Johnny Depp, currently starring in sci-fi thriller Transcendence, has been making films for three decades now; his first big screen appearance was opposite Freddy Kreuger in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, released in 1984.

Here are a few of our favourite performances from throughout his career. Disagree with our choices? Any major omissions? Let us know in the thread below.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean

We probably could have done without some of the sequels, but Depp was tremendous fun as the louch Captain Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Depp moved in with Hunter S Thompson to prepare for his role in this 1998 adaptation of Thompson’s book.

The pair remained good friends, and Depp funded Thompson’s (rather unconventional) funeral after the author’s death in 2005.

3. Ed Wood

One of Depp’s many pairings with director Tim Burton, this biopic of the “worst director of all time” is an affectionate celebration of one of cinema’s true originals.

4. Cry Baby

John Waters’ camp 50s-set musical is a hoot. Depp overacts to brilliant effect as the motorcycle-riding bad boy who falls for the girl from the right side of the tracks.

5. Dead Man

Jim Jarmusch’s idiosyncratic western stars Depp as William Blake (not that one), a diffident accountant who finds himself alone and destitute after travelling to a frontier town on the promise of a job that no longer exists.