Early life

Amber Heard was born in Austin, Texas, the daughter of Patricia Paige (née Parsons), an internet researcher, and David Clinton Heard, a contractor. She has a sister, Whitney. She dropped out of high school, eventually earning a diploma through a home-study course. When Heard was 16, her best friend died in a car crash and Heard, who was raised Catholic, subsequently declared herself an atheist after being introduced to the works of Ayn Rand by her then-boyfriend. She has said of Rand, "I've read all of her books. Ever since then, I have been obsessed with her ideals. All I've ever needed is myself."

Career

While in Los Angeles, Heard made appearances in several TV shows and two music videos, Kenny Chesney's "There Goes My Life" and Eisley's "I Wasn't Prepared". She was cast as Liz in the pilot episode of The WB's Jack & Bobby (2004), as Riley in an episode of The Mountain (2004) and she had a guest starring role as a salesgirl in The O.C. (2005). Her first movie role was Maria in Friday Night Lights (2004), starring Billy Bob Thornton. Based on actual events, the movie was both a commercial and critical success. She next starred as Shay in Side FX (2005), an independent horror film, and had supporting roles in Drop Dead Sexy (2005), Price to Pay (2006) and You Are Here (2006). Heard had a more prominent role in Niki Caro's North Country (2005), in which she played the teenage version of Josey, Charlize Theron's character. She also appeared in a minor role in Nick Cassavetes' Alpha Dog (2006). In the same year, she starred in an episode of Criminal Minds as Lila Archer, a love interest of main character Spencer Reid.

Heard was next cast in the CW's Hidden Palms. On the show she portrayed Greta Matthews, who suffered the losses of both her mother and boyfriend, Eddie, and befriends Johnny, the antihero of the show. In order to get the part, Heard was asked to lose weight. It took her four months between the pilot and the second episode to lose 25 pounds, giving up alcohol, increasing her workouts and following a macrobiotic diet (no meat, dairy or processed sugar). Hidden Palms premiered in the United States on May 30, 2007. Ultimately, the CW wrapped the summer series early; instead of the initial 12-episode arc, only 8 were aired. The show ended on July 4, 2007 two weeks earlier than originally planned.

Heard was cast in the title role in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, a horror film that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2006. The film immediately garnered attention and a deal was secured with Harvey Weinstein. However, nearly a year after its Toronto début, the movie had not reached theaters. In July 2007, Mandy Lane found a new distribution home and the film finally was released in 2008 with a February UK release and June DVD release. The film's director Jonathan Levine said about Amber's casting in the title role that "there was a certain type of beauty and a certain type of innate intelligence that Amber brought to it that is not something you find every day. Certainly, not something you would find in somebody her age. The wisdom she projects, I thought was pretty remarkable." The Los Angeles Times praised's Heard's acting, saying it's her most "definitive to date." and The Washington Post stated that Heard gave a "psychologically interesting performance."

In 2007, Heard also appeared in the 16-minute-long short movie Day 73 with Sarah and Jess Manafort's indie drama Remember the Daze (aka The Beautiful Ordinary), which premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. She then appeared in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Pineapple Express and the martial arts drama Never Back Down, both of which were released in 2008. Both films were box office successes and brought Heard into mainstream attention, including a win for Breakthrough Award in Hollywood Film Festival. Richard Roeper praised Heard's performance in Pineapple Express. She also made a brief appearance in Showtime's Californication and joined the ensemble cast of 2009's The Informers, based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same title. She filmed the horror film The Stepfather and the comedy film Ex-Terminators back-to-back in 2008 while promoting Never Back Down, Mandy Lane and Remember the Daze.

In late 2008, Heard filmed The River Why and The Joneses; two independent features. Variety highly praised Heard's acting performance, saying "she steals the show" and that she actually delivered better work than film's leading star Demi Moore in The Joneses. James Berardinelli, despite giving a negative review, also praised Heard's performance.

At the beginning of 2009, The Informers made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Despite an all-star cast, the movie received generally negative reviews. Heard next appeared in Zombieland, playing a small role as the object of Jesse Eisenberg’s affection who turns into a zombie. She subsequently appeared in John Carpenter's The Ward. Carpenter described Heard as "very smart, very driven and very talented." In March, Heard began filming The Rum Diary, opposite Johnny Depp, in Puerto Rico. Heard was reported to have won the role out over Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley. In 2010, she starred in and produced And Soon the Darkness, co-starring Odette Yustman and Karl Urban.

In February 2010, Heard was cast in Drive Angry, a 3-D action thriller directed by Patrick Lussier and released in February 2011. Prominent film critic Roger Ebert stated in his review for Drive Angry that Amber "does everything that can possibly be done" with her character. In February 2011, she appeared on Top Gear in the UK. She talked about her love of guns and muscle cars, and revealed that she used to line-dance in Texas bars. She later appeared in Paranoia, Machete Kills, and 3 Days to Kill, the latter of which was a box office success. Amber also starred in Syrup, a film based on the novel by Max Barry who called Heard "amazing" and that she "annihilated that character. In a good way." Isaac Feldberg of We Got This Covered was not impressed by the film but stated that "only Heard makes a real impression" yet her "great performance can't save Syrup from its half-baked, sluggish script and obnoxious complacency."

In 2015, she starred in The Adderall Diaries alongside James Franco, Christian Slater and Ed Harris. Indiewire gave film a mixed review and stated that Heard was "miscast" but yet "she displays much potential and has succeeded in a bid to be taken more seriously." Nick Leyland of The Movie Network enjoyed the film and praised Heard's performance as well. She also starred in a musical drama When I Live My Life Over Again (retitled One More Time), co-starring Christopher Walken. Heard took singing lessons and learned how to play the piano and guitar for her role. International Business Times described Heard as "talented enough to share a few heartfelt moments in a character that mostly operates on the defensive." Los Angeles Times praised her "superb" performance and The Film Stage stated that Heard does an "admirable job".

In September 2014, Heard joined the cast of Magic Mike XXL, sequel to the 2012 film Magic Mike. The film was released in July 2015. She portrayed Zoe, a photographer who flirts with the main character Mike, portrayed by Channing Tatum in the film. Digital Spy described the character as "a convincing girl-next-door type" and Screen International stated that "Amber Heard doesn’t get enough screen time as a potential love interest for Mike, but her tomboyish flirtation delights." Heard was starred in London Fields— co-starring Billy Bob Thornton (her third collaboration with him), Jim Sturgess, Cara Delevingne, and Theo James— a film directed by newcomer Matthew Cullen. London Fields, in which Johnny Depp appears in a cameo role, was supposed to premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, but it was later pulled from the festival roster after director Mathew Cullen sued the film's producers, accusing them of fraud and using his name to promote a cut of the film he does not support. During its short run, the film received highly negative reviews. Heard's performance was criticized among other members of the cast. However The Hollywood Reporter defended her performance, reminding her "perfectly fine" performances in her early works as in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and The Rum Diary, they've felt "it may not be fair to entirely blame her for not being able to carry the film as the role requires; she probably didn’t have much help." It was reported that the film's stars, including Heard, all had written to the producers, objecting to the cut that was seen at press and industry screenings at Toronto. Heard also had a supporting role in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl (2015). The film premiered at the 72nd Venice Film Festival to positive reviews and was released on November 27, 2015. Her performance was described as "minxy" and "staggeringly good." Her co-star Alicia Vikander stated in an interview that Heard was in two "extraordinary" dance scenes which were cut from the final release due to length but both Alicia and Eddie Redmayne insisted on putting them on DVD extra materials.

On January 13, 2016, it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Heard is in talks to play Mera, Aquaman's Atlantean Queen, in the upcoming 2018 film, Aquaman. This film will be part of the DC Extended Universe film series; the report indicated that Mera will first appear in Justice League Part One, which premieres in 2017.

On March 17, 2016, Amber Heard confirmed on ET her 'Aquaman' role in Justice League Part One. She has been cast as Mera, the undersea queen and wife of Aquaman in the DC Comics canon. Heard will make her first appearance as Mera in 2017's The Justice League Part One before appearing in the 2018 standalone Aquaman film opposite Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa. The actress exclusively dished to ET's Katie Krause about her sea queen costume. "It's interesting. It's like, half suit of armor, half scales," Heard revealed. "It's strange... We're in the process of building it now, so it's coming along."

Personal life

Heard came out in 2010, at GLAAD's 25th anniversary event, and 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." At the aforementioned GLAAD event, she stated of her decision to come out: "I think when I became aware of my role in the media, I had to ask myself an important question 'Am I part of the problem?' And I think that when millions and millions of hard-working, taxpaying Americans are denied their rights and denied their equality you have to ask yourself what are the factors that are an epidemic problem and that's what this is." Heard has also spoken out for secular causes and is scheduled to speak at Reason Rally 2016.

Heard dated photographer Tasya van Ree. She met actor Johnny Depp while filming The Rum Diary, and they began dating in 2012. On February 3, 2015, Heard married Depp in a private civil ceremony at their home in Los Angeles. Heard filed for divorce on May 23, 2016. On May 27, 2016 Heard filed for and obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Depp alleging that he had abused her on May 22, 2016 with pictures of her battered face used as evidence.

In an incident the Australian press dubbed 'Terriergate', or 'The War on Terriers', Heard and Depp failed to declare "Pistol" and "Boo", their two Yorkshire Terrier dogs, to the Australian Customs Service when they flew into Queensland by private jet, for which Heard was charged with two counts of illegally importing the dogs into the country and one count of producing a false document. In April 2016, Heard appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to falsifying quarantine documents. The two biosecurity charges were dropped. A minute-long video of Heard and Depp was played to the packed courtroom in which Heard apologized for not declaring Pistol and Boo. Her lawyer told the court the actress was sleep deprived and had made a mistake when she filled out the quarantine documents incorrectly. She escaped conviction for failing to declare her dogs and was put on a one-month good behaviour bond and fined $1,000 for producing a false document.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	Friday Night Lights	Maria
2005	Side FX	Shay
2005	Drop Dead Sexy	Candy
2005	North Country	Young Josey Aimes
2006	Price to Pay	Trish
2006	Prince, TheThe Prince	Serena
2006	Alpha Dog	Alma
2006	All the Boys Love Mandy Lane	Mandy Lane
2007	Spin	Amber
2007	Day 73 with Sarah	Mary	Short film
2007	Remember the Daze	Julia
2008	Never Back Down	Baja Miller
2008	Pineapple Express	Angie Anderson
2008	Informers, TheThe Informers	Christie
2009	ExTerminators	Nikki
2009	Joneses, TheThe Joneses	Jenn Jones
2009	Zombieland	406
2009	Stepfather, TheThe Stepfather	Kelly Porter
2010	And Soon the Darkness	Stephanie	Also co-producer
2010	River Why, TheThe River Why	Eddy
2010	Ward, TheThe Ward	Kristen
2011	Drive Angry	Piper
2011	Rum Diary, TheThe Rum Diary	Chenault
2013	Syrup	Six
2013	Paranoia	Emma Jennings
2013	Machete Kills	Miss San Antonio
2014	3 Days to Kill	Agent Vivi
2015	The Adderall Diaries	Lana Edmond
2015	One More Time	Jude
2015	Magic Mike XXL	Zoe
2015	The Danish Girl	Ulla
2016	London Fields	Nicola Six	Post-production
2017	What's The Point	Fanny	Post-production
2017	Justice League Part One	Mera	Filming
2018	Aquaman	Mera / Hila	Pre-production
2019	Justice League Part Two	Mera	Pre-production

Television

Year	Show	Role	Episode(s)
2004	Jack & Bobby	Liz	1×01 - "Pilot"
2004	Mountain, TheThe Mountain	Riley	1×08 - "A Piece of the Rock"
2005	O.C., TheThe O.C.	Salesgirl	2×15 - "Mallpisode"
2006	Criminal Minds	Lila Archer	1×18 - "Somebody's Watching"
2007	Californication	Amber	1×08 - "California Son"
2007	Hidden Palms	Greta Matthews	8 episodes
2011	Top Gear	Herself	16×05
2011	Playboy Club, TheThe Playboy Club	Bunny Maureen	7 episodes (4 unaired) Source confirmed to be Laura Benanti by her official website
2015	Overhaulin'	Herself	9×01 - "In Too Depp"

Accolades

Year	Nominated work	Event	Award	Result
2008	Herself	Young Hollywood Awards	Breakthrough of the Year	Won
2009	Zombieland	Detroit Film Critics Society Awards	Best Ensemble	Nominated
2010	Zombieland	Scream Awards	Best Ensemble	Won
2010	Herself	Dallas International Film Festival	Dallas Star Award	Won
2011	The Rum Diary	Hollywood Film Festival	Spotlight Award	Won
2014	Herself	Texas Film Hall of Fame	Inductee	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]