Class article: Johnny Depp

This is very first short piece I wrote last year for the journalism course I'm on. Be nice! I'm still learning :D

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Johnny Depp - a sky-high actor at the peak of a double-decade career and top of the celebrity A-List. Unusual for a guy who never wanted to be famous?

A yellow-skinned, greasy-haired, and penniless Depp stepped up to his first acting job in LA desperate for a way to feed himself. With one divorce already under his belt, a chain-smoking addiction, and a concoction of other interesting substances circulating his body, the 21-year- old was somehow instantly turning heads.

You could call it magnetism, charisma, or beauty, but how is it that more than 20 years later his successes stretch across more than 40 films, a multitude of awards, no fewer than three Oscar nominations, and the top actors pay of at least $20million per film?

There must be something more.

Choosing artistically satisfying films over huge pay cheques, avoiding the limelight, Depp’s international superstardom appears to be somewhat of a mystery. But this is one of his major attractions.

If there were ever a role labelled ‘career-suicide’ for its obscurity, it was Depp’s. Everything from introverted to eccentric and even downright psychotic – he did it. Making a name for himself by not being ‘Hollywood’, Depp was turning heads for his chameleon-like ability to submerge himself entirely and convincingly into characters no one else would touch.

Gaining a reputation as the Hollywood Rebel, he won the hearts of those who admired him for not wanting to be famous, not caring about money, and not lying to them.

This is not another Hollywood plastic - it’s an endearing actor securing accidental fame by being himself without compromise.

[Edward Scissorhands, Dir. Tim Burton, 1990]