starring in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Johnny Depp began working with some great directors, including Oliver Stone (Platoon) and John Waters (Cry-Baby). However, in his fifth movie role, he joined forces with Tim Burton, with whom he shared a long-running partnership, delivering some of his most memorable performances.

In Edward Scissorhands, Depp plays his first fantastical character, covered in makeup and prosthetics, and the тιтular character with scissors for hands. This is one of Burton’s gothic fairy tale-styled movies, and Depp delivered a fantastic performance, showcasing the “otherness” that would define his career for the next three decades.

Depp would go on to work with Burton seven more times over his career, and this partnership would also bring Depp some of his best critical acclaim and award nominations.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Directed by Lᴀsse Hallström, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape had Johnny Depp return to a more realistic role after he had mastered his more fantastical characters, but the story was far from normal. The film is a coming-of-age drama about a young man who realizes he might never escape his hometown to make anything of himself.

Depp plays the тιтular character, a young man who lives in a small Iowa town where he cares for his mentally disabled brother and mother, who struggles to leave their home thanks to her obesity. However, when a young woman comes through town (Juliette Lewis), it spotlights the hopelessness of Grape’s situation.

The film received critical acclaim, with Leonardo DiCaprio earning his first Oscar nomination at the age of 19 for playing the younger brother of Grape. The film also proved that Depp could deliver an outstanding performance, even when he is playing the straight man in the story.

Ed Wood (1994)

Johnny Depp teamed with Tim Burton again for a biopic that was unlike any other in the genre. In Ed Wood, Depp played the тιтular movie director, often referred to as the worst filmmaker of all time. However, neither Burton nor Depp looked down on Ed Wood, and they presented a respectful story about the man who made his dreams come true.

The film mostly followed Ed Wood making his most well-known movies with classic horror actor Bela Lugosi (played by Martin Landau). Burton also sH๏τ the film in black and white, and it received high critical praise. Landeau even won an Oscar for his performance in the movie, while Rick Baker won for Best Makeup.

Depp earned a Golden Globe Award nomination and was deserving of an Oscar nomination for his role as the iconic film director. This was Depp’s first biopic role, although he would take on a few more throughout his career.

Donnie Brasco (1997)

Three years after he took on the role of Ed Wood in a biopic, Johnny Depp took on another real-life figure in a very different movie. In Donnie Brasco, Depp played the role of Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family in 1970s-era New York City, using the name Donnie Brasco.

Depp co-starred with Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco, with Pacino as the aging hitman who brought Pistone into the family. Directed by Mike Newell, Donnie Brasco earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, as the film was based on the non-fiction novel Pistone wrote about his time undercover in the mafia.

This was one of Depp’s most serious roles in his career, after spending the last decade bouncing between fantastical movies and young adult-based stories. It seemed to signal a change for the actor toward more dramatic, adult-oriented roles, including a few more crime dramas, although few matched the brilliance of Donnie Brasco.

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)

In 1998, Johnny Depp began a close friendship with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson thanks to taking on a role in the black comedy Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In the film, Depp plays Raoul Duke, a journalist who heads to Las Vegas under the influence of various drugs to cover a desert car race.

Raoul Duke is based on Thompson, and the movie is based on the book by Thompson, which recounts his travel to Vegas for this exact reason. He then returned to write the book, which had little to do with the desert race but a lot to do with the state of America at the time. Benicio del Toro plays his attorney, Dr. Gonzo.

Directed by Terry Gilliam, Depp played the role with the over-the-top style fans expect, but his depiction of Thompson was brilliant. The film is a cult classic and received a Criterion Collection release. Depp also returned in 2008 to narrate the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

From Hell (2001)

Johnny Depp began to act in more fantastical movies, and he had a pair of adaptations that arrived two years apart. In 1999, he starred as Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, the tale of the Headless Horseman, based on the story by Washington Irving. Then, two years later, he starred in From Hell, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.

From Hell is a fictional retelling of the story of Jack the Ripper, with Johnny Depp playing the real-life inspector ᴀssigned to the case at the time, Frederick Abberline. However, Moore used his comic book to speculate who the killer could have been, and that is what the Hughes Brothers did in their movie as well.

The cast was great from top to bottom, with Heather Graham receiving praise for her performance as Mary Kelly. However, it was Depp who received the most praise for his performance as Abberline, as he investigated the case.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)

The one role that most people ᴀssociate Johnny Depp with is Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. He starred in the original trilogy and returned for the continuation, but it seems his role as Captain Jack has come to an end, after Disney severed ties with Depp due to his real-world controversies.

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie remains the best, as Captain Jack Sparrow searches for his missing ship and meets both a young man named Will (Orlando Bloom) and a governor’s daughter named Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). The three end up swept into incredible adventures at sea, battling other pirates and the British naval forces.

Depp appeared in a total of five Pirates of the Caribbean movies, appearing in every film in the series, one of only three actors to do so (Geoffrey Rush and Kevin McNally being the other two). His last role was in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Men Tell No Tales, which was released in 2017.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

In 2010, Johnny Depp reunited with Tim Burton for the adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. It was a return to the weird for Depp, who took on the role of the Mad Hatter. Mia Wasikowska starred as Alice in this big-screen adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll novel.

Depp was a show-stealer in the film, and it was evident from the start that he would play a bigger role than the Mad Hatter in the animated movie, as Depp was front and center on the posters. It ended up being a mᴀssive success, grossing an impressive $1.025 billion at the box office, making it his only non-Pirates movie to break the billion-dollar mark.

Depp also returned for the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glᴀss, in 2016, but Burton was not back for this one as a director (he still produced it). While Depp had a larger role, the film was not as well-received.

Jeanne Du Barry (2023)

It seemed like Johnny Depp’s career was over after the Amber Heard controversy. However, after the lawsuits ended, Depp began to repair his reputation. Following his victory in the defamation suit against Heard, Depp made his comeback in a French film, receiving critical acclaim. The film was Jeanne du Barry.

Directed by Maïwenn, Jeanne du Barry tells the story of Jeanne Bécu, the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress in 1743, who went on to become the last mistress of King Louis XV. Depp played Louis XV in the film, while the film’s director, Maïwenn, played Jeanne du Barry.

The film received mixed reviews, but it opened at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and was released into theaters in France on the same day. This was the start of Depp’s return, and he is now planning his reentry into Hollywood after directing the film Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness in Italy.