Johnny Depp has a long history of playing real-life figures in movies. Depp has made a career out of playing unusual and outlandish characters that seem larger than life, from the eccentric Edward Scissorhands to the iconic Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. But he has also played a surprising number of characters grounded in reality.
Depp’s career in film spans nearly 40 years, beginning with his role in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. Since then, Depp has appeared in 66 feature films, bringing in over $10 billion at the box office worldwide and making him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. Depp’s appearances as Jack Sparrow alone have made him a household name worldwide. Still, despite his propensity to take on more absurd roles, Depp also has an extensive history in biographical projects.
Excluding films in which he plays himself, Depp has portrayed 11 real-life people throughout his career, some more faithfully than others. In keeping with Depp’s versatility, the people that he has played have been a varied bunch, ranging from a 17th-century English poet to a 20th-century drug smuggler, and the tones of the films have been equally varied. The following is a list of each of those real-life people Depp has portrayed in reverse chronological order.
William Eugene Smith (Minamata, 2020)
Minamata is Depp’s most recent release in which he plays W. Eugene Smith, an influential photo-journalist from the mid-1900s. Smith’s 1948 photo series Country Doctor is now recognized as the first extended editorial photo story. The film centers around Smith’s time in Minamata, Japan, documenting the widespread effects of mercury poisoning in the region, which prompted Smith to publish his findings in his 1975 book by the same name.
Russell Poole (City of Lies, 2018)
In City of Lies, Depp portrays LAPD detective Russell Poole, a prominent figure in the investigation surrounding the murder of Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls. Poole had been investigating the potential involvement of LAPD officer David Mack until he was instructed to stop by the chief of Police Bernard C. Parks, prompting Poole’s resignation from the force. Much of Poole’s investigation was used as the basis for the book upon which Depp’s City of Lies is based, Randall Sullivan’s 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.
Donald Trump (Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie, 2016)
In what is certainly his most absurd portrayal of a real-life person, Depp plays Donald Trump in the TV movie Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie. The film is a parody of Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, claiming to be a lost adaptation from 1988 starring Trump himself. Released less than a year before Trump was elected president, the film satirizes Trump’s behavior and ideology, as does Depp’s performance of him.
James “Whitey” Bulger Jr (Black Mass, 2015)
Johnny Depp’s role in Black Mass is perhaps his most ambitious portrayal of a real-life character, donning prosthetics and color contacts to transform him into the notorious leader of the Winter Hill Gang, James “Whitey” Bulger. Although Bulger has adamantly denied it, the FBI claims that Bulger had worked as an informant since 1975, preventing his own crimes from being investigated by supplying information regarding the inner workings of a rival mafia, the Patriarca crime family. In 1997, the news media began to expose criminal misdoings by law enforcement officials connected to Bulger, prompting the FBI to add Bulger to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in 1999. Bulger remained at large until June 22, 2011, when he was finally arrested at the age of 81.
John Dillinger (Public Enemies, 2009)
Depp tells the true story of John Dillinger in Public Enemies, demailing the events that led up to the death of one of America’s most notorious gangsters. Dillinger was the eponymous leader of the Dillinger Gang, leading them on a crime spree that would make him the second Public Enemy Number 1 in American history (the first being Al Capone four years beforehand). The gang successfully robbed 13 banks in the Midwest over the course of slightly more than a year, with Dillinger escaping police custody twice in the process. The film is based on Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 by Bryan Burrough.
John Wilmot (The Libertine, 2004)
Although his character in The Libertine is largely referred to simply as “Rochester,” Depp portrays John Wilmot, a 17th century English poet and Second Earl of Rochester. Out of every Johnny Depp movie based on a true story, The Libertine was perhaps the least well-received. Wilmot lived a debaucherous life with a proclivity for alcohol and sexual indiscretion that was often reflected in his works, eventually dying from venereal disease at the age of 33. The story focuses primarily on the stage play Sodom, or The Quintessence of Debauchery, which the film claims was written by Wilmot as a condemnation of the reign of King Charles II, but the play’s authorship has been disputed by academics. The film is based on the play The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys, which is itself a modern adaptation of a 1676 play by the same name written by Thomas Shadwell.
Sir James Matthew Barrie (Finding Neverland, 2004)
Finding Neverland stars Depp as James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan (also known as The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up or Peter and Wendy). The film centers around Barrie’s relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family, which would become the inspiration for several of Barrie’s works. Barrie and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies were close friends, with Barrie helping to support Sylvia financially and emotionally after her husband’s death, and Barrie would become the guardian of her five boys after her death three years later. Finding Neverland’s portrayal of events appears to be largely accurate, barring its exclusion of Sylvia’s husband, Arthur, stating that he’d died before the film’s start.
Frederick Abberline (From Hell, 2001)
From Hell is loosely based on the story of Jack the Ripper, the mysterious serial killer in late 19th century London. Depp plays Detective Frederick Abberline, the real-life chief inspector for the London Metropolitan Police and a prominent figure in the case of Jack the Ripper. Many of the details included in the film are accurate, but there are many significant differences in their retelling. Abberline is portrayed as being clairvoyant due to his character being combined with that of Robert James Lees, a British medium famous for his alleged insight into the Ripper’s identity. Lees claimed to have had visions that implicated Sir William Gull, a physician to the royal family and the person the film pins as the Ripper, but experts largely agree that Gull is unlikely to have been responsible. Abberline’s primary suspect in the case was Seweryn Klosowski (also known as George Chapman or the Borough Poisoner), who would be executed in 1903 for poisoning three women.
George Jung (Blow, 2001)
Blow stars Depp as George Jung, an infamous cocaine trafficker who finds himself embroiled in the sins of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel. Jung began peddling marijuana in the late 1960s, eventually getting himself for attempting to smuggle 660 pounds in Chicago. While in prison, Jung would meet Carlos Lehder, a co-founder of the Medellín Cartel, who would connect Jung with Escobar after his release. Jung would become one of the most prolific cocaine smugglers of the late 20th century before receiving a 70-year prison sentence in 1994, though it would later be reduced to 20 years after Jung testified against Lehder. Though Lehder was included in Blow, his name was left out of the film, with his character being referred to as Diego Delgado.
Joseph Pistone (Donnie Brasco, 1997)
Of all of the real-life characters Depp has portrayed, Donnie Brasco’s Joseph Pistone is one of only two that are still alive. Pistone was an FBI agent who went undercover as Donald “Donnie” Brasco to infiltrate the Bonanno and Colombo crime families, two of the Five Families of the Mafia in New York City. Although his investigation was only intended to last six months, Pistone remained undercover from September 1976 until July 1981. The evidence collected from Pistone’s time as Donnie Brasco has led to more than 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of mafia members.
Edward Wood Jr (Ed Wood, 1994)
Depp plays the eponymous Edward Wood Jr in Ed Wood, a biographical film that shares many similarities to Tommy Wiseau’s depiction in The Disaster Artist. Wood was a writer and director in the mid 20th century, creating such films as Plan 9 From Outer Space, Bride of the Monster, and Necromania. Wood was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director Of All Time in 1980, bringing about a new wave of interest in the late director’s work. In 1992, Rudolph Grey published an oral biography titled Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr., which would be the basis for Depp and Tim Burton’s biopic.
Honorable Mention: Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998)
The film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on a novel by the same name written by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a roman à clef, a story in which real people and events appear with invented names. Thompson based the story on two real-life trips he’d taken to Vegas with his attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, although their names would be changed to Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, respectively. So while he may not have portrayed Thompson directly, Johnny Depp did technically portray a version of him in the film.