Johnny Depp's top five performances

With a long and illustrious career behind him, Johnny Depp's exceptional versatility has made him one of the industry's most recognisable names. He has become known for taking on challenging and eccentric roles that have repeatedly demonstrated his skill in combining physical comedy with emotional depth, making his performances both engaging and memorable. He has a knack for creating uniquely vivid, exuberant characters who more often than not are also drawn with elaborate, distinctive mannerisms, which we now pay tribute to by ranking what we consider to be his top five acting performances.

5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Dark and intense. What's not to love in Depp's performance as the tragically vengeful barber, where his acting perfectly captures Todd's tortured interior and the rage that drives him. Depp's powerful and surprisingly skilful singing and ability to balance melancholy with raw anger give the character a frightening yet sympathetic dimension. Todd is simply a strangely dramatic character who becomes even more poignant in the hands of Depp, definitely one of the best and most complete performances of his career.

4. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

As a young man stuck in small-town life and emotionally chained to the responsibilities of his dysfunctional family, Depp turns in one of his most emotionally nuanced, complex characters. Frustration is mixed with equal parts love and a sense of entrapment in situations where the character is constantly torn between duty and his heart's desire. It's a moving portrait, to say the least, and one of Depp's most restrained, natural efforts, as well as demonstrating his amazing range as an actor.

3. Donnie Brasco (1997)

In truth, leading a double life can't be a very easy task, let alone in the name of the law as an undercover agent for the FBI. Something that Depp also perfectly captures in Donnie Brasco where his performance so brilliantly demonstrates the complexities of balancing a double life, as well as the moral dilemmas that arise. Depp's relationship with mobster Lefty, the inner conflict he constantly wrestles with and the way he displays this is downright masterful. Nuanced, believable and utterly gripping, one of Depp's most overlooked and powerful performances.

2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1996)

As the eccentric journalist Duke, Depp took us by storm in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, offering a chaotic, surreal journey like no other. Thanks a lot to his ability to completely disappear into a character, which he also demonstrated clearly here through his deliberately exaggerated, grandiose acting. The Gonzo-inspired character is not only utterly unique and strangely memorable, but also peppered with the mannerisms of the original. From the way he speaks to the way he moves, all exquisitely interpreted by Depp in one of his most unforgettable acting performances that has (rightly) also achieved cult status.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)

Well, anything else would have been an outright scandal. Captain Jack Sparrow, a role that has become synonymous with Depp and perfectly blends all of the actor's strengths into what is, in our opinion, by far his most unforgettable performance. Outrageously eccentric, full of charm and completely unpredictable with his unforgettable gait, slurred speech and presence. All the things that make Sparrow one of cinema's most unforgettable characters of all-time, bubbling over with Depp's personality. A perfect balance of seriousness and humour, as lovable as brutal and a big finger to the classic stereotypes. Unforgettable, immortal and ever so fascinating, Jack Sparrow is as much Johnny Depp as Johnny Depp is Jack Sparrow. One cannot exist without the other and it is, in our opinion, his best acting performance by far.