Amber Heard

Amber Heard
Heard at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Amber Laura Heard (1986-04-22) April 22, 1986 Austin, Texas, U.S.
Other names	Amber Laura Depp Amber van Ree
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2003–present
Spouse	Johnny Depp ​ ​ (m. 2015; div. 2017)​
Partner(s)	Tasya van Ree (2008–2012)
Children	1

Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress known for her roles in the films Never Back Down (2008), Drive Angry (2011), The Rum Diary (2011) and in playing Mera in Aquaman (2018) and its upcoming 2023 sequel in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). She is a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris and a human rights activist.

Heard was married to actor Johnny Depp from 2015 to 2017. Their divorce drew media attention when Heard alleged that Depp had been abusive throughout their relationship. In 2018, Depp sued the publishers of British tabloid The Sun for libel, accusing Heard of abuse. In 2020, the presiding judge found that the printed article, which alleged that Depp had abused Heard, was "substantially true". In early 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over an op-ed she had written on sexual and domestic abuse in The Washington Post. In 2020, Heard filed a countersuit against Depp. The trial Depp v. Heard began in Virginia in April 2022.

Early life

Heard was born in Austin, Texas, to Patricia Paige (née Parsons), an internet researcher (1956–2020), and David Clinton Heard (born 1950), who owned a small construction company. She has a younger sister, Whitney. The family lived outside Austin. Heard's father trained horses in his free time, and she grew up riding horses, hunting, and fishing with him. She also participated in beauty pageants, although as an adult she has said that she could no longer "support the objectification". Heard was raised as Catholic but began identifying as an atheist at sixteen after her best friend died in a car crash. The following year, Heard said she no longer felt comfortable in "conservative, God-fearin' Texas" and dropped out of her Catholic high school to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles. She eventually earned a diploma through a home-study course.

Career

2003–2007: Early roles

Heard's earliest acting work included appearances in two music videos, Kenny Chesney's "There Goes My Life" and Eisley's "I Wasn't Prepared", and small supporting roles in the television series Jack & Bobby (2004), The Mountain (2004), and The O.C. (2005). She made her film debut in a minor role in the sports drama Friday Night Lights (2004), followed by brief supporting roles in films Drop Dead Sexy (2005), North Country (2005), Side FX (2005), Price to Pay (2006), Alpha Dog (2006), and Spin (2007), and a guest-starring spot in an episode of the police procedural crime drama television series Criminal Minds. Heard received her first leading role in the unconventional slasher film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, but was not released in Europe until 2008 and in the US until 2013 due to distribution problems.

In 2007, Heard played the love interest of the main character in The CW's teen drama Hidden Palms, which the network aired to replace summer reruns of other series aimed at teenage audiences. The series premiered in the US in May 2007 to mixed reviews and poor ratings, leading the CW to air only eight of the planned 12 episodes before canceling it. The same year, Heard also appeared in the short movie Day 73 with Sarah, in the teen drama Remember the Daze, and in an episode of the Showtime series Californication.

2008–2016: Mainstream recognition

Heard at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Heard gained mainstream recognition in 2008 with supporting roles in the Judd Apatow-produced stoner comedy Pineapple Express and the martial arts drama Never Back Down, both of which were box office successes. She also appeared as part of an ensemble cast in an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel The Informers (2008), but the film was a critical failure. The following year, Heard starred in The Joneses (2009) opposite David Duchovny and Demi Moore; Variety wrote that Heard "more or less steals the show" from Moore. Outside a brief appearance in the box office hit Zombieland (2009), Heard's other films during this time were either independent films that received only limited theatrical release – ExTerminators (2009), The River Why (2010), And Soon the Darkness (2010) – or critically panned horror films – The Stepfather (2009), The Ward.

Heard's first film release in 2011 was Drive Angry, a supernatural action thriller in which she was paired with Nicolas Cage. The film received mainly bad reviews and underperformed commercially, but film critic Roger Ebert wrote that she "does everything that can possibly be done" with her character, a waitress who becomes entangled in an undead man's mission to save his daughter from a cult. In early 2011, Heard also appeared on the British television program Top Gear. Heard next starred in NBC's The Playboy Club, a crime drama series about the original Playboy Club in 1960s Chicago. After poor reviews and ratings as well as protests from both feminists and conservative groups, the series was canceled after only three episodes had aired. Heard's third role of 2011 was as the love interest of the main character, played by Johnny Depp, in the Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary (2011). The film was not a commercial success and received mixed reviews. Heard's part was said to be underdeveloped. In 2011, Heard appeared in an advertisement campaign for the fashion brand Guess.

Heard at the premiere of The Rum Diary (2011)

Heard next starred in the thriller Paranoia (2013), the exploitation film Machete Kills (2013) and the satire Syrup (2013), none of which were critical or commercial successes. The year also saw the US limited release of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Although the film's reviews were overall mixed to negative, Heard's performance was called her "most definitive to date" by the Los Angeles Times and "psychologically interesting" by The Washington Post. In 2014, Heard appeared in a supporting role in the commercially successful action-thriller 3 Days to Kill.

In 2015, Heard had a prominent supporting role in the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL, playing the love interest of the film's protagonist, Channing Tatum. Like its predecessor, the film was a large box office success. Heard also had a small supporting role in Tom Hooper's period drama The Danish Girl (2015), and a starring role opposite James Franco and Ed Harris in the independent crime thriller The Adderall Diaries (2015). Although reviews for the latter were generally negative, Indiewire stated that although Heard was "miscast", she "displays much potential and has succeeded in a bid to be taken more seriously". Her fourth role in 2015 was opposite Christopher Walken in the television film One More Time, which aired on Starz. For her role as a struggling singer-songwriter, she took singing lessons and learned to play piano and guitar. The Los Angeles Times called her performance "superb" and The Film Stage stated that Heard did an "admirable job".

In addition to her other roles in 2015, Heard played the female lead in London Fields, an adaptation of Martin Amis's novel about a clairvoyant who knows she will be murdered. After its press premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Heard's performance received highly negative reviews, and she later stated that "it was one of the most difficult movies to film and it has proven to continue to be difficult ... I can't say I did her [the character] justice". Shortly after the initial screening, the film was pulled from release due to disagreements between its director and producers, and due to litigation was not released until 2018.

2017–present: DC Extended Universe and other projects

Heard discussing Aquaman at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con International

In 2017, Heard appeared as part of an ensemble cast in Lake Bell's indie comedy I Do... Until I Don't and joined the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) cast as Mera (a princess of an Atlantean kingdom) in the superhero film Justice League. She reprised the role the following year in Aquaman (2018), which co-starred Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe and marked Heard's first major role in a studio film. She has stated that one of the reasons attracting her to the part was Mera being "a strong, independent, self-possessed superhero in her own right", who rejects being called Aquawoman instead of by her own name. Aquaman became the fifth most profitable release of 2018, and the most profitable DCEU installment up to that point. The same year, Heard was appointed global ambassador for cosmetics giant L'Oréal Paris.

In 2019, Heard had supporting roles in the independent dramas Her Smell, opposite Elisabeth Moss, and Gully. Her only project released in 2020 was the post-apocalyptic miniseries The Stand, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. She starred as Nadine Cross, a school teacher who is among the few survivors of an apocalyptic plague. It co-starred James Marsden, Odessa Young, Alexander Skarsgård and Henry Zaga, and premiered on CBS All Access in December 2020, with the series finale airing in February 2021. In 2021, Heard reprised her role as Mera in the superhero film Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut of the 2017 film and shot new scenes written by Snyder for the epilogue of the film. She will next appear in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the sequel to Aquaman, which is set for release in 2023. In February 2022, it was announced that Heard has also been cast in Conor Allyn's forthcoming period drama, In the Fire.

A Change.org petition to "Remove Amber Heard From Aquaman 2" had reached 1.5 million signatures in November 2020 in the time following Johnny Depp's replacement in the Fantastic Beasts films, it had gained approaching 2 million signatures by April 26, 2022 and then reached over 3.5 million signatures at the time of the Depp v. Heard trial. Heard confirmed her involvement in the film and described efforts to remove her as "paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media". The film's co-producer, Peter Safran, had previously commented on the casting of the film to say, "We felt that if it's James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That's really what it was." However, by May 2022, Heard stated that she "fought really hard to stay in the movie" but that "they didn’t want to include [her] in the film" and only shot a "very pared down version" of her part as Mera within the final film of her contract.

Charity and activism

In August 2016, Heard pledged to donate her $7 million divorce settlement with Johnny Depp to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) saying, "As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves". Heard is an ACLU ambassador for women's rights.

According to the ACLU, the pledge was to be fulfilled within a ten-year period. By December 2021, the ACLU had received $1.3 million in four installments from 2016 to 2018, of which $350,000 was directly from Heard, another $350,000 from a fund controlled by her, $100,000 directly from Depp as part of the settlement, and $500,000 from a Vanguard account believed to be of Elon Musk, whom Heard was dating at the time. Since December 2018, the ACLU has not received further installments and in 2019 learned that Heard was "having financial problems and could not fulfill the remainder of the pledge"; according to Heard, the delay has been caused by Depp’s lawsuit against her.

Heard is a Human Rights Champion for the Stand Up for Human Rights campaign by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In May 2019, she gave a speech in support of the SHIELD Act on Capitol Hill, discussing her experience of having had her private nude photos hacked and distributed online without her consent during the 2014 celebrity nude photo leak. In November 2019, Heard wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on revenge porn.

Heard wrote about domestic violence in a letter published in the December 2016 issue of Porter magazine and in an op-ed for The Washington Post in December 2018. She also made a public service announcement on the subject for the #GirlGaze Project. Prior to the 2020 United States presidential election, Heard appeared in an election ad created by artist Marilyn Minter in support of Planned Parenthood. In September 2020, she used her social media presence to participate in the VoteRiders #IDCheck Challenge to help spread the word about voter ID requirements for the upcoming presidential election.

Personal life

Heard publicly came out in 2010, but has stated, "I don't label myself one way or another – I have had successful relationships with men and now a woman. I love who I love; it's the person that matters".

Heard was in a relationship with photographer Tasya van Ree from 2008 to 2012. Heard had her last name legally changed to van Ree during the relationship and reverted to her birth name in 2014. In 2009, Heard was arrested in Washington state for misdemeanor domestic violence, after allegedly grabbing van Ree and hitting her arm, but was never charged. The arrest was made public during Heard's divorce proceedings from actor Johnny Depp in 2016, after which a statement was issued by Heard's publicist in which van Ree said that Heard had been "wrongfully" accused, that the incident had been "misinterpreted and over-sensationalized" and that she recalled "hints of misogynistic attitudes toward us which later appeared to be homophobic when they found out we were domestic partners and not just 'friends'." The female officer that conducted the arrest is openly gay.

Heard was one of the victims of the 2014 celebrity nude photo leak, in which private nude pictures of her were hacked and distributed without her consent.

Following her divorce from Johnny Depp, Heard dated tech entrepreneur and Tesla CEO and shareholder Elon Musk for a year, until early 2018. She later had a relationship with actress and cinematographer Bianca Butti from January 2020 to December 2021.

In April 2021, Heard had her first child via a surrogate mother.

Relationship with Johnny Depp

See also: Johnny Depp § Amber Heard, Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd, and Depp v. Heard

Heard met actor Johnny Depp in 2009 in connection to the filming of The Rum Diary. They began dating in 2011 and were married in a civil ceremony in February 2015.

In April 2015, Heard breached Australia's biosecurity laws when she failed to declare in customs the two dogs accompanying the couple when they flew into Queensland, where Depp was working on a film. In the court case in April 2016, Heard pleaded guilty to falsifying quarantine documents, stating that she had made a mistake due to sleep deprivation. While criminal charges were dropped, Heard was placed on a A$1,000 (US$752) one-month good behavior bond for producing a false document; Heard and Depp released a video apologizing for their behavior and urging others to adhere to biosecurity laws. The Guardian called the case the "highest profile criminal quarantine case" in Australian history. In 2021, Australian officials said they were investigating, in co-operation with the FBI, allegations of perjury against Heard in relation to the incident.

Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order against him, alleging in her court declaration that he had been verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Depp claimed that Heard was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution". A ruling on the scale of the settlement was achieved in August 2016, and Heard pledged to donate the proceeds equally between the ACLU and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Heard dismissed the restraining order, and they issued a joint statement saying that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm". The final terms of the settlement were agreed in January 2017 with Depp being required to complete the payment of $7 million to Heard over the course of the year. In January 2021, Heard's legal team responded to claims that the full settlement had not yet been donated to say that she had been "delayed in that goal because Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against her".

In June 2018, Depp brought a libel lawsuit in the United Kingdom against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the company publishing The Sun, which had labeled him a "wife beater" in an April 2018 article. Heard was a key witness for NGN during the highly publicized trial in July 2020. In November 2020, the High Court of Justice ruled that Depp had lost his claim and that "the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr. Depp [12 out of the 14] have been proved to the civil standard", rejecting any notion of a hoax against him. The verdict also found that Heard's career and activism had been seriously damaged by going public about the abuse. Following the verdict in the Depp v NGN case, a Change.org petition asking for Heard to be fired from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reached over two million supporters. Depp's appeal to overturn the verdict was rejected in March 2021.

In early 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over a December dated op-ed on sexual violence for The Washington Post in which she stated, "Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out." Depp also alleged that Heard had been the abuser, and that her allegations constituted a hoax against him.

In August 2020, Heard counter-sued Depp, alleging that he had coordinated "a harassment campaign via Twitter and [by] orchestrating online petitions in an effort to get her fired from Aquaman and L'Oréal". The trial in Depp v. Heard started in Fairfax County, Virginia on April 11, 2022.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Friday Night Lights	Maria
2005	Side FX	Shay
	Drop Dead Sexy	Candy
	North Country	Young Josey Aimes
2006	Price to Pay	Trish
	Alpha Dog	Alma
	All the Boys Love Mandy Lane	Mandy Lane
2007	Spin	Amber
	Day 73 with Sarah	Mary	Short film
	Remember the Daze	Julia Ford
2008	Never Back Down	Baja Miller
	The Informers	Christie
	Pineapple Express	Angie Anderson
2009	ExTerminators	Nikki
	The Joneses	Jenn Jones
	Zombieland	406
	The Stepfather	Kelly Porter
2010	And Soon the Darkness	Stephanie	Also co-producer
	The River Why	Eddy
	The Ward	Kristen
2011	Drive Angry	Piper
	The Rum Diary	Chenault
2013	Syrup	Six	Also executive producer
	Paranoia	Emma Jennings
	Machete Kills	Miss San Antonio
2014	3 Days to Kill	Agent Vivi Delay
2015	The Adderall Diaries	Lana Edmond
	One More Time	Jude
	Magic Mike XXL	Zoe
	The Danish Girl	Ulla Paulson
2017	I Do... Until I Don't	Fanny
	Justice League	Mera
2018	Her Smell	Zelda E. Zekiel
	London Fields	Nicola Six	Filmed in 2013
	Aquaman	Mera
2019	Gully	Joyce
2021	Zack Snyder's Justice League	Mera
2023	Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom †		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Jack & Bobby	Liz	Episode: "Pilot"
	The Mountain	Riley	Episode: "A Piece of the Rock"
2005	The O.C.	Salesgirl	Episode: "Mallpisode"
2006	Criminal Minds	Lila Archer	Episode: "Somebody's Watching"
2007	Californication	Amber	Episode: "California Son"
	Hidden Palms	Greta Matthews	8 episodes
2010	The Cleveland Show	Herself (voice)	Episode: "Beer Walk!"
2011	Top Gear	Herself	Episode: "Episode #16.5"
	The Playboy Club	Bunny Maureen	7 episodes
2015	Overhaulin'	Herself	Episode: "In Too Depp"
	The Prince	Serena	Television film
2020–2021	The Stand	Nadine Cross	7 episodes

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
2003	"There Goes My Life"	Kenny Chesney
2005	"I Wasn't Prepared" (Version 1)	Eisley

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2008	Young Hollywood Awards	Breakthrough of the Year	Herself	Won
2009	Detroit Film Critics Society Awards	Best Ensemble	Zombieland	Nominated
2010	Scream Awards			Won
	Dallas International Film Festival	Dallas Star Award	Herself	Won
2011	Hollywood Film Festival	Spotlight Award	The Rum Diary	Won
2014	Texas Film Hall of Fame	Inductee	Herself	Won
2019	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	London Fields	Nominated
	MTV Movie & TV Awards	Best Kiss	Aquaman	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actress		Nominated

External links

• Amber Heard at IMDb 
• Amber Heard at AllMovie
• Amber Heard at the TCM Movie Database
• Amber Heard on Instagram