117 Facts About Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer.

Leonardo DiCaprio achieved international stardom with the star-crossed romances Romeo + Juliet and Titanic.

Leonardo DiCaprio earned Golden Globe nominations for his performances in the biopic The Aviator, the political thriller Blood Diamond, the crime drama The Departed and the romantic drama Revolutionary Road.

Leonardo DiCaprio was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire.

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born on November 11,1974, in Los Angeles, California.

Leonardo DiCaprio is the only child of Irmelin, a legal secretary, and George DiCaprio, an underground comix artist and distributor; they met while attending college and moved to Los Angeles after graduating.

Leonardo DiCaprio's mother is German and his father is of Italian and German descent.

Leonardo DiCaprio's maternal grandfather, Wilhelm Indenbirken, was German, and his maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken, was a Russian immigrant living in Germany.

Sources have falsely claimed his maternal grandmother was born in Odesa, Ukraine; there is no evidence that Leonardo DiCaprio has any relatives of Ukrainian birth or heritage.

When Leonardo DiCaprio was one year old, his father moved out of their house after he fell in love with another woman.

Leonardo DiCaprio's father lived with his girlfriend and her son, Adam Farrar, with whom Leonardo DiCaprio developed a close relationship as they grew up.

Leonardo DiCaprio attended the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years and later the Seeds Elementary School, before enrolling at the John Marshall High School.

Leonardo DiCaprio later said that he had hated public school and wanted to audition for acting jobs instead.

Leonardo DiCaprio dropped out of high school later, eventually earning a general equivalency diploma.

Leonardo DiCaprio has said his career choice as a child was to become a marine biologist or an actor.

Leonardo DiCaprio eventually favored the latter as he liked impersonating characters and imitating people, and seeing their reaction to his acting.

Leonardo DiCaprio was motivated to learn acting by his stepbrother's appearance in a television commercial, for which Farrar earned $50,000.

Leonardo DiCaprio has said in interviews that his first television appearance was in the children's series Romper Room, and that he was dismissed from the show for being disruptive.

Leonardo DiCaprio later appeared in commercials for Kraft Singles, Bubble Yum and Apple Jacks.

At the beginning of his career, Leonardo DiCaprio had difficulty finding an agent.

Leonardo DiCaprio has stated that he prefers not to remember Critters 3, viewing it as "possibly one of the worst films of all time" and the kind of role he wanted to ignore in the future.

Co-star Joanna Kerns recalls Leonardo DiCaprio being "especially intelligent and disarming for his age" but she noted that he was mischievous and jocular on set, and often made fun of his co-stars.

Leonardo DiCaprio had an uncredited role in 1991 in one episode of Roseanne.

In 1992, Leonardo DiCaprio had a brief role in the first installment of the Poison Ivy film series, and was handpicked by Robert De Niro from a shortlist of 400 young actors to co-star with him in This Boy's Life.

Director Michael Caton-Jones said that Leonardo DiCaprio did not know how to behave on set, leading Caton-Jones to apply a strict mentoring style, after which Leonardo DiCaprio's behavior began to improve.

Bilge Ebiri of Rolling Stone found that the powerful bond between Barkin and Leonardo DiCaprio elevated the film, praising Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of his character's complex growth from a rebellious teen to an independent young man.

At 19, Leonardo DiCaprio earned a National Board of Review Award, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the seventh-youngest Oscar nominee in the category.

When Sony Pictures became dubious over Leonardo DiCaprio's casting, co-star Sharon Stone paid his salary herself.

Leonardo DiCaprio next starred as a teenaged Jim Carroll, portraying a drug-addicted high school basketball player and budding writer in the biopic The Basketball Diaries.

Also in 1995, Leonardo DiCaprio co-starred with David Thewlis in Agnieszka Holland's erotic drama Total Eclipse, a fictionalized account of the homosexual relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

Leonardo DiCaprio was cast as Rimbaud when River Phoenix died before filming began.

Leonardo DiCaprio next starred opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue.

Leonardo DiCaprio was initially unsure about another Romeo and Juliet adaptation, but at his father's suggestion, he agreed to examine Luhrmann's work more closely.

Later in 1996, Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed a young man who has been committed to a mental asylum in Marvin's Room, a family drama about two estranged sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, who are reunited through tragedy.

Leonardo DiCaprio played Hank, the troubled son of Streep's character.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly praised "the deeply gifted Leonardo DiCaprio" for holding his own against veteran actresses Keaton and Streep, describing the three as "full-bodied and so powerfully affecting that you're carried along on the pleasure of being in the presence of their extraordinary talent".

Leonardo DiCaprio rejected a role in Boogie Nights to star opposite Kate Winslet in James Cameron's Titanic as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard RMS Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage.

Leonardo DiCaprio initially had doubts, but was eventually encouraged by Cameron to pursue the part.

Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for other high-profile awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

Leonardo DiCaprio reduced his workload "to learn to hear [his] own voice in choosing the roles" that he wanted to pursue.

Leonardo DiCaprio had a brief featured role in Woody Allen's 1998 satire of fame, Celebrity.

Leonardo DiCaprio won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for the dual roles in 1999.

Todd McCarthy of Variety thought Leonardo DiCaprio gave a compelling performance but his character lacked defining qualities.

Leonardo DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the film.

Also in 2002, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a historical drama set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City.

Scorsese initially struggled selling his idea of realizing the film until Leonardo DiCaprio became interested in starring in the film, and thus Miramax Films got involved with financing the project.

Leonardo DiCaprio was drawn to playing Amsterdam Vallon, the young leader of an Irish-American street gang, as it marked a shift from "boyish" roles to a mature leading man.

In 2004, Leonardo DiCaprio founded the production company Appian Way Productions, a namesake of the Italian road.

Leonardo DiCaprio was interested in finding unique source material and preserving its essence during development, citing previous experiences where too many people influenced the final product in a negative way.

Leonardo DiCaprio first executive-produced The Assassination of Richard Nixon, which starred Sean Penn as Samuel Byck, and was screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Leonardo DiCaprio initially developed the project with Michael Mann who was eventually replaced by Scorsese.

Simond Braund of Empire thought Leonardo DiCaprio convincingly played a complex role and highlighted the scenes depicting Hughes's paranoia and obsession.

In 2006, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in the crime film The Departed and the political war thriller Blood Diamond.

In Scorsese's The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio played the role of Billy Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in the Irish Mob in Boston, someone he characterizes as in a "constant 24-hour panic attack".

Leonardo DiCaprio especially liked the experience of working with co-star Jack Nicholson, describing a scene with him as "one of the most memorable moments" of his life as an actor.

In Blood Diamond, Leonardo DiCaprio starred as a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia who is involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War.

The film received generally favorable reviews, and Leonardo DiCaprio was noted for his South African accent, which is generally known as difficult to imitate.

Leonardo DiCaprio received nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Blood Diamond.

In 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio produced the comedy drama Gardener of Eden, which according to The Hollywood Reporters Frank Scheck "lack[ed] the necessary dramatic urgency or black humor to connect with audiences".

Also in 2008, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in Body of Lies, a spy film based on the novel of the same name.

Leonardo DiCaprio played one of three agents battling a terrorist organization in the Middle East.

Later in 2008, Leonardo DiCaprio collaborated with Kate Winslet for the drama Revolutionary Road, directed by her then-husband Sam Mendes.

Peter Travers liked Leonardo DiCaprio's pairing with Winslet and his multi-layered portrayal of an overwhelmed character, and Marshall Sella of GQ called it the "most mature and memorable performance of his lifetime".

Leonardo DiCaprio earned his seventh Golden Globes nomination for the film.

Leonardo DiCaprio ended the 2000s by producing director Jaume Collet-Serra's psychological horror thriller film Orphan, starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard and Isabelle Fuhrman.

Leonardo DiCaprio continued to collaborate with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane.

Leonardo DiCaprio played Edward "Teddy" Daniels, a US Marshal investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island, who comes to question his own sanity.

Peter Travers called it Leonardo DiCaprio's "most haunting and emotionally complex performance yet", and particularly liked his cave scene with co-star Patricia Clarkson.

Leonardo DiCaprio was fascinated with the idea of a "dream-heist" and the potential for his character to manipulate his dreamworld and impact his real life.

In 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio starred as plantation owner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino's Spaghetti Western, Django Unchained.

Leonardo DiCaprio's first was in the role of millionaire Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, an adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name, co-starring Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire.

Leonardo DiCaprio liked the idea of playing a man who realizes his imaginations, someone he characterized as "a hopeless romantic, a completely obsessed wacko or a dangerous gangster, clinging to wealth".

The film received mixed reviews from critics, but Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was praised and earned him the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Leonardo DiCaprio wanted to play Belfort ever since he had read his autobiography and won a bidding war with Warner Bros.

Leonardo DiCaprio was an executive producer on Virunga, a 2014 British documentary film about four people fighting to protect the world's last mountain gorillas from war and poaching.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April2014, and Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for the 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

In 2015, DiCaprio produced and played fur trapper Hugh Glass in Alejandro G Inarritu's survival drama The Revenant.

Leonardo DiCaprio found his role in the film difficult; he had to eat a raw slab of bison's liver and sleep in animal carcasses.

Leonardo DiCaprio learned to shoot a musket, build a fire, speak two Native American languages and apply ancient healing techniques.

Mark Kermode of The Guardian wrote that Leonardo DiCaprio shone with a performance that prioritizes physicality over speech, and Nick De Semlyen of Empire noted that he uplifted the film.

Leonardo DiCaprio liked working with Pitt, and Tarantino described the pair as the most exciting since Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

Leonardo DiCaprio was fascinated with the film's homage to Hollywood and focus on the friendship between his and Pitt's characters.

Leonardo DiCaprio drew from real-life experience of witnessing the struggles and rejections of his actor friends in the industry.

Leonardo DiCaprio received nominations for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.

In 2020, Leonardo DiCaprio served as an executive producer for The Right Stuff, a television series adaption of the 1973 namesake book.

In 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio appeared in Adam McKay's satirical comedy Don't Look Up.

Leonardo DiCaprio spent five months changing the film's script with McKay before agreeing to the part.

Leonardo DiCaprio praised McKay for envisioning a project on how humans would react to a serious issue from a political, social and scientific standpoint.

Leonardo DiCaprio earned nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for the film.

Early in his career, Leonardo DiCaprio gained a reputation for his reckless behavior and intense partying with a group of male celebrities dubbed "the Pussy Posse" in the 1990s.

Leonardo DiCaprio is regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation.

Colin Covert of The Seattle Times similarly believed Leonardo DiCaprio "redefines film stardom" through his willingness to take on challenging roles that few of his contemporaries are capable of performing.

Leonardo DiCaprio has described his relationship with him as dreamlike and admires his knowledge of film, crediting Scorsese with having taught him its history and importance.

Author Michael K Hammond wrote that DiCaprio built his star reputation by demonstrating his acting ability, and praised him for "revealing a character while concealing the actor" and "disappearing into [his] roles".

Leonardo DiCaprio often plays characters who themselves are playing roles, which Caryn James says looks simple on screen but is a rather sophisticated acting.

Leonardo DiCaprio tends to play antiheroes and characters who lose their mental stability as the narrative progresses, as noted by Derek Thompson of The Atlantic who further argued that DiCaprio gave his best performances when playing "frauds and cheats and double-crossing liars and mercenaries".

In 2005, Leonardo DiCaprio was made a commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture for his contributions to the arts.

Leonardo DiCaprio has named Robert De Niro and James Dean as two of his favorite and most influential actors, stating "There were a lot of great actors I really fell in love with, but if I were to pick two, from different generations, it would be De Niro and James Dean".

Leonardo DiCaprio received the 2001 Martin Litton Environment Award from Environment Now and the 2003 Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award from Global Green USA.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been an active supporter of numerous environmental organizations and sat on the board of the World Wildlife Fund and International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Leonardo DiCaprio chaired the national Earth Day celebration in 2000 where he interviewed Bill Clinton and they discussed plans to deal with global warming and the environment.

Leonardo DiCaprio presented at the 2007 American leg of Live Earth.

At a 2016 meeting with Pope Francis, Leonardo DiCaprio donated to charity and discussed environmental issues with him.

Leonardo DiCaprio traveled to Indonesia in early 2016 where he criticized the government's palm oil industry's slash-and-burn forest clearing methods.

In March 2020, Leonardo DiCaprio attended a fundraiser for Joe Biden at the home of Paramount Pictures executive Sherry Lansing.

In 2023, Leonardo DiCaprio testified during the trial against Prakazrel Michel, who is being accused of participating in a foreign influence campaign that was aimed at the Obama and Trump administrations.

In 2011, Leonardo DiCaprio joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to release Tony, a tiger that had spent the last decade at a truck stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

Leonardo DiCaprio donated $61,000 to the gay rights group GLAAD in 2013.

In 2016, Leonardo DiCaprio donated $65,000 to the annual fundraising gala for the Children of Armenia Fund, where he was a special guest of his friend and honorary chair, Tony Shafrazi.

Amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the media announced Leonardo DiCaprio donated $10million to support Ukraine, although the news agency Associated Press suggested this amount was inaccurate.

In 1999, Leonardo DiCaprio met Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, whom he dated until 2005.

Leonardo DiCaprio was romantically involved with Israeli model Bar Refaeli from 2005 to 2011.

Leonardo DiCaprio later dated German fashion model Toni Garrn from 2013 to 2014 and later in 2017.

Leonardo DiCaprio owns houses in Los Angeles and apartments in New York City.

In 2005, Leonardo DiCaprio's face was severely injured when model Aretha Wilson hit him over the head with a broken bottle at a Hollywood party.

In 2017, when The Wolf of Wall Street producer Red Granite Pictures was involved in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, Leonardo DiCaprio turned over the gifts he received from business associates at the production company, including fugitive businessman Jho Low, to the US government.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:.