Product Description

Not only is Johnny Depp a huge star, but his unconventional choice of movie roles has made him a fascinating and mysterious character. With appearances in both children and adult films, such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Libertine", Depp has a mass market cross- generational appeal. From his debut in "Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984 through to his flamboyant turn as the voice of Victor Van Dort in "Corpse Bride", Depp has successfully carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike. Apart from his on-screen life, Depp has dated several female celebrities off-screen, including failed engagements to Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder, and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anne Allison in 1983, but then divorced her in 1985. Currently, Depp is living with French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children: Lily-Rose Melody, born in 1999 and Jack, born in 2002. He has also had a wild parallel career as a rock musician with involvement in the elite party scene in LA - Depp was in the Viper Room club the night River Phoneix overdosed. This definitive biography charts every aspect of the charismatic actor's life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109201 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 377 pages

About the Author
Nigel Goodall has written more than a dozen books, including the best-selling Winona Ryder (Blake, 1998), nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 1999. He was a production associate for Channel 4's The Real Winona Ryder. His other books include Elton John: A Visual Documentary, an illustrated Rolling Stones book and the bestseller Kylie Naked: A Biography (Ebury,2002, with Jenny Stanley-Clarke). He writes for magazines and contributes to various album, video and television projects. Nigel is divorced with two children.

Customer Reviews

Not the most insightful of books
This, I'm afraid, is not the best of biographies to read as a Johnny Depp fan, or even just to read. Lazily (and, at times, very badly) written and researched, it is cobbled together from other magazine and book interviews, and shows no evidence that the author had any access to friends or family of Johnny Depp for interviews. Neither is there any real attempt to analyse his subject's character or motivations for the things he has done, although he does come to some completely unsupported conclusions about what Depp was thinking or feeling at certain points in his life. Without knowing Depp, and without showing any signs of understanding him, it was difficult to see how the author managed to conclude anything.

This book instead gives the impression of the author doing his best to make a few quid on the back of Depp's current success without putting any real effort into getting to know his subject. Very disappointing and best avoided. So much for the 'secret life' of Johnny Depp - you could find out just as much yourself by doing a Google search and save yourself the cost of the book at the same time.

Brilliant!!!
As you can probably guess by my pen name, I am a Johnny (Captain Jack) fan but that does not mean I cannot offer a decent review of this book.

I do not normally read books, but this kept me reading for a couple of days. Once I had started it, I could not put it down. I thought it was very true to life and I have learnt so much more about the brillant Johnny.