Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow was a pirate captain in the Carribean, most notably in command of the Black Pearl.

Early life
Jack Sparrow began his life as a pirate after stowing away aboard a ship to reach Tortuga. However, Jack had few worldly possessions, and these were stolen by Captain Torrents. In attempting to reclaim his property, Jack accidentally stole a sack containing the scabbard of the sword of Cortez. Learning of its magical nature from a barmaid named Arabella, Jack set off to track down the sword itself. He is given command of The Barnacle, and, after besting him in a sword fight, finds his first crewmember in a man named Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III. Arabella also joins, and Jack soon recruits two more sailors, Tuman and Jean&mdash;the latter providing one further crewmember in the form of her cat, Constance, who was once Jean's sister before being transformed by Tia Dalma.

With a ship and a crew, Captain Jack Sparrow set off to find the sword of Cortez, and soon encountered Captain Torrents, who was also searching for the sword, on behalf of Davy Jones. Jack ultimately outwitted Torrents, and his crew later happened upon a group of mermaids whose song made most of the crew act upon their deepest desires. However, Jack proved immune to their song, since his only true desire was freedom. Unfortunately for Jack, poorly-thought-out negotiations with the mermaids forced him into a deal that would cost him his freedom should he ever find it.

The Black Pearl
In his later life, Jack Sparrow became Captain of the infamous pirate ship, the Black Pearl, with Barbossa as his First Mate. The treasure of Cortez would again play a part in Jack's pirate life, as he and the crew of the Pearl embarked upon a quest to find a cache of Aztec gold stashed by Cortez. However, before the treasure was found, the crew mutinied. Led by Barbossa, the crew marooned Jack on a desert island with nothing more than a pistol with a single shot. Barbossa believed it would be the last they would see of Jack Sparrow.

However, Jack was in luck, as a group of rum runners had currently been using the island as a secret cache, and for the next three days Jack cavorted with the rum runners, and likely suffered little more than a severe hangover before bartering passage off the island. This misadventure helped to build upon Jack's reputation in the Carribean, helped along by Jack's outlandish exaggerations as to the circumstances of his escape&mdash;one version of events saw Sparrow using a couple of sea turtles as a raft to flee the island. Jack kept his single-shot pistol, making no modifications to it, but rather keeping it with the intent to use it upon his mutinous first mate; Barbossa.

It was believed that Jack's altruistic nature may have been part of the reason why his crew mutinied; indeed, Barbossa would later note that Jack's attempts at nonviolent solutions to problems was exactly the attitude that lost him the Black Pearl. Whatever the reason, the mutiny was not a unanimous agreement among the crew of the Black Pearl. "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, for one, disagreed with Barbossa's decision to maroon Jack, but he too would suffer Barbossa's wrath. Bootstrap was tied to a cannon and plunged into the ocean depths, apparently to his death.

The Curse of Cortez
Death would not come quickly for any of the crew of the Pearl. After leaving Jack marooned, Barbossa's men found the Aztec gold, but their treasure, soon fritted away on manifold pleasures, came at a price. They became cursed men, walking dead, unable to live as normal men until all 882 pieces of Cortez's treasure were returned and repaid in blood.

Jack was the only member of the crew not to be affected by the curse, since he had already been abandoned by Barbossa. However, he heard tales of the curse placed upon his former crewmen. Over the next eight years, Jack continued his life of piracy, though on the eighth year, he was reduced to a small boat that barely made it to Port Royal before sinking. Now "in the market" for a new vessel, Jack attempted to commandeer the Interceptor, but his plot was interrupted by a young lady falling from the fort. Despite his piratical nature, Jack was not about to let the girl drown, and dived into the ocean to rescue her. Bringing her on deck of the Interceptor, Jack spied a strange coin fastened around her neck; one of the pieces of Aztec gold Barbossa's men were seeking. However, before he could explore the situation further, Commodore Norrington arrived to arrest Sparrow.

Behind the scenes

 * Jack Sparrow was played by Johnny Depp in all three Pirates of the Carribean films.
 * Depp claimed Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Pepé Le Pew (from Looney Tunes) were inspirations for his performance (though Errol Flynn was also an influence)
 * Depp was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a rarity for a comic performance.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Carribean 3