This week on analysing celebrity faces, we
take a closer look at Johnny depp. The talented actor rose to films in his early roles in
21 Jump street, the 1987 version, and more notably in Pirates of The Carribean which
earned him the status of Hollywood's latest heartthrob who has still managed to remain
a beauty icon into his late 50s. What's interesting about Johnny depp, and
what gives him a worldwide appeal are his average proportions. While Johnny depp doesn't
look average, his proportions and ratios are almost identical to the mean proportions when
averaging measurements in a group of individuals. This importance of “averageness” of a
face was found accidentally in the 1800s by Sir Francis Galton. The English anthropologist
tried to visualize a “typical criminal face” by creating a composite photo by overlaying
multiple images of prisoners. Surprisingly when showing this composite to his colleagues
they unanimously agreed that the composite photo was more attractive than any of the
constituent faces which it diverged from .This finding later developed into the “averageness
hypothesis”, a hypothesis that the composites faces of a population are more attractive
than any individual faces within the population itself. Another experiment tested this theory.
The experiment manipulated symmetry,averageness, and dimorphism of a face, and conducted a
two-alternative forced choice simulation where participants had to choose between the original
or edited picture. As predicted both the averaged and more symmetrical faces were preferred
over the original, however averaging the faces had the greatest effect on attractiveness.
It was discussed that this effect was due to the averaged faces resembling mental representations
of a typical face and could be easily processed by the visual system, and secondly the averaged
faces had total bilateral symmetry. Correlation between averageness and more diverse gene
heterozygosity, was also noted in another study, which suggested that average faces
had better immune function. While this may seem straight-forward now, it’s a crucial
part of the Depp appeal. Unsurprisingly, Johnny looked best in the
early 90’s when he was much younger. His facial proportions and masculine features
were best appreciated at a time when his face was much leaner. Splitting his face into thirds,
we see that the lengths are proportional. His ratios are ideal compared to modern anthropometric
measurements. His lower third is proportionally ideal, being slightly larger than the middle
and upper third. This means his middle and upper third are well balanced, with his lower
third being larger due to a taller chin. The mix of facial harmony with a masculine broad
chin does look aesthetic. His Lower third is also extremely proportionate.
His upper lip was ⅓ of his LAFH (lower anterior facial height), while his lower lip and chin
made up ⅔. This is equal to leonardo da Vinci's hypothesis of a proportional relationship
between the lower and upper half of the lower third. Even more interesting is if you divide
his lower third into thirds again, taking upper lip, lower lip, and chin his ratios
are 31%, 27%, and 41%. This is almost exactly the proposed ideal found by Farkas et al.
in later cephalometric studies. Looking at his face as a whole he has a very
aesthetic masculine tapered jaw. Again this is extremely common for the hollywood look,
and happens as a results of 1) a wide bizygomatic width (distance horizontally from cheekbone
to cheekbones) and 2) A wide bigonial width (distance horizontally from widest part of
mandible to mandible). This combination with low body fat which is essential for maximum
aesthetic appeal, creates the wide masculine jaw with a nice taper or more accurately an
inclined Ogee curve. Measuring Johnny depps face and comparing his bizygomatic:bigonial
width we see his ratio bizygomatic:bigonial ratio of 90%. Since the average male has a
bizygomatic width:bigonial width of 70%, we can see why his face looks masculine. His
ratio of 90% is again considered the ideal for aesthetics, which was discussed in detail
in our video about the ideal jaw using Mommaerts 2016 study on the ideal male jaw. Johnny's wide cheekbones also give him a very
wide FWHR of 1.96. As discussed in previous videos, FWHR is the ratio of face width, to
face height. FWHR is dimorphic, and studies have even shown that higher FWHR makes people
seem more dominant and aggressive (1). We also note that Johnny depp has a harmonious
face which is helped by his compact midface. Taking his midface ratio; the distance from
the midpoint of the pupils to the top of the lips we see that it is exactly one. That shows
that his midface is technically a square, and everything is placed evenly and harmoniously.
Vertically shorter faces, wider faces are almost always more attractive on men and his
mix of feminine softness in the eye region only adds extra balance. Despite this there is more to Johnny depp
than just a harmonious face with average proportions. In a classic study of facial attractiveness,
Perrett et al. aimed to investigate if averageness was really the crucial decider of facial aesthetics.
In this experiment Perrett photographed 60 women in equal light conditions. He then made
a composite image of the 60 women, and then a composite of the 15 most attractive woman
(as rated by one group of participants on a scale of 1-7), resulting in a hyper-attractive
composite. The hyper-attractive image was manufactured by exaggerating the attractive
qualities of the attractive composite. The findings were intriguing with the hyper attractive
composite being ranked as most attractive, despite mathematically being the least average
of composites. Specific deviations from the average configuration lead to increased perceptions
of facial attractiveness, and these morphological patterns were dimorphic. What this means,
averageness gives you the blank canvas to draw on, there are no unusual cosmetic defects
and dimorphically attractive features help paint the painting. Given the research it makes sense to predict
that Johnny depps universal appeal comes not only from his averageness, but also from his
prominent attractive features. One feature which Johnny Depp was known for were his hollow
cheeks. Hollow cheeks are a result of prominent high set zygomatic bones, and little buccal
fat in the area between the zygomatic bones and the mandible. We see from his ¾ profile
that Johnny depp has a prominent Ogee curve as a result of a large zygomatic projection.
An Ogee curve is an imaginary s shaped curve which happens to curve as a result of contrast
with high cheekbones tapering to the mandibles and is a reliable method of qualitatively
seeing the strength of the cheekbone prominence. A quantitative method to measure cheekbone
size is by Powel’s analysis which indicates where the most prominent part of Depp’s
face. The further laterally outwards the intersection of these lines as shown in orange the larger
and further outwards the cheeks are in relation to the midface. This is important because
big faces can have big cheekbones by numbers alone, but they're not always prominent because
the midface is not always the right size. Moving on, Johnny depp's eye area is also
masculine but nothing unusually over the top. His eyes match the average proportions and
the rule of fifths. If we cut them into 5ths, all 5ths are equal. This means his eyes have
equal length, and are spaced ideally. Johnny depp also has hooded eyes. Hooded eyes are
eyes where the upper eyelid is not visible, reducing upper eyelid exposure into the lower
end of ideal at 1-2mm (Neimkin et al). This is because the low and prominent positioning
of the supraorbital rims provides support to the upper eye region covering much of his
upper eye. These hooded eyes are masculine and argued to be an adaptation to combat and
hunting, protecting the eyeball from trauma. Hooded eyes are also less neotenous, as the
brow ridge grows during puberty due to testosterone. Our previous video’s analysis of Adam Driver’s
face revealed the same features but on an even more exaggerated scale with stronger
brow ridges and browbones strongly poking out of the skin. Check that out after this
and if you’re enjoying the content so far, support the channel by subscribing. However, the man isn’t perfect. When we
look at his undereye support we see his first flaw. Johnny Depp's infraorbital rims are
recessed. This type of contour depression can manifest itself in different ways for
most people, but commonly lead to dark circles and nasojugal fat pads due to fluid and soft
tissue buildup. You can even see it here where he has on a permanent squint to keep his lower
eyelid up due to the lack of support, the quote on quote smouldering, or blue steel
look. If you would like to learn more about these cosmetic flaws, we have full article
write ups from actual doctors over at the qoves website. One form of aging as defined by“Facial Aesthetics
Concepts and Clinical Diagnosis” is the loss of uniformly distributed fat. Looking
at the undereye area, If Johnny Depp had prominent infraorbital bone the atrophy of his fat wouldn't
be visible as there would be hard tissue under his eye. However, the absence of hard tissue
due to his recessed undereye region causes the pronounced aged look. The significance
of the inferior orbit, aka lower eye socket in ageing is often overlooked and not only
do prominent infraorbitals help hide aging, but recessed infraorbitals can be mistaken
for premature aging according to “Fabio Meneghini and Paolo Biondis’ book on Clinical
Facial Analysis” We touched on this in our analysis of Mad’s Mikkelelsen where his
masculine periocular region is part of why he has aged so gracefully. Looking for the flaws on Johnny depp's face
is much harder than pointing out his positive features. Researcher noted that the appeal
for averaged faces was the absence of large discrepancies and deviations, in other words
lack of flaws. This hypothesis is consistent with Johnny depp's seemingly absent flaws
because his positive features draw attention away. If we were to nitpick however, one could criticise
his mouth proportions. Firstly we see that the Oral commissures (corners) are also not
of equal lengths on both sides, and drawing a horizontal line along his lips we can see
they are not even. This is because on the right side of the high point of the vermillion
there is less vertical height compared to the left side. The commissures are also not
even, with right side commissure has a positive tilt while the left has a negative tilt. These
are small flaws, and his lips still are proportionate with his upper lip:lower lip ratio being the
ideal 1.6. However, even this being a flaw is debatable as mild asymmetry is normal.
Interestingly there have even been studies where images were manipulated to create perfect
symmetry, but the original slightly asymmetrical version was preferred. Lastly, we wouldn't be doing the worst pirate
you’ve ever heard of justice if we didn’t talk about his hair. He for the most part
has always maintained some variation of a middle parted look. I promise the video on
mens hairstyles is coming out soon, but typically men with square faced jaws look best with
more feminine, longer hairstyles, for instance Cillian Murphy keeps his hair long off set,
but had it cut short in Peaky Blinders as gangsters back then did so to avoid lice.
Even for someone with a very shapely head such as him, cutting the hair too high up
to the natural part makes the face start to appear rounded and feminine again, so ideally
it should go up to the temples and no higher. Back to Depp however, his middle part curtains
work best because it's a softer hairstyle on a masculine face shape. As studies have
found, contrast between the face shape and hairstyle is attractive in men. Likewise,
the drooping bangs also help cover aspects of his ageing hairline and since he has strong
bone structure that’s not reliant on soft tissue which tends to sag, this adds to him
ageing more gracefully than most 50 year old men. When his hair is pulled tightly to the
sides, he doesn’t have the facial masculinity in the upper third, so mainly the sharp inclination
of the forehead to pull off the look, instead looking like a sorry Tim Burton character.
Granted that John ham is younger, but his appearance is far more masculine than Depp’s
who has more feminine pretty boy features. As explained in the skull shape video with
examples, the shape of the upper third and face shape dictate if you can pull off this
swept back look, and the more angular the forehead the better. However all of this aside, the main reason
for his preference could just be much simpler. It’s from a period in the 90s where it was
the norm, and he simply stuck with it because he could. It’s very different to a middle
aged man suddenly adopting a middle part to hide a bald spot, instead it’s something
that works with his hairline and has grown with his style. Another analogy would be British
billionaire, Richard Branson who has always kept his long flowing mane and has an even
more masculine face than Depp that works with the style regardless of age. If you’ve enjoyed the content, subscribe
to the channel and leave a comment down below on what you thought and who you would like
to see next. If you would like for your face to be analyzed and learn about your features,
you can order an aesthetics report over at the qoves website.
