He's dated some of the world's coolest and most beautiful women but with the sad news of Johnny Depp's split from Vanessa Paradis this week, we ask what's next for the reluctant Pirates pin-up?

Ever since he first popped onto our screens in the 1980s (in Fox television series 21 Jump Street for those of you with long memories), Johnny has been hot business in Hollywood - coveted as much for his acting abilities as his enduring good looks.

His ability to send pulses racing is apparently boundless and even Paradis once admitted she understood why female fans "mob him all the time." But despite gracing millions of locker doors over the years, the actor has never courted either fame or his reputation as a sex symbol.

The 49-year-old maintains an intensely private personal life and has carved out a niche for offbeat movie characters; think Edward Scissorhands, the Mad Hatter and Sweeney Todd.

Off-screen, he has cultivated a taste for independent, stylish and beautiful women and has a habit of falling in love quickly. He met 26-year-old actress Paradis in Paris in 1998. "[She] walked towards me, directly at me, and just said 'Hi.' And then I just knew, you know, it's over with," he later told Oprah.

The Johnny Depp effect