Johnny Depp
Depp in 2008
Birth Name: John Christopher Depp II
Place of Birth: Owensboro, Daviess, Kentucky, United States
Date of Birth: June 9, 1963
Ethnicity: English, along with small/distant amounts of Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French/French-Canadian, Dutch, Flemish Belgian, and German, as well as 3/2048 African
Johnny Depp is an American actor, producer, and musician. He is the star of the films A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Platoon, Cry-Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Benny and Joon, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, Dead Man, Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, Chocolat, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, The Libertine, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Public Enemies, Alice in Wonderland (2010), and its sequel; Dark Shadows (2012), The Lone Ranger (2013), Black Mass, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and the series 21 Jump Street. Johnny was selected People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” in 2003, and again in 2009. He has often worked with director Tim Burton. He is a member of rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires, with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. He also founded film production company Infinitum Nihil.
Johnny is the son of Betty Sue (Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. He was raised partly in Miramar, Florida. He has two children, including actress and model Lily-Rose Depp, with his former partner, French singer, model, and actress Vanessa Paradis.
Much or most of Johnny’s ancestry traces back to England. He also has small amounts (to varying degrees) of Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, French-Canadian, Dutch, Flemish Belgian, and German, ancestry, as well as 3/2048 African ancestry (through Elizabeth Key Grinstead, who is his ancestor twice over). Johnny’s patrilineal line is generally traced to Pierre Deppe, a Huguenot, who was born, c. 1706, in France, and to Pierre’s wife, Angelica/Angeline LeVillian/le Villian.
Both of Johnny’s parents, as well as all of Johnny’s grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents, were born in Kentucky. Johnny has stated, on several occasions, that he has or likely has Native American ancestry (of varying tribes, most often Cherokee). For example:
I guess I have some Native American somewhere down the line… My great grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian. Makes sense in terms of coming from Kentucky, which is rife with Cherokee and Creek.
It does not appear that this Native American ancestry has been documented. All of Johnny’s grandparents and great-grandparents are listed as “White” on United States Censuses. No verified Native American ancestry has been produced for Johnny Depp.
LOS ANGELES – MAY 18: Depp arrives for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” US Premiere in Hollywood, CA, 2017, photo by DFree
Johnny’s paternal grandfather was Oren Larry Depp (the son of Oren Richard Depp and Effie A. Palmore). Johnny’s grandfather Oren was born in Barren County, Kentucky. Johnny’s great-grandfather Oren was the son of John Burkes/Burks Depp and Mariba Elizabeth Reneau. Effie was the daughter of Andrew H. Palmore and Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” McCreary.
Johnny’s paternal grandmother was Violet Mattie Grinstead (the daughter of Robert Fauntleroy “Roy” Grinstead and Mary E. Bailey). Roy was the son of Christopher Tompkins Grinstead and Martha S. “Mattie” Sanders. Mary was the daughter of Joseph Taylor Bailey and Martha Ann Mansfield.
Johnny’s maternal grandfather was Walter Everett/Everette Wells (the son of Richard Mack/Mac Wells and Annie/Anna Cooper). Richard was the son of Commodore Perry Wells and Rebecca Ann “Beckie” Litteral/Little. Johnny’s great-grandmother Anna was the daughter of William M. “Bill” Cooper and Sallie/Sarah Kelly/Craft.
Johnny’s maternal grandmother was Bessie Whitaker (the daughter of Branch Whitaker and May/Mae Slone). Branch was the son of William C. Whitaker and Sirilda/Sarilda/Serilda Fletcher/Fletchet. May was the daughter of Wiley Slone and Amanda Bradley.
Johnny is descended from a woman, Martha, who was born in 1612, and who was of African descent. Martha had a daughter, Elizabeth Key Grinstead, married to William Grinstead, who were Johnny’s ancestors. Elizabeth’s father, Thomas Key, was caucasian, of English descent. Elizabeth was the first woman of African ancestry to successfully take legal action to free herself from slavery. This happened in 1656. Johnny is descended from Martha twice (on one family tree, she is both one of his eight times great-grandmothers, and one of his nine times great-grandmothers). That would mean that Johnny is of 3/2048 African ancestry.
Some family trees state that Johnny’s nine times great-grandmother was a woman named Nicketti Opechancanough, who is said to have been of Powhatan Native American ancestry. If true, that would make Johnny of 1/2048 Powhatan Native American descent. However, stories about her are believed to be a myth. Scholarly research and records dispute the existence of Nicketti Opechancanough.
Sources: Genealogies of Johnny Depp – https://famouskin.com
http://www.geni.com
http://www.genealogy.com
https://www.wikitree.com
Genealogy of Johnny’s paternal grandparents, Oren Larry Depp and Violet Mattie Grinstead – http://www.findagrave.com
Johnny’s paternal grandfather, Oren Larry Depp (“Laramore Depp”), on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Johnny’s paternal grandmother, Violet Mattie Grinstead (“Violet M. Grinstead”), on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Johnny’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Christopher Tompkins Grinstead and Martha S. “Mattie” Sanders, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy and obituary of Johnny’s mother – https://www.findagrave.com
Johnny’s maternal grandfather, Walter Everett/Everette Wells (“Everette Wells”), on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Johnny’s maternal great-grandmother, Annie/Anna (Cooper) Wells, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Johnny’s maternal great-great-grandparents, William M. “Bill” Cooper and Sallie/Sarah Kelly/Craft, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Johnny’s maternal grandmother, Bessie Whitaker, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Article about Johnny’s ancestor, Elizabeth (Key) Grinstead – http://www.womenhistoryblog.com
he seems 50% Cherokee, 45% European and 5% African
http://www.cityoffilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/depp.jpg
How can that be when he is an 1/8th Cherokee and has a black ancestor from nine generations ago? O_o
he’s 1/4 Cherokee
No. He is an 1/8th. He said so himself.
I am just interested how on Earth can people go 9 generations back?? In 1600’s .. seriously? That’s quite cool! But all I can do is go back 3, max 4 generations!
Is it these DNA tests you could have? But thing is how do they know the names of these people centuries ago… do they have a special family book and write down stuff for hundreds of years…? lol !!
All these things are documented. All births, all marriages, all slaves, etc. If you know who your great grandparents were, just look for birth records and you will find the parents of your great grandparents and so on. That’s how Mr. Depp’s family tree was done. Not by word of mouth.
It’s ten generations back, not nine. The last person on the RootsWeb page is Depp’s parents not Depp himself. Heck, the generations are even numbered, so there should be no real confusion about it.
Here are all the generations, which I’ve numbered in the reverse order, and I’ve included the number of ancestors for each generation. n= number of ancestors, g=number of generations.
Person————-n—-g
Johnny depp—-1—-0
Parents ———–2—-1
Oren Depp——–4—-2
Roy Grindstead-8—-3
Christopher G.–16—4
Phillipe G.——–32—5
Philip G.——–64—6
Elisabeth G. —–128–7
John G.———— 256–8
Elisabeth Key—–512–9
Martha————-1024-10
This lineage has a very long average generation time, nearly 40 years! It can be seen in the tree that there were some old men+very young women couplings at times!!!
In any case, that Black woman is one out of 1024 ancestors at that level. Of course, some ancestors are probably repeated, due to slight inbreeding, but it’s still a very, very small part of his ancestry.
Depp could have many other African American ancestors on other branches of his ancestry tree, who knows? It’s impossible to know.
Adding to my last post, I myself tried genetic testing in order to get some benefits from being a minority. My family sure suffered enough because of the minority status of my dad. WIth extensive and expensive testing , I learned that I do not have any DNA proving that minority blood–however, my biological father’s DNA test DID prove that minority blood in him. Unfortunately, that DNA just didn’t make it to me—and since I don’t have any of it–not so much as a single mitochondrial or paternal allelle or gene, I cannot pass it on. My sister, she could be another matter. We’ll see.
DNA test are not always accurate. Being a female you would take a MTDNA test (mother to daughter) and let’s say if your Mom has Native Ancestry and African, it would only show what your Mom’s Mom genes are and so on and so forth. That in itself is only a small part of your total genome. An Autosomal test both sides which gives you a total layout but again not always accurate.
Dear Menphis, Thanks for your suggestions. Yeah, you’re right tests may not always be accurate. I just did the mitochondrial DNA to be thorough–I know that only follows your matrilineal or female heritage, but I did do the paternal side too. I may pony up for another test. Hope you’re right!
Here’s something famed Harvard Professor,Dr. Henry Louis Gates, found out that he is genetically half Irish and Half African. The problem is he couldn’t trace his African Y DNA or Mtdna because both of his parents had so much mixed ancestry. It takes a lot of genealogy tracking to find out ancestry, as well as, DNA. It is worthwhile though if you can do it.
WEll well well. All these comments about genetics from people who clearly know very little about science. Take a class, guys. You’ all been watching way too much junk science TV. DNA tests don’t work the way many here think. Tests don’t pick up traces of every last ancestor you ever had! IN fact, it is possible to have a white, asian or black (or Martian) ancestor, and have NO EVIDENCE of that gene–in fact, it’s possible you didn’t even get a gene from that distant ancestor, and therefore it cannot “crop up” again!! We do not have every ancestor’s genes——genetics is a very complicated field. I don’t have time or space to explain all the science of it here, but since you all are so interested maybe some university genetics courses would enlighten.
It would only take the proof of DNA to explain a fact about Michael J. Never mind.
i dont care what he is. He is extremely hot. black or not, he is an exotic man.