Johnny Depp Says Nicolas Cage Helped Him Become An Actor 'By Accident'

Johnny Depp said Nicolas Cage helped him become an actor by accident while speaking at his defamation trial. 

The 58-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star took the stand today (April 19) for the first time since his lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard began.

Speaking at the Fairfax County Circuit Court, Depp opened up about a number of topics, including his extensive acting career.

But while he’s enjoyed worldwide success in a myriad of blockbusters, Depp revealed how he never intended to get into the acting world, and it only happened thanks to Cage. 

“I remember I was filling out job applications with a friend of mine who happens to be, he was an actor, less known than he is now, Nicolas Cage,” said Depp. 

“And I was filling out job applications, you know, video stores, clothing stores, anything just to be able to pay the rent and Nic Cage said, ‘Why don’t you meet my agent, because I think you could be an actor.’

“I said, ‘I’ll meet anybody, I’ll do anything at this point.’ And so he sent me to his agent Ilene Feldman.”

He continued: “She sent me to read for a casting director named Annette Benson, who was casting a film called A Nightmare on Elm Street and they brought me back to read for the director Wes Craven and I read for West Craven and somehow got the job. 

“But I mean I was by no means an actor, I didn’t have any desire to be an actor, I was a musician.”

Before Depp’s debut in the 1984 horror flick, he was in a band known as The Kids, having joined as a guitarist when he was 17 years old. 

Eventually, he put his musical career on hold to pursue acting, and has gone on to star in a wide variety of hit films. 

Depp is currently suing Heard, 35, and seeking $50 million in damages, saying her claims of domestic abuse in a 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post have harmed his career and reputation.

As well as discussing how he got into acting, Depp opened up on a number of topics in court today, including his turbulent upbringing that involved abuse from his mother Betty Sue Palmer.

The actor, who is nearly blind in one eye, told of how his mother would make fun of his sight issues.

"The verbal abuse, the psychological abuse was almost worse than the beatings,” he said. "The beatings were just physical pain and physical pain you learn to deal with, you learn to accept it, you learn to deal with it.

"But the psychological and emotional abuse, that's what kind of tore us up I think."

He also denied ever striking Heard, stating: "Through the relationship... There were arguments and things of that nature. But never did I myself reach the point of striking Miss Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life.

"It was a complete shock that it would, it just didn't need to go in that direction [the accusations]."

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