Johnny Depp

Early life

Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells; 1935–2016), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp (born 1938), a civil engineer. Depp is of mostly English ancestry, with some ancestors from elsewhere in Europe. He is descended from a French Huguenot immigrant, Pierre Deppe or Dieppe, who settled in Virginia around 1700. He is also of 3/2048 African descent, as he descends twice over from an African slave whose biracial daughter, Elizabeth Key Grinstead, was the first woman of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in North America to sue for her freedom from slavery and win (in 1655).

Depp moved frequently during his childhood. He and his siblings lived in more than 20 different places, eventually settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970. Depp's parents divorced in 1978 when he was 15. His mother married Robert Palmer (died 2000), whom Depp has called "an inspiration to me".

With the gift of a guitar from his mother when he was 12, Depp began playing in various garage bands. A year after his parents' divorce, he dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. He attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success. The Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to Six Gun Method, but the group split up before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song "Mary", which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut Geffen Records album Young Man's Blues.

On December 20, 1983, Depp married Lori Anne Allison, the sister of his band's bass player and singer. During their marriage she worked as a makeup artist while he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for pens. His wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to pursue an acting career. Depp and his wife divorced in 1985. In 2015, Depp married Amber Heard but divorced in 2017.

Early film roles and 21 Jump Street (1984–1993)

Depp's first film role was in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), in which he played the boyfriend of heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and one of Freddy Krueger's victims. After a starring role in the comedy Private Resort (1985), Depp was cast in the lead role of the skating drama Thrashin' (1986) by the film's director, but the decision was later overridden by its producer. Instead, Depp appeared in a minor supporting role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War drama Platoon (1986).

Depp became a popular teen idol during the late 1980s, when he starred as a police officer who goes on an undercover operation in a high school in the Fox television series 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. He accepted this role to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him. Despite his success, Depp felt that the series "forced [him] into the role of product." He subsequently decided to appear only in films that he felt were right for him.

Depp's first film release in 1990 was John Waters' Cry-Baby, a musical comedy set in the 1950s. Although it was not a box office success upon its initial release, over the years it has gained a cult classic status. Depp's second 1990 film was Tim Burton's film Edward Scissorhands, in which he played the title character opposite Dianne Wiest and Winona Ryder. It was a critical and commercial success that established him as a leading Hollywood actor and began his long association with Burton. Producer Scott Rudin has stated that "basically Johnny Depp is playing Tim Burton in all his movies"; although Burton disapproved of the comment, Depp agrees with it. In his introduction to Burton on Burton, a book of interviews with the director, Depp called Burton "... a brother, a friend, ... and [a] brave soul".

Depp had no film releases in the following two years, with the exception of a brief cameo in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), the sixth installment in the A Nightmare of Elm Street franchise. He appeared in three films in 1993. In the romantic comedy Benny and Joon, he played an eccentric and illiterate silent film fan who befriends a mentally ill woman and her brother; it became a sleeper hit. He then starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a drama about a dysfunctional family. In his review of the film, Todd McCarthy of Variety said that "Depp manages to command center screen with a greatly affable, appealing characterization." Depp's final 1993 release was Emir Kusturica's surrealist comedy-drama Arizona Dream, which opened to positive reviews.

1994–2002

In 1994, Depp reunited with director Tim Burton, playing the title role in Ed Wood, a biographical film about one of history's most inept film directors. Depp later stated that he was at the time depressed about films and filmmaking, but that "within 10 minutes of hearing about the project, I was committed." He found that the role gave him a "chance to stretch out and have some fun" and that working with Martin Landau, who played Bela Lugosi, "rejuvenated my love for acting". Ed Wood received critical acclaim, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times writing that Depp had "proved himself as an established, certified great actor" and "captured all the can-do optimism that kept Ed Wood going, thanks to an extremely funny ability to look at the silver lining of any cloud." Depp was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance.

The following year, Depp starred in three films. He played opposite Marlon Brando in the box-office hit Don Juan DeMarco, as a man who believes he is Don Juan, the world's greatest lover. He then starred in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, a Western shot entirely in black-and-white; it was not a commercial success and had mixed critical reviews. Depp's final film of the year was in the financial and critical failure Nick of Time, a thriller in which he played an accountant who is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.

In 1997, Depp starred alongside Al Pacino in the crime drama Donnie Brasco, directed by Mike Newell. He portrayed Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI Agent who assumes the name 'Donnie Brasco' in order to infiltrate the mafia in New York City. To prepare for the role, Depp spent time with the real-life Joe Pistone, on whose memoirs the film was based. Donnie Brasco was a commercial and critical success, and is considered to contain one of Depp's finest performances. In 1997, Depp also debuted as a director and screenwriter with The Brave. He starred in it as a poor Native American man, who accepts a proposal from a wealthy man, played by Marlon Brando, to appear in a snuff film in exchange for money for his family.

Depp was a fan and friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, and played his alter ego Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Terry Gilliam's film adaptation of Thompson's pseudobiographical novel of the same name.

Depp's next venture with Burton was the period film Sleepy Hollow (1999), in which he played Ichabod Crane opposite Christina Ricci and Christopher Walken. For his performance, Depp took inspiration from Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall and Basil Rathbone. He stated that he "always thought of Ichabod as a very delicate, fragile person who was maybe a little too in touch with his feminine side, like a frightened little girl."

2003–present

Depp has generally chosen roles which he found interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office. Critics have often described Depp's characters as "iconic loners". Depp has referred to some of his less-successful films as "studio-defined failures" and "box office poison", and said that he thought the studios neither understood the films nor did a good job of marketing them.

In 2003, Depp starred in the Walt Disney Pictures adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was a major box office success. He earned widespread acclaim for his comic performance as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Depp has said that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me", and that he modeled the character after The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew. Studio executives had at first been ambivalent about Depp's portrayal, but the character became popular with audiences. According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was a major draw for audiences.

Depp was again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland (2004). The following year he starred as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which reunited him with director Tim Burton, with whom he had not collaborated since Sleepy Hollow. The film was a box office success and had a positive critical reception, with Depp being nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Chocolate Factory was followed by another Burton project, stop-motion animation Corpse Bride (2005), in which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort.

Depp reprised the role of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates sequels Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007), both of which were major box office successes. He also voiced the character in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. In 2007, Depp also collaborated with Burton for their sixth film together, this time playing murderous barber Sweeney Todd in the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Burton had first given him an original cast recording of the 1979 stage musical in 2000, and although not a fan of the musical genre, Depp had grown to like the tale's treatment. He cited Peter Lorre in Mad Love (1935) as his main influence for the role. Although he had performed in musical groups, Depp was initially unsure that he would be able to perform the role, which required him to sing. He recorded demos and worked with Bruce Witkin to shape his vocals without a qualified voice coach. In the DVD Reviews section, Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty gave the film an A minus, stating, "Depp's soaring voice makes you wonder what other tricks he's been hiding ... Watching Depp's barber wield his razors ... it's hard not to be reminded of Edward Scissorhands frantically shaping hedges into animal topiaries 18 years ago ... and all of the twisted beauty we would've missed out on had [Burton and Depp] never met." Depp won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the role, and was nominated for the third time for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In director Terry Gilliam's 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell each played the character initially portrayed by their friend Heath Ledger, who died before the film was completed. All three actors gave their salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda. The next Depp-Burton collaboration was Alice in Wonderland (2010), in which he played the Mad Hatter alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Alan Rickman. The following year saw the release of the fourth installment in the Pirates series, On Stranger Tides (2011), which was again a box office success. Depp also voiced the title character, a lizard, in the animated film Rango (2011), and returned to Hunter S. Thompson's work with a film adaptation of the novel The Rum Diary, which also became the first project undertaken by his production company, Infinitum Nihil.

Depp next starred in the Burton-directed Dark Shadows (2012) alongside fellow Tim Burton regular Helena Bonham Carter, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green. The film was based on a gothic soap opera of the same name, which had aired in 1966–1971 and had been one of his favorites as a child. Depp and Graham King produced the film with David Kennedy. In 2012, Depp and his 21 Jump Street co-stars Peter DeLuise and Holly Robinson briefly reprised their roles in cameo appearances in the series' 2012 feature film adaptation, which featured a much more comedic tone than the series.

Depp starred as Tonto in The Lone Ranger (2013), opposite Armie Hammer as the title character. He appeared in a minor supporting role as The Wolf in film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods in 2014. Depp played convicted Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger in director Scott Cooper's Black Mass (2015), which earned him his third nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

In 2016, Depp played businessman and United States presidential candidate Donald Trump in a Funny or Die satire film entitled Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie. He earned praise for the role, with a headline from The A.V. Club declaring "Who knew Donald Trump was the comeback role Johnny Depp needed?" The same year, Depp reprised the role of the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, which was released in May.

In October 2016, Depp was cast in the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and rumors immediately began to circulate who he would play. Later that month it was revealed that he had been cast to play Gellert Grindelwald, and will play a major role in the sequels. The character is a former close friend to Albus Dumbledore in their youth, and an extremely dangerous dark wizard; second only to Tom Riddle / Lord Voldemort. Depp made a cameo in the first film, marking his first on-screen appearance as Grindelwald.

Depp reprised his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the 2017 sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth film in the series, directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, and co-starring Javier Bardem (as Captain Salazar), Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, and Orlando Bloom (returning as Will Turner).

Future roles

Depp had a cameo appearance in the 2014 production London Fields, which remains unreleased.

Depp stated in a BBC radio interview on July 29, 2013 that he hopes to be involved with "quieter things" at some point in the near future, implying that he will retire from acting. Depp explained in further detail during the interview: "I wouldn't say I'm dropping out any second, but I would say it's probably not too far away. When you add up the amount of dialogue that you say per year and you realise that you've said written words more than you've had a chance to say your own words, you start thinking about that as an insane option for a human being."

In February 2016, it was announced that he was cast as Dr. Jack Griffin / The Invisible Man in Universal Studios' upcoming shared film universe entitled The Dark Universe, a rebooted version of their classic Universal Monsters franchise. Depp will portray the character throughout the series' installments, as well as in the as-of-yet Untitled Invisible Man film. It is intended to be a reboot of The Invisible Man, with Ed Solomon, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan attached as screenwriter, and co-producers, respectively.

Depp joined the cast of Murder on the Orient Express in September 2016. He will play Edward Ratchett. The principal photography began in November 2016, in the United Kingdom. The film is an adaptation based on the classic novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. Kenneth Branagh is directing, and also performing as the detective Hercule Poirot.

In December 2016 Depp began filming of LAbyrinth, directed by Brad Furman. The script by Christian Contreras is an adaptation of the journalistic account LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal, written by Randall Sullivan. Depp will play Russell Poole, a detective from the LAPD, who has as an ally Forest Whitaker as "Jack" Jackson, an investigative journalist to solve the case involving the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.

Depp voiced the title character Sherlock Gnomes in the animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes, the sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet, directed by John Stevenson. Returning are James McAvoy as Gnomeo, Emily Blunt as Juliet, as well as screenwriters Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, and Elton John, who composed original songs for the movie. In the plot, garden gnomes begin to disappear from the suburbs of England. Gnomeo and Juliet look to the "greatest ornamental detective," Sherlock Gnomes to help investigate the mystery. The release date is scheduled on January 12, 2018.

Depp in November 2016 teamed with David Lynch, JK Simmons, Laura Dern, Penelope Ann Miller, Chad Coleman, Richard Chamberlain, Catherine Hardwicke, Theodore Melfi, Sam Raimi, Peter Farrelly, and the non-profit Make A Film Foundation for a volunteer project The Black Ghiandola, a short film written by Anthony Conti. The movie is "a story about a young man risking his life to save a young girl he has grown to love, after his family has been killed in the Apocalyptic world of Zombies." The film was released on March 22, 2017.

Depp will return as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. Filming will start in August 2017, with locations in the UK and Paris. David Yates will be directing the movie from a script by J. K. Rowling. The film is a sequel of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It is set for release in November 16, 2018.

By March 27, 2017, Depp was cast to portray antivirus software developer John McAfee in a forthcoming film titled King of the Jungle. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa will direct the film, while Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski will write the script.

Production company

In 2004, Depp formed his production company Infinitum Nihil to develop projects where he will serve as actor or producer. Depp is the founder and CEO, while his sister, Christi Dembrowski, serves as president. The company's first production came in 2011 with The Rum Diary, adapted from the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. The film is written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Also in 2011, Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, was released. Dark Shadows, directed by Tim Burton, was released in 2012.

Music

Depp played slide guitar on the Oasis song "Fade In-Out" (from Be Here Now, 1997), as well as on "Fade Away (Warchild Version)" (B-side of the "Don't Go Away" single). He also played acoustic guitar in the film Chocolat and on the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He is a friend of The Pogues' Shane MacGowan, and performed on MacGowan's first solo album. He was also a member of P, a group featuring Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. He has appeared in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' music video "Into the Great Wide Open" and The Lemonheads' "It's a Shame About Ray" music video. He made a cameo as the Mad Hatter in the music video for Avril Lavigne's "Alice" in 2010. He performed lead guitar and drums for a cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", which appeared as a bonus track on Marilyn Manson's 2012 album Born Villain, also performing live with Marilyn Manson at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards 2012, performing several songs with Manson. He also appeared in the music video of "My Valentine" from the album Kisses on the Bottom by Paul McCartney released in February 2012, along with Natalie Portman.

Depp traded licks with Joe Perry on "The Brooklyn Shuffle", a song from Steve Hunter and The Manhattan Blues Project, which was scheduled for release on April 30, 2013. In 2014, Depp played electric guitar on the "Kansas City" track of Lost on the River, the Bob Dylan lyrics collaboration album by The New Basement Tapes. He filled in for Elvis Costello, who could not attend a recording session because of a previously scheduled concert with The Roots in Las Vegas.

In 2015, Depp formed a supergroup with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry called Hollywood Vampires. They released their self-titled debut studio album on September 11 featuring eleven classic rock covers, two new songs (written primarily by Depp), and a narrative introduction by the late Christopher Lee. Depp appeared onstage playing guitar with the group, performing live dates at L.A.'s Roxy Theatre and at Brazil's Rock in Rio festival in September. Depp has performed at London's 100 Club with Alice Cooper, where they played "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out".

Winemaker and restaurateur

Depp and Paradis grew grapes and had wine making facilities in their vineyard in Plan-de-la-Tour north of Saint-Tropez. Along with Sean Penn, John Malkovich and Mick Hucknall, Depp co-owned the French restaurant-bar Man Ray, located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Editing

In July 2012, Depp announced he would be co-editor, alongside Douglas Brinkley, of folk singer Woody Guthrie's unpublished novel House of Earth. The book was published in 2013.

Family, relationships and domestic violence allegations

Depp married makeup artist Lori Anne Allison from December 20, 1983; they divorced in 1985. He was later successively engaged to actresses Jennifer Grey and Sherilyn Fenn in the late 1980s before proposing in 1990 to his Edward Scissorhands co-star Winona Ryder, for whom he tattooed "WINONA FOREVER" on his right arm. From 1994 until 1998, he was in a relationship with English supermodel Kate Moss.

Following his breakup from Moss, Depp began a relationship with French actor and singer Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate in France in 1998. They have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 1999), and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III (born 2002). Depp stated that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything ... You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny. All the math finally worked." In 2007, Depp's daughter was hospitalized at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London due to a serious E. coli infection, which resulted in temporary kidney failure. To show his gratitude for her recovery, Depp visited the hospital in November 2007, dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit, and spent four hours reading stories to the children. He also donated £1 million to the hospital the following year. Depp and Paradis announced their separation in June 2012.

Depp subsequently began dating actor and model Amber Heard, whom he had met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011. They were married in a private civil ceremony at their home in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce on May 23, 2016, and five days later filed for and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp, stating in her court declaration that "during the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me". She stated that the latest incident of violence had taken place on May 21, and provided statements by two witnesses—her and Depp's mutual friend iO Tillett Wright and neighbor Raquel Pennington—and photographs of her battered face as evidence. Wright had called the LAPD during the incident, but Heard stated to them that it was a "verbal dispute only", and the Capt. Don Graham, who oversees the LAPD's Central Division told that the officers saw "no evidence of a crime at that time".

In response, Depp's lawyers said that Heard was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse". On May 31, Heard gave a statement to the LAPD on the incident on May 21; her lawyers said that she had initially been reluctant to involve law enforcement in the case "stemmed from a wish to protect her own privacy and Depp's career", but "Johnny's team has forced Amber to give a statement to the LAPD to set the record straight as to the true facts, as she cannot continue to leave herself open to the vicious false and malicious allegations that have infected the media." The following day, People published images of Heard's injuries from an alleged earlier incident of domestic violence, and on June 4, Wright published an essay on Refinery29, in which she wrote about witnessing evidence of abuse throughout the marriage, and criticized the media for victim-blaming Heard when she decided to go public about it. Later that month, Heard sued Depp's friend, comedian Doug Stanhope for defamation after he wrote in a column for TheWrap that she was blackmailing Depp, and withdrew her initial request for spousal support.

A settlement was reached in the divorce case on August 16, 2016, with Heard to receive US$7 million and dismiss the restraining order against Depp. She also dropped her lawsuit against Stanhope, and issued a joint statement with Depp, which said that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Heard stated that she would donate the entire proceeds from the divorce to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In December 2016, she filed a Request for Order at the Los Angeles Superior Court, as Depp had failed to fulfill the requirements of the settlement. Depp's attorney filed papers disputing this. The divorce was finalized on January 13, 2017.

Depp was adopted as an honorary son by LaDonna Harris, a member of the Comanche Nation, on May 22, 2012, making him an honorary member of Harris' family, but not a member of any tribe.

Legal problems

Depp was arrested in Vancouver in 1989 for assaulting a security guard after the police were called to end a loud party at his hotel room. He was also arrested in New York City in 1994 after causing significant damage to his room at The Mark hotel, where he was staying with Kate Moss. The charges were dropped against him after he agreed to pay $9,767 in damages. Depp was arrested again in 1999 for brawling with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with Paradis.

In 2012, disabled UC Irvine medical professor Robin Eckert sued Depp and three security firms, claiming to have been attacked by his bodyguards at a concert in Los Angeles in 2011. During the incident, she was allegedly hand-cuffed and dragged 40 feet across the floor, resulting in injuries including a dislocated elbow. She argued in court that as the security guards' direct manager, Depp failed to intervene, even though he did not actively take part in the battery. In October 2012, it was decided that Eckert could seek compensation and punitive damages from Depp, with a trial date set for August 12, 2013. Depp ultimately settled with Eckert for an undisclosed sum.

In April 2015, Heard and Depp breached Australia's strict biosecurity laws when they failed to declare their two Yorkshire Terriers to the Australian Customs Service when they flew by private jet into Queensland, where he was working on the fifth Pirates installment. Australian quarantine regulations, which are aimed at keeping rabies out of the country, require dogs from outside the country be quarantined a minimum of ten days. Heard was charged with two counts of illegally importing the dogs into the country and one count of producing a false document. Shortly afterwards, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said: "If we start letting movie stars even though they've been the 'sexiest man alive' twice to come into our nation, then why don't we just break the laws for everybody? It's time that Pistol and Boo [the dogs] buggered off back to the United States." In September 2015, when promoting his film Black Mass at a press conference for its world premiere in Venice, Depp joked that he "killed his dogs and ate them ... under direct orders from some kind of sweaty big-gutted man from Australia".

In April 2016, Heard appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to falsifying quarantine documents, stating that she was sleep deprived and made a mistake. The two biosecurity charges were dropped, and she was placed on a one-month good behaviour bond, paying a $1,000 fine for producing a false document. Heard and Depp also released a video in which they apologized for their behavior and urged people to adhere to the biosecurity laws. The Guardian called the case the "highest profile criminal quarantine case" in Australian history.

In March 2016, Depp cut ties with his management company The Management Group and accused them of improperly managing his money. The Management Group later sued Depp for unpaid fees and countersued him for damages alleging that Depp was responsible for his own fiscal mismanagement. Depp filed new papers, including receipts from America's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to have the countersuit dismissed.

Political and religious views

Depp stated to the German magazine Stern in 2003 that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth—that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine misquoted him and his words were taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview. CNN added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006 edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, in the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that perceived him as a "European wannabe", saying that he liked the anonymity of living in France while in a relationship with Paradis and his simpler life there. Depp became a U.S. resident again in 2011, because France wanted him to become a permanent resident, which he said would require him to pay income tax in both countries.

On the October 16, 2011 episode of Larry King Live, when asked if he had faith, Depp replied, "Yes. I have faith in my kids. And I have—I have faith, you know, that as long as you keep moving forward, just keep walking forward, things will be all right, I suppose, you know. Faith in terms of religion, I don't—religion is not my specialty, you know."

At the Glastonbury Festival, Depp brought up U.S. President Donald Trump. Depp then controversially said "When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?", before saying "I want to clarify: I'm not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it's been awhile and maybe it's time." He then said that he was "not insinuating anything." The comment seemed to reference John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Shawn Holtzclaw of the Secret Service told CNN that they were "aware" of Depp's comment, but said "For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and methods of how we perform our protective responsibilities". The next day, Depp apologized for making these remarks, saying, "It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone."

Claims of Native American ancestry

In interviews in 2002 and 2011, Depp claimed he has Native American ancestry, and that “I was told I was Cherokee as a kid. I was told I was Creek Indian as a kid and Chickasaw.” He has also claimed that his "great-grandmother was quite a bit of Native American." He has no evidence for these claims, only personal belief and Kentucky lore among non-Natives. Depp's genealogy has since been done by third-party researchers, who discovered the ancestors he believed to be Native actually had very distant African-American ancestry. Despite this discovery, Depp has continued to claim or imply he is Native. Depp's claims came under question when Indian Country Today Media Network stated that Depp has never inquired about his heritage nor does the Cherokee Nation recognize him as a member. This has led to criticism from the Native community, including of his choice to portray Tonto, a Native American character, in The Lone Ranger. Critical response to his claims from the Native community also included satirical portrayals of Depp by Native comedians.