Most film actors tend to fall into one of two camps: they’re big, recognizable stars who essentially play variants of the same character repeatedly, or they completely disappear into a role. The former is typically referred to as a “movie star” while the latter has been labeled “character actor.” A few names meet in the middle of this performance Venn diagram. One would be Tom Hanks, who manages to be the inimitable Tom Hanks and an entirely different person with every new role, and another big, almost monolithic name, in this merging category would be Johnny Depp.

Depp started his career as a young, good-looking actor in the 80s with roles as young, good-looking characters in films like Private Resort and the original Nightmare on Elm Street, while on television he portrayed undercover cop Tom Hanson in the teen cop drama 21 Jump Street. However, unlike most teen idols of the day, there was something more introverted about his performances. Being a star didn’t seem to appeal to him, and it wasn’t until we saw him in the stranger, more offbeat roles that his ability and range started to come through. Below, we take a look at 10 of his performances that showcase that range. Some of them contributed to his eventual blockbuster status, while others still remain fairly fringe, but all of them demonstrate why he has remained a notable actor for decades, even in the face of recent public drama.

10 Jack Sparrow — Pirates of the Caribbean

     Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

For an entire generation of film fans, Depp and the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow are indistinguishable. Although he had been a huge name to people who enjoyed stories off the beaten path since the 80s, it was the mega-successful adventure film based on a Disney ride (Pirates of the Caribbean) that launched him into next-level stardom. Jack Sparrow is an odd, consistently inebriated liar, who could be the great hero he purports to be if he just cleaned up his act. The part has allowed Depp to make his own brand of peculiar characters mainstream by giving him the chance to play a living cartoon of a person who has almost no redeemable qualities, but you can’t help but root for anyway. It would be easy to brush off this performance as over the top, but if he didn’t find subtle ways to ground him then Jack Sparrow wouldn’t have become the film icon he currently is. It’s a thin line Depp walks while playing Sparrow and any second he could drunkenly tumble over into pure parody.

9 Glenn Lantz — A Nightmare on Elm Street

     New Line Cinema

As mentioned in the intro, Depp’s role in the original (and best) A Nightmare on Elm Street basically required him to be a young, handsome guy. Originally, Glenn was written to be a beefy jock, but the relatively scrawny Depp wanted to play him anyway. At the urging of his young daughters (who thought he was gorgeous), Wes Craven cast him. This decision made for a much more interesting character as Depp played him as a normal kid with more going on internally than he’d like to admit. Nearly every scene between him and Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is tinged with this subtext that he’s keeping something from her. It’s only remarked on once, but it adds shading to the character that may not have been there had some beefcake actually taken the role.

8 Wade Walker — Cry-Baby

     Universal Pictures

John Waters was the perfect director to show the world just how capable of subverting the audience’s expectations Johnny Depp was. His 1990 comedy Cry-Baby is a filthy spin on the teen movies of the 50s and 60s, with Depp playing bad-boy greaser Wade Walker. As is the case with the rest of John Waters’ oeuvre, Cry-Baby is all about mainstream society (squares) vs the outcasts (drapes). In this satirical take on Romeo & Juliet, a square falls in love with a drape, and it causes a whole lot of trouble for them. What makes Depp so perfect for the role is the fact that he looks like he should be a vapid, young Hollywood star, but his tastes are far stranger. He plays a character who looks like Elvis with a dangerous edge, but is so full of emotions that he’ll let out a single tear in any situation. It’s a part that directly targets Depp’s public image, and he appears to have a ball twisting it around.

7 Edward D. Wood Jr — Ed Wood

Depp has collaborated with Tim Burton eight times. Perhaps his greatest performance with the gothic auteur is the still underrated 1994 biopic Ed Wood about independent filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr. mastermind behind Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and the cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. Part comedy, part tragedy, this black-and-white masterpiece depicts a mad genius who simply didn’t have the self-discipline required to make a good movie. Wood has all the ambition, passion, and drive, but none of the talent. He’s surrounded by social outcasts who devote themselves to his work, but who also lack the know-how to make a cohesive, narrative feature film. Depp plays wood like an idealistic young boy who earnestly believes that all he has to do is love an idea enough, and it will make a masterpiece. He is naive but lovable, and Depp makes you believe he will succeed, even though we know he is doomed to failure.

6 Raoul Duke — Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Before Jack Sparrow, there was Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, this Terry Gilliam (Brazil) film was the first time we saw Depp play a consistently inebriated man we weren’t quite sure we could trust. There are some similarities between Duke and the pirate captain, but they’re mostly superficial. Depp’s Duke is a living drug trip moving through the world with exaggerated movement, reacting to entities that aren’t there, and trapped in the sensory overload that is Los Vegas. This is one of those roles Depp disappears into. We start the film recognizing that this is indeed Johnny Depp, but somewhere along the way we lose all track of reality, and he simply becomes the unreliable narrator of this acid trip of a film.

5 Mort Rainey — Secret Window

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Secret Window isn’t the most memorable Stephen King adaptation, but it does include two pretty stellar performances by both Depp and John Turturro. Depp plays Mort Rainey, a successful author who is experiencing writer’s block after separating from his wife who had an affair. Turturro plays a menacing man named John Shooter, who is convinced Rainey stole his story and intends to ruin his life if he doesn’t make good. It actually requires Depp to play two roles since (spoiler) Shooter only exists in Rainey’s head. When the truth comes out, we see Depp get to be sinister and that change is palpable. It demonstrates his range because he spends most of the film as just a normal guy going through a hard time and the finale as a killer.

4 Edward Scissorhands — Edward Scissorhands

     20th Century Fox

With the character of Edward from the film Edward Scissorhands, Depp had to basically play a child. Created by an inventor who passed away before the finishing touches could be made, Edward lives alone in a gothic mansion on a hill overlooking a small suburban town. He’s had no communication with the outside world, so when he is allowed to live with a “normal” family, he is the epitome of a fish out of water. Virtually everything is new to him, and he communicates that to us via facial expressions rather than words since Edward barely speaks. This is a perfect example of Depp disappearing into a role, and it works like magic.

3 Sir James Matthew Barrie — Finding Neverland

     Miramax Films

Finding Neverland doesn’t get mentioned a whole lot whenever people discuss Depp’s filmography and that’s a shame. While he isn’t playing the kind of character we typically associate him with, James Matthew Barrie (better known as J.M. Barrie) is just as much of an outcast and weirdo (in terms of society’s opinion of him) as any character Depp has tackled. Here, Depp has to play a good and kind man who just wants to create a storytelling experience that fills his audience with awe and wonder. He wants to cut through the pretense of theater and engage with people in a way that makes them feel like a kid again. So, he gives the world Peter Pan. It’s a sweet and gentle story about the necessity of escape and the purity of the imagination and Depp always has a sparkle in his eyes in nearly every scene.

2 Sweeney Todd — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

     Dreamworks/Paramount Distribution

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a well-known story that has been retold a few times, but never with the scale of horror and dread found in Tim Burton’s 2007 adaptation of the iconic Sondheim musical. In the film, the titular Sweeney Todd is a walking, furious, raw nerve of a human being focused entirely on revenge for being wrongly imprisoned and losing his family. Depp plays him with a ferocious sneer, ready to slit any throat that gets in his way. That alone would make it a captivating performance, but it’s the emotion and insight he provides through song that really draws you in. Given the nature of the character and all the singing, this is one of the more unique performances in Depp’s career.

1 Gilbert Grape — What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

     Paramount Pictures

For all the kooky characters and oddballs Johnny Depp has played, his ability to play subdued and natural kind of goes unnoticed. There is perhaps no better example of this than that of Gilbert Grape in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?. At the time of its release, all the buzz was around Leonardo Dicaprio’s performance as Gilbert’s developmentally disabled little brother Arnie. It isn’t hard to see why since he obviously gave his all to the film, but Depp is wonderfully lost in the film. He is playing a character who wants more but feels tethered to his tiny hometown. He’s capable of more but too afraid to go for it. All of that is shown on his face and body language. It’s brilliant because he could easily have played Gilbert as a brooding storm cloud, but instead, he’s just a guy and that’s pretty impressive.