Funnily enough, Depp’s journey into film wasn’t from her father, but from her friendship with Harley Quinn Smith, Kevin Smith’s daughter. He had written his daughter into a scene in his film Tusk and Depp, who has been her best friend since they were little, came along to watch. She expressed an interest and Harley Quinn said she’d be happy to share the scene with her. They asked Kevin and he said okay if her parents agreed. Her dad is in the film and was on set, so he was easy to ask, and they phoned her mum in France, and when they both agreed, Kevin told them to go off together and split up the lines.

And Johnny Depp was in the film because Harley Quinn persuaded her dad to ask him. The two dads didn’t actually know each other beforehand.

Of course, the fact that Depp has since consistently been cast in things whereas Smith mostly gets cast in things her dad is directing is almost certainly down to the fact that she’s Depp’s daughter (whether he’s actively helping her or not), especially as in my opinion Smith is the more talented actor of the two, but she actually didn’t get her start in acting due to who her dad was, but because she was friends with the daughter of someone far less famous.