Many people remember a young Johnny Depp in his star-making turn on the '80s cops-as-kids drama "21 Jump Street," but fewer remember his first role, in the classic 1984 horror film "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

He broke ground by playing one of the first teenagers hunted in their sleep by Freddy Krueger, who has made a business out of hunting teenagers in their sleep across numerous sequels.

Depp is not surprised that this was not the role that made him a star.

"What kind of reviews can you get opposite Freddy Krueger? 'Johnny Depp was good as the boy who died.' I just kept working, and I did a few things here and there, and I studied."

That work led eventually to the lead role in "21 Jump Street," which made him into a teen heartthrob.

Amazingly, "Nightmare" director Wes Craven didn't even think Depp was right for the part. He said in an interview for the TV special "Inside Haunted Hollywood" that he wanted a clean-cut, boy-next-door type, and Deep has never been that.

Craven said his daughter convinced him to choose Depp after she saw the young star's photos and declared him to be so "beautiful" that he had to cast him.

"I could make up all kinds of stories about why I had the perception and presence to cast Johnny Depp, but I would be a liar."

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