Johnny Depp
When the decade began, Johnny Depp was Hollywood's very own Saint Jude, patron saint of cinematic lost causes. For every middling hit on his oddball resume, there was a misfire. Then something happened. It's easy to look at 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and conclude that Depp had finally sold his soul. But anyone who's seen his lunatic turn as Capt. Jack Sparrow knows better. It's one of those without-a-net performances, so singular and subversive that it's hard to believe he got away with it. Depp received his first-ever Oscar nomination for Pirates. And just to show that it was no fluke, he was nominated again for his tear-jerking turn in 2004's Finding Neverland. Then, in 2008, he was nominated a third time for Sweeney Todd. —Chris Nashawaty
Image Credit: BRIGITTE LACOMBE FOR EW
Best of the Decade
15 Entertainers of the 2000s
Johnny Depp, Beyonce, Tina Fey, and more crazy talented people who thrilled us and kickstarted the century
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