21 must-see Johnny Depp performances

It’s the crop top and the iconic scene where Freddy pulls him into the bed that helped solidify Johnny Depp as one to watch in the ‘80s.

Depp took on the wild wild west in Dead Man, where he found himself playing an accountant on the run after he took another man’s life.

Writer and director John Waters never misses when it comes to creating cult classics, and he added another to his list just as the ‘90s got started with Cry-Baby. This musical proved Depp was anything but square.

If there is one genre Johnny Depp is fully equipped to do a stellar job with, it’s an autobiographical film.

As ridiculous as the plot was of 21 Jump Street, it did help put Johnny Depp on the map. It also inspired one of the funniest film adaptations of the 2000s, in which he made a very memorable cameo.

Everyone knows Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are a match made in heaven, but fans can only hope that one day Depp reunites with Robert Rodriguez to try and recreate the magic they made together in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

For much of his career, Edward Scissorhands was the role Depp would likely be synonymous with the rest of his career. Of course, a movie on the high seas changed that at the turn of the 21st century. Alas, it is still a role that sits forever in his top five of all time, and for a good reason. It’s a movie that speaks to the outcasts of every new generation who watches, a movie that makes those people feel less alone.

No one plays creepy writer turned murderer quite like Johnny Depp.

People often say Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp are the perfect pair on screen, but Sleepy Hollow showed that perhaps Depp and Christina Ricci were just as satisfying as a big-screen pair.

Johnny Depp doesn’t have a lot of voiceover roles to his name, but the ones he does have only helped push his career forward, like when he played the titular reptile in Rango.

Hunter S. Thompson is one of the most interesting minds of the 20th century, having played a hand in creating the idea of gonzo journalism and penning over three dozen books. Depp spent time with Thompson preparing for the role of Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and his admiration for the man shone through.

Johnny Depp opposite Al Pacino in a crime drama was a dream come true for cinephiles everywhere when Donnie Brasco dropped.

Johnny Depp is known for bringing life to the most outlandish and imaginative characters, so that’s why his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape never fails to stand out among his lengthy resume. He’s just a regular guy in Iowa trying to keep his family together despite several uphill battles and heartbreaks.

Johnny Depp can do almost any genre, but what he does best are the types of movies that are going to be placed on t-shirts in Hot Topics across the country.

Captain Jack Sparrow is, without a doubt, one of the best movie characters ever.

Eventually, all great actors will have a movie in which they pay homage to those in film who came before them, and for Depp, it was in Ed Wood.

While fans of The Office would argue the version of Sweeney Todd from the hit NBC series is the best adaptation, it’s hard to put it above what Depp and Burton did together in 2007.

There have been many retellings of Peter Pan, but Johnny Depp went a step further to help bring to life the story that came before the timeless tale came to life in Finding Neverland.

Benny & Joon is the rom-com to which every Gen X who was in theater growing up clung.

SpongeBob Squarepants is one of Nickelodeon’s most triumphant shows. It’s been on since 1999 and has not only delivered some of the funniest moments in pop culture — the Super Bowl appearance in 2019 — but has also had insane guest stars in the show and its movies, including Keanu Reeves, Scarlett Johansson, and of course, Johnny Depp who appeared as Jack Kahuna Lagunain the 2009 episode "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One.”

Alice in Wonderland was part of the first wave of live-action Disney remakes, and with that, Tim Burton somehow managed to make it way darker than the original (which was already pretty frightening in hindsight). Depp added to the chaos of it all as the one and only Mad Hatter.