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50 free Johnny Depp trivia questions with answers. Johnny Depp dropped out of high school at 16 to play guitar, fell into acting by accident on A Nightmare on Elm Street, spent the nineties dodging his own teen-idol image in films like Cry-Baby, Ed Wood and Dead Man, then became the biggest star in the world as a pirate modelled on Keith Richards and a cartoon skunk. This quiz follows the whole arc: the Kentucky childhood, The Kids, 21 Jump Street, the eight Tim Burton films, three Oscar nominations, the Viper Room, Hollywood Vampires, the marriages and tattoos, the UK libel loss, the Virginia verdict, and the Cannes comeback as Louis XV. Easy questions ask who he modelled Jack Sparrow on and what he voices in Rango; the hard end wants the Peter Lorre film behind Sweeney Todd, the hotel he trashed with Kate Moss and the arthropod named after Edward Scissorhands. It suits a movie night, a pub quiz film round or anyone who has argued about the trial. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia entry on the actor and his films, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01In which state was Johnny Depp born in 1963?
Kentucky
The family moved constantly and settled in Miramar, Florida, in 1970; his mother later married a man named Robert Palmer, whom he calls an inspiration.
Q 02What was Depp's feature film debut, in 1984?
A Nightmare on Elm Street
He had no acting experience; Nicolas Cage set up the audition and Wes Craven's daughter liked the look of him.
Q 03Which actor, then his drinking buddy, advised Depp to try acting and got him his first audition?
Nicolas Cage
Depp's first wife introduced them; he had been interested in acting since reading a James Dean biography.
Q 04Depp became a teen idol playing an undercover cop on which Fox series, from 1987?
21 Jump Street
He took the job to work with actor Frederic Forrest, then complained the show 'forced him into the role of product'.
Q 05At what age did Depp drop out of Miramar High School to become a rock musician?
16
He tried to return two weeks later, and the principal told him to follow his dream instead.
Q 06What was the name of the band Johnny Depp joined in 1980, which later opened for the Ramones?
The Kids
In LA they renamed themselves Six Gun Method and split before landing a record deal.
Q 07Depp's first wife, Lori Anne Allison, was the sister of whom?
His band's bassist
They married on Christmas Eve 1983 in Miami-Dade County; she became a makeup artist after going deaf in one ear.
Q 08Which John Waters musical comedy was Depp's first film release of 1990?
Cry-Baby
It flopped at the time but became a cult classic; later that year he made Edward Scissorhands.
Q 09Which silent star's films did Depp study to play the near-wordless Edward in his first Tim Burton film?
Charlie Chaplin
The role earned his first Golden Globe nomination and got an extinct clawed arthropod named Kootenichela deppi.
Q 10An extinct arthropod with prominent claws was named after Depp thanks to which role?
Edward Scissorhands
Kootenichela deppi takes its species name from him; 'chela' is Latin for claws.
Q 11Which 1993 sleeper hit had Depp playing an eccentric, illiterate silent-film fan?
Benny and Joon
It was one of three films he released that year, alongside Arizona Dream and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
Q 12Who played Bela Lugosi opposite Depp in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994)?
Martin Landau
Depp said working with Landau 'rejuvenated' his love of acting; he committed within ten minutes of hearing about the project.
Q 13Which 1995 Jim Jarmusch Western starring Depp was shot entirely in black and white?
Dead Man
That same year he played opposite Marlon Brando in Don Juan DeMarco.
Q 21For which film did Depp win his only Golden Globe, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy?
Sweeney Todd
It was the first film that required him to sing; he skipped a vocal coach and cut demos with old bandmate Bruce Witkin.
Q 22Depp named which Peter Lorre performance as his main influence for his singing barber role?
Mad Love (1935)
Lorre plays a 'creepy but sympathetic' surgeon in it.
Q 23The 2007 singing-barber musical was Depp's how-manyeth film with Tim Burton?
Sixth
Dark Shadows in 2012 was their eighth; Alice in Wonderland in between made over $1 billion.
Q 14In Donnie Brasco (1997), Depp plays a real undercover FBI agent named what?
Joseph Pistone
He spent time with the real Pistone to prepare and starred opposite Al Pacino.
Q 15What was Johnny Depp's 1997 directorial debut with Marlon Brando, panned at Cannes and never released in the US?
The Brave
He played a poor Native American man who agrees to appear in a snuff film for money.
Q 16Depp played Raoul Duke, alter ego of which writer friend, in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
Hunter S. Thompson
Terry Gilliam directed; it bombed and split the critics.
Q 17Which actress did Depp cite, with Roddy McDowall and Basil Rathbone, as inspiration for his Ichabod Crane?
Angela Lansbury
He thought of Ichabod as 'a very delicate, fragile person ... like a frightened little girl'.
Q 18Which two figures did Depp say he modeled Captain Jack Sparrow on?
Keith Richards and Pepé Le Pew
Studio executives were ambivalent about the performance at first; it earned him Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and a SAG win.
Q 19How many Academy Award nominations has Depp received?
Three
All for Best Actor: Jack Sparrow, J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland and Sweeney Todd. He has never won.
Q 20Which real author does Depp play in Finding Neverland (2004)?
J. M. Barrie
The Peter Pan playwright brought him his second Oscar nomination.
Q 24Which real gangster does Depp play in Michael Mann's Public Enemies (2009)?
John Dillinger
Roger Ebert wrote that for once an actor playing a gangster 'starts cold. He plays Dillinger as a fact.'
Q 25Roughly how much did Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), with Depp as the Mad Hatter, gross worldwide?
$1.025 billion
It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2010 despite mixed reviews.
Q 26What kind of animal does Depp voice in the Oscar-winning animated film Rango (2011)?
A chameleon
It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Q 27In 2012 Guinness World Records listed Depp as the world's highest-paid actor with earnings of how much?
$75 million
That year he also cameoed with Peter DeLuise and Holly Robinson in a big-screen reboot of his old TV show.
Q 28Depp's casting as which character in The Lone Ranger (2013) drew accusations of whitewashing?
Tonto
Disney took a $190 million loss on the film.
Q 29Which Boston crime boss does Depp play in Black Mass (2015)?
Whitey Bulger
Critics called it one of his best performances and it brought his third SAG nomination.
Q 30Which luxury house signed Depp in 2015 as the face of its men's fragrance Sauvage?
Dior
The same year he was inducted as a Disney Legend.