American actor and film producer Johnny Depp turns 50 today.

The Kentucky-born star rose to fame as undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the popular television series 21 Jump Street in the 1980s. He soon became a teen idol and later turned to films for more challenging roles.

Depp has been nominated for three Academy Awards but has yet to take home the coveted trophy. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Finding Neverland (2004) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).

Depp, who plays Pirates of the Caribbean's iconic character Captain Jack Sparrow, confirmed that he has signed on for Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which is due for release on 10 July, 2015, according to E! News.

Prehistoric Creature Named after Depp Due to Similarity with Edward Scissorhands

An ancient extinct species has been named after Depp because its fossil looks like his character Edward Scissorhands from the 1990 Tim Burton film. Kooteninchela deppi, the 505 million-year-old creature, was originally discovered at Stanley Glacier in Canada's Kootenay National Park.

"When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands," David Legg of Imperial College London said, "Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as 'chela' is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan."