Is there an actor who has had a stranger career than Johnny Depp? As a teen heartthrob he starred in the hit TV show 21 Jump Street, about a group of young cops that goes undercover to investigate teenage crimes.
He then went on to appear in a string of offbeat movies that could have sunk anyone's career. Edward Scissorhands was about a sad young man with actual scissors for hands; in Ed Wood he played the famous transvestite schlock director.
Depp easily could have become a kind of cult favorite actor, but in 2003 he became a box office sensation with Pirates of the Caribbean. Depp's decision to play Captain Jack Sparrow as a filthy, drunken pirate with braids and plenty of eyeliner terrified the Disney ( DIS - news - people ) brass at the time. According to the book Disney War, then studio head Michael Eisner said, "We hired the sexiest actor in the world, and he looks like this?"
But Depp's unconventional choices paid off, and the Pirates
franchise has earned $2.7 billion at the global box office so far, with
a fourth film slated for next summer. Studio heads now love Depp to
bring his offbeat je ne sais quoi to roles. This year's Alice in Wonderland, in which Depp played the Mad Hatter, earned more than $1 billion at the global box office. Unlike some blockbuster actors, Depp's talent has been repeatedly
recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Depp has
been nominated three times, though he has yet to win.
He's one of a select few actors who can open blockbusters around the world and still win Oscar nominations. With awards season just around the corner, we take a look at those who can do both. They're Hollywood's Real A-List.
To compile our rankings we looked at everyone who has been nominated for best actor or actress (including supporting nominations) over the last five years. We ranked them by total Oscar nominations. No surprise, Meryl Streep topped that part of the list with 16 nods.
We then looked at each actor's box office record over the past five years for films the actor starred in. (So, for example, Judi Dench did not get credit for the James Bond movies in which she appears as "M.") Johnny Depp topped the box office list with $4 billion. We added up Oscar rankings and box office ranking to create our final list.
Ranking second, behind Depp, is Streep. Over the past five
years her films have brought in an impressive $1.5 billion. That coupled
with her numerous Oscar nods makes her a powerful force in Hollywood,
despite traditional biases against older women. For her next role Streep
will reportedly step away from the comedies to play Margaret Thatcher
in the film Iron Lady.
Robert Downey Jr. ranks third with $2.5 billion in box office earnings and two Oscar nods. Downey was first nominated in 1992 for his work in the movie Chaplin. After that he mostly faded from the spotlight until 2008, when he starred in the first Iron Man movie. Downey is now one of the biggest stars in the world. He ranked 73rd on our most recent Celebrity 100 list.
In fourth place: Will Smith. The actor has been absent from the screen for the last year while he produced The Karate Kid, which starred his son Jaden. Now he's back with Men in Black 3. That film isn't likely to add to his Oscar count, but it will definitely pump up his box office earnings number. Leonardo DiCaprio ranks fifth with three Oscar nods and $1.8 billion at the global box office. His latest film, Inception, earned $824 million at the global box office, and could earn DiCaprio his fourth Oscar nomination.
