Thursday 16 June 2016

Amber Heard

Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She made
her film debut in 2004 in the sports drama Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton. After small roles in North Country and Alpha Dog, Heard played her first leading role in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) and appeared in The CW television show Hidden Palms (2007).

Her breakthrough came in 2008 with roles in Never Back Down and Pineapple Express. She received the Breakthrough Award at Young Hollywood Awards. Her appearance in films such as The Informers, The Stepfather, Zombieland and The Joneses brought her further attention. She next starred in John Carpenter's The Ward, alongside Nicolas Cage in Drive Angry, and alongside Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, for which she won a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival. In 2014 she appeared in 3 Days to Kill (2014), and in 2015 in Magic Mike XXL and The Danish Girl.

Heard is involved in social activism for causes such as LGBT rights and is a supporter of Habitat for Humanity; Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation campaign; The Art of Elysium; and Amnesty International.

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; 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."

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." Of her decision to come out, she said: "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 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; she provided pictures of her battered face as evidence. In turn, Depp's attorney declared that "Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse".

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. (Because a number of serious parasites and diseases transmitted by animals and common elsewhere in the world do not exist in Australia, the country has adopted strict biosecurity regulations.) 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, paying a $1,000 fine for producing a false document.

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