For me it was always the secret window into the self -- not necessarily the soul, because the soul, we hope, is somewhat pure -- but the secret window into the self, into the secret garden, the great things inside or the bad things inside.

Johnny on Secret Window, from a Talking Movies interview March 2004

Has having children [he has a girl and boy] changed Johnny Depp?

Oh yeah. I would say that the kiddies give you strength. The kiddies give you strength and perspective and you understand stuff. Things that would've made me sort of upset or angry before, or things about Hollywood, things in magazines or paparazzi or stuff like that, now you can sort of really go, 'Oh, piss off. I'm just going to play Barbies with my daughter.'

The Blunt interview, June 2003

Depp is currently filming The Libertine, a biography of John Wilmot, aka the Earl of Rochester, the 17th century poet described by Samuel Johnson as having "contempt of decency and order, a total disregard to every moral and a resolute denial of every religious observation. He lived worthless and useless and blazed out his youth and health in lavish voluptuousness.'' After that, he will collaborate with Burton in a new version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The upshot: Continue to expect the unexpected, at least when it comes to the movies Depp chooses. "He's never going to fit into one category,'' Tim Burton said. "That's the beauty of the guy.''

Los Angeles Daily News article, March 2004

"Oh man, Johnny Depp is my dawg. When I grow up, I want to be Johnny Depp."

Will Smith at the Secret Window premiere, March 2004

Were any of Johnny Depp’s gestures improvised, or were they all scripted?

Oh, sure, no, most of them were improvised. He’s a sponge. He picks up what’s going on around him. Like that jaw thing that he does -- I was doing that because I was grinding my teeth because I wasn’t sleeping at night. So he just started doing it throughout the movie. You’ve got to be careful what you do around him because he’ll steal it from you.

David Koepp, director of Secret Window, March 2004

He claims to be no crazier - nor any more sane - than you or I. "I think everybody's nuts, to tell you the truth," Depp says as he ponders truths big and small one rainy afternoon. "I think everybody is absolutely out of their heads all the time. Watch people sometimes. Just watch people. People are absolutely insane. They just are. Look at us!"

Toronto Sun interview, 1995

It took me aback a little bit because it's a pretty outside choice for the Academy. It's a risky vote for them; it's not something they vote for every time, you know? So I was really amazed by that. The same thing for the SAG Awards. It's a real rickety branch for them to climb on for them, so I have to salute them for that; they really went out on a limb for me, so that's really touching.

As far as I'm concerned, I would never walk into one of those things -- the SAG Awards or the Academy Awards or anything -- expecting to walk out with anything. I'm not expecting to win anything and I don't need to win anything. The mere fact that they nominated me and acknowledged the work is plenty; that's just plenty.

Johnny on his nominations for 'Best Actor' in the Academy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, Zap2it.com article, 27 February 2004

"If ever acting helped a movie, it was Pirates of the Caribbean. You put a genius in the middle of a pirate movie and it becomes effervescent. We're lucky that kind of actor with that kind of limitless talent is now a movie star."

Seabiscuit director Gary Ross, USA Today Oscars article, February 2004

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; kismet. All the math finally worked.

Calgary Sun interview, April 2001

Somehow it seems unjust that Johnny Depp hasn't won an Oscar yet. But the fact that he's never even been nominated seems downright criminal.

Still, considering his wiggy career, it makes a certain kind of sense that our strangest actor should get his first nod from the Academy for a freakin' pirate movie.

Entertainment Weekly's guide to the Oscars, January 2004

I feel really lucky that I've been able to do those movies and play those characters. So, I'm really proud of all the films, all the experiences. Performance, that's another thing. It's not for me to judge.

I think that the second that you get pigeonholed, one of two things happens. You either get really rich, really successful or game over. If you find an arena that you're good at, it becomes a kind of shtick and you do that each time out of the gate... It's not particularly satisfying and I don't think that it's fair to the audience. Each time you should go, 'This may be the one where I lose big. This may be the one where it's too much or not enough.'

Teen Hollywood, 'Pirates' interview, June 2003

When Cry-Baby and then Scissorhands came around, I looked at it as: OK, this is sort of a one-off deal. I’ll stick to my guns as long as I can, till they just get sick of me -- Hollywood, I mean -- and don’t hire me for the movies I want to make; where I’m an unbankable entity or something like that.

But I figured that I’d have at least this little bag of films that I did that I could be proud of and, one day when I had kids, that my kids could be proud of. I made the decision back then to leave something behind you could be proud of. And I just think it’s a miracle that I’m still working. It’s an absolute miracle that I still get jobs.

US Express 'Pirates' interview, August 2003

So why do people think Depp is a troubled bad boy? He doesn't seem bad to me. He's probably the most charming person I've ever touched the tattoos of. He's funny, kind, and gives himself totally in every moment.

Chrissy Iley, The Sunday Times July 2003

Johnny being Johnny, he might have popped up the third week in August in some wry little character piece almost no one saw. And his performance would have been the best thing in it, a suitably obscure talking point for James Lipton. But this year, Johnny tried something different: He applied his outrageous gifts to Pirates of the Caribbean, a movie for the masses -- winning over even the theme-park set with his cheeky swashbuckler, Jack Sparrow. That was the beginning of the summer. At the end, playing a weirdly hell-bent CIA agent, Depp stole Once Upon a Time in Mexico from Antonio Banderas, thus bookending the sweaty months with two of the season's most entertaining movies. And he did all this while turning a lean, slick 40. It's a lesson to Hollywood's febrile comers, all of whom call Depp their hero: Work hard, learn well. And make peace with the fact that you'll never be as cool as Johnny Depp.

GQ magazine 'Men of the Year' issue, November 2003

What I did like in this film.. is the performance by Johnny Depp, easily the riskiest, most creative actor working today. His performance as Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow is the most spectacular special effect I’ve seen on a movie screen this summer (more than The Hulk, The Architect, and all of the damn X-Men combined). He seems to have inserted himself into this formulaic film purely for the opportunity to try something with acting that he has always wanted to do: to play a pirate the way he sees a pirate. And I can’t imagine the look on Jerry Bruckheimer’s face when he saw the dailies after his first few days of shooting with him....

Johnny Depp has thought out his role incredibly well (he’s not just playing an eccentric, like so many critics wrongly label his style of acting). The result of having such an understanding of what he wants to do with the role is exhilarating to watch. It frees him, even in a movie as blah as this one is, to do something completely fresh with the role. He can read a piece of dull dialogue and make it into a thing of hilarity, of acting bliss. He plays Jack Sparrow as if he were Keith Richards as a much younger drag queen, wearing enough eyeliner to frighten Tammy Faye Baker.

Johnny Depp appears to be attracted to projects that push the borders of storytelling and imagination, and if he can’t find that, he looks for projects that will allow him to do that himself.

Blake Davis on Pirates of the Caribbean, Kfor.com review July 2003

If a movie star is someone who brings the weight of persona to bear on every role, what do you call someone who seems to erase himself from his own performances?

That's easy: You call him an actor.

Ty Burr on Johnny Depp, 'Not your average movie star’, Boston Globe July 2003

One week you’re on the list, and then you’re off, and then you’re back on and then you’re off, and all that stuff. So… I’ve experienced many, many bumps in the road and I know that if the road is smooth for the moment, cool. That’s fine, I’ll take the ride. It’ll get bumpy again. That’s OK too.

Film 2003 interview, September 2003

“I think people like Johnny Depp are an exception. He is the current model of what an actor should be. His body of work speaks volumes. He was so under-rated for so long, but he will have longevity -- and it is such a gratifying thrill to see he is finally getting the recognition he deserves."

Dustin Hoffman, Jam Movies interview October 2003

He had IT in spades, more than anyone I've ever met.

Wes Craven, on casting an unknown named Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street

Depp admits that he is bemused by what is deemed normal. "Who," he queries, "decides what is normal? And why? Some of the things that are considered to be normal in our society seem to be pretty bizarre to me." For instance? "Golf. Bowling. Politicians."

The Scotsman interview, January 2002

I wanted to play a character who was a kind of outside, but very, very comfortable outside. Someone who's not a victim -- doesn't betray himself or feel like a victim. He's outside because he wants to be outside.

CNN: That may be a little bit of who you are.

I like being outside. I don't want to be caught up in the who's-who stuff. ... I don't want to play the game, you know. I just am not interested.

Talking about his role in Chocolat, December 2000

In Paris, his favorite city, Depp made a point of sleeping in the bed where Oscar Wilde died: "I was a little paranoid that I might be buggered by a ghost at four in the morning."

Toronto Sun interview, 1995

I'm not sure he looks in his mailbox -- I'm not sure he participates in the mail.

John Waters on Johnny's wandering lifestyle, 1994

Depp's Viper Room co-owner Chuck E. Weiss has joked that Johnny is such an artistic, sensitive person that he "sits on the toilet and pees like a woman." But it's not so. We did about a minute of this interview in their club's men's room and I can assure you he's a stand-up guy.

Playboy article, 1996

"I can remember being totally fascinated with Bela Lugosi and the Dracula films when I was five years old, and I can remember sitting in class in first grade and drawing pictures of Dracula and Frankenstein. I remember it like it was yesterday," Depp says. "And when I was a kid, in about 1968, I was completely, utterly obsessed with a television show called Dark Shadows."

That gothic soap opera featured ghosts and werewolves. Its central character was a vampire named Barnabas Collins. "I wanted to be Barnabas Collins," Depp laughs. "And I wanted the cane with the wolf's head on it. For my parents, that must have been a very scary thing. 'Where did we go wrong?' "

Sleepy Hollow interview for the Winnipeg Sun, November 1999

There's a drive in me that won't allow me to do certain things that are easy. I can weigh all the options, but there's always one thing there that goes: 'Johnny: This is the one.' And it's always the most difficult -- it's always the one that will cause the most trouble in this structured thing we call a career.

Calgary Sun interview, 1997