Out of Their Depp

Years before he donned ruffled Don Juan finery (not to mention scissor appendages or angora), Johnny Depp played a cop who disguised himself as a high school student in 21 Jump Street. The show's other actors could all pass for 16-year-olds too — but their careers have since landed in varying degrees of deep cover. Were casting agents too quick to overlook them in favor of Depp?

Peter DeLuise
Character: Doug Penhall, lovable average guy.
Post-Street Low: Played second banana to puny comedic talent Julie Brown in the made-for-cable spoof National Lampoon's Attack of the 5'2'' Women.
Post-Street High: Plays lovable average mutant laborer on seaQuest 2032.
Missed Opportunity:Clownish, befuddled manner would have made him a far more realistic leading man in Benny & Joon.

Richard Grieco
Character: Dennis Booker, sexy renegade.
Post-Street Low: Played Bugsy Siegel in Mobsters, the Tiger Beat-style celebration of organized crime.
Post-Street High: Followed in David Hasselhoff's footsteps by becoming a rock star in Germany.
Missed Opportunity: Would have been the natural lead for Cry-Baby — if the movie had been directed by Abel Ferrara.

Dustin Nguyen
Character: Harry Truman Ioki, Asian character who — amazingly — was skilled in martial arts.
Post-Street Low: Played Asian guy always in the vicinity of Asian leading men, from Brandon Lee in Rapid Fire to Russell Wong in the Vanishing Son TV movies.
Post-Street High: Nanosecond cameo in Virtuosity, a bomb — but at least it didn't star an Asian.
Missed Opportunity: Would have been a more obvious choice as the Vietnamese interpreter in Platoon.

Holly Robinson
Character: Judy Hoffs, whose lesbian-kiss episode didn't get half the attention Roseanne's did.
Post-Street Low: Circus of the Stars or Live! The World's Greatest Stunts, you make the call.
Post-Street High: Landed a hit in ABC's Hangin' With Mr. Cooper the same year she played Diana Ross in that network's sanitized telepic The Jacksons: An American Dream.
Missed Opportunity: Would have filled out an angora sweater far better than Depp did in Ed Wood.