Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
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Awards
After 22 years and five nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for The Revenant in 2016. He rose to fame in the 1990s with roles in Romeo + Juliet 1996 and Titanic 1997, and later collaborated extensively with Martin Scorsese. He is also a committed environmentalist who has donated millions to conservation efforts.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Leonardo DiCaprio — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Leonardo DiCaprio by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Leonardo DiCaprio — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
His mother first felt him kick while viewing Leonardo da Vinci’s artwork at the Uffizi Gallery, inspiring his name. DiCaprio was born in Hollywood, the only child of Irmelin, a legal secretary, and George DiCaprio, a comic book artist and writer of German and Italian descent. He attended UCLA Lab School and John Marshall High School, and began acting in commercials and educational programs as a child.
In 1993, DiCaprio earned his first Academy Award nomination at age 19 for his role as a mentally challenged boy in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Romeo + Juliet 1996 made him a teen heartthrob, and Titanic 1997 became the highest-grossing film of its time. After a low-profile period, he returned in 2002 with Catch Me If You Can and his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese on Gangs of New York. His work with Scorsese continued on The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, and The Wolf of Wall Street. In 2010, he starred in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. His first Oscar came for The Revenant in 2016. He has appeared in twelve Best Picture Oscar nominees, including Titanic, The Departed, and One Battle After Another.
DiCaprio is a longtime environmental activist, donating $1 million to earthquake relief in 2010 and $1 million to tiger conservation via WWF. He purchased Blackadore Caye, a 104-acre island in Belize, in 2005 with plans for an eco-resort. He is close friends with Kate Winslet, whom he gave away at her wedding in 2012, and Tobey Maguire. He remains unmarried and has no children.
DiCaprio’s 2016 Oscar win was the most-tweeted moment in Oscars history, generating 440,000 tweets per minute. His diverse roles spanning 165 years of film history and his environmental philanthropy define his legacy. His long collaboration with Martin Scorsese has produced several critically acclaimed films. His performance in Titanic made him a global star, and his refusal to typecast himself has solidified his reputation as one of the most respected actors of his generation.
The complete filmography of Leonardo DiCaprio — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Leonardo DiCaprio — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Leonardo DiCaprio — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
The Best Thing About Acting Is That I Get to Lose Myself in Another Character and Actually Get Paid for It. It’s a Great Outlet. as for Myself, I’m Not Sure Who I Am. It Seems That I Change Every Day.
People Want You to Be a Crazy, Out-of-control Teen Brat. They Want You Miserable, Just Like Them. They Don’t Want Heroes; What They Want Is to See You Fall.
You Can Either Be a Vain Movie Star, or You Can Try to Shed Some Light on Different Aspects of the Human Condition.
It’s a Really Obvious Thing to Say, but the More People Know Too Much About Who You Really Are, and It’s a Fundamental Thing, the More the Mystery Is Taken Away from the Artist, and the Harder It Is for People to Believe That Person in a Particular Role.
On Fame: as Soon as Enough People Give You Enough Compliments and You’re Wielding More Power Than You’ve Ever Had in Your Life, It’s Not That You Become an Arrogant Little Prick, or Become Rude to People… but You Get a False Sense of Your Own Importance and What You’ve Accomplished. You Actually Think You’ve Altered the Course of History.
On Turning 30: I Kind of Feel Like the Same Person Except More Time Has Gone By. I Hate to Say That I Feel Like an Adult Now. I Have to Admit I Wish I Was Still 18. After All, Even Through the Time While I Was Representing That Wild Kid, I Really Wasn’t. I Was Just Living My Life. I Was Just Not Making Movies at the Time.
The Great Thing About Turning 30 in This Business Is That You Get to Perpetuate Being Young or Old as Long as We Want.
On Whether There Are Any Aspects of Fame He Dislikes: You Kidding? I Feel Very Fortunate. a Lot of People Would Love to Be in My Position. There Are so Many People Out There Who Are Suffering Trillions of Times More Than I Could Ever Suffer, and Would Love to Be Me. I Am a Lucky Little Bastard.
Yes, I Can Play Younger Than My Age. but I Can Play Characters Older Than I Am, Too. I’m Not an Actor Who Can Just Play the Kid.
I Think People Read the Tabloids Because They Want to See You Eating a Burger, or Out of Your Makeup or Doing Something Stupid Because They Just Want to See That You’re Like Everyone Else. and That’s Okay. I Don’t Want to Catch Myself Anymore Saying That My Life Is Hard, Because the Good Far Outweighs the Bad in My Life. and It’s Easier to Focus on Those Things, on the Things That Are Important.
You Learn After You’ve Been in the Business for a While That It’s Not Getting Your Face Recognized That’s the Payoff. It’s Having Your Film Remembered.
I Lived in Hollywood And, Ironically, I Didn’t Know You Could Just Go Out and Get an Agent and Go on Auditions and Try and Become an Actor, I Thought It Was Like a Masonic Thing, Like a Blood Line You Had to Belong to – Until I Was 13. Then I Realised What You Had to Do. It Is the One Thing I Know I Want to Do for the Rest of My Life.
My First Date Was with a Girl Named Cessi. We’d Had a Beautiful Relationship Over the Phone All Summer Long. Then She Came Home and We Met to Go Out for the First Time to the Movies. When I Saw Her I Was Petrified. I Couldn’t Even Look Her in the Eye to Talk to Her.
I Don’t Know If I’m Ever Getting Married. I’m Probably Not Going to Get Married Unless I Live with Somebody for 10 or 20 Years. but These People Took a Chance and They Did It. We Don’t Have the Guts That Romeo Did.
As a Little Kid Growing up in Hollywood, I Was Called ‘a Little Crazy’. and Now I Guess I’m Still That Way.
I Cheated a Lot, Because I Just Couldn’t Sit and Do Homework. I Usually Sat Next to Someone Extremely Smart.
I Like to Help the Whales, the Otters, and the Dolphins. When I’m Acting and I Take a Break, the First Thing on My List Is Spending Time by the Sea.
My Mom and I Lived at Hollywood and Western, a Drug-dealer and Prostitute Corner. It Was Pretty Terrifying. I Got Beat up a Lot. I Saw People Have Sex in the Alleys. I Remember I Was Five Years Old, and This Guy with a Trench Coat, Needles and Crack Cornered Me. Early On, Seeing the Devastation on My Block, Seeing Heroin Addicts, Made Me Think Twice About Ever Getting Involved in Drugs. It’s Evil. Once You Take That Step and Experiment, Drugs Can Take Over Your Life. You Are Not Yourself Anymore. That’s Something I Never Wanted. I Didn’t Have a Lot of Friends Growing Up. It Was Kind of Just Me and My Parents. but Because of Them, the Neighborhood Did Not Have a Bad Effect on Me. My Dad Introduced Me to Artists, and Every Few Months We’d Go to Some Hippie Doo-dah Parade as Mudmen in Our Underwear, Carrying Sticks and Covered in Mud. My Mother Did Everything to Get Me into the Best Schools She Could Find.
When a Role for a Young Guy Is Being Offered to Me, I Think of River Phoenix. It Feels Like a Loss.
When I Was Young, I Used to Have This Thing Where I Wanted to See Everything. I Used to Think, How Can I Die Without Seeing Every Inch of This World?.
On His Life: What I Would Do in Order to Be Popular Was, I’d Put Myself on Line and Joke Around and Be Funny, and I Was Always Known as the Crazy Kid.
Bridget Hall and I Hung Out for a Week. the Whole Thing Was Blown Out of Proportion.
On Love: I Like Girls Who Are Intelligent, Somewhat Funny, and Pretty with a Nice Personality.
It’s a Weird Adjustment Living Alone, Because You Don’t Realize How Much You Really Miss Mumsie Until She’s Not There.
Dark Green Is My Favorite Color. It’s the Color of Nature and the Color of Money and the Color of Moss!
I’m Not Really the Quiet Type, Although Some People Think I Am. but I’m the Rebel Type in the Sense That I Don’t Think I’m Like Everyone Else. I Try to Be an Individual.
I’m Absolutely Clean. I’ve Never Tried Anything. That’s Not a Lie!
I’m Not the Sort of Person Who Tries to Be Cool or Trendy. I’m Definitely an Individual.
I Don’t Have Emotions About a Lot of Things. I Rarely Get Angry, I Rarely Cry. I Guess I Do Get Excited a Lot, but I Don’t Get Sad and Enormously Happy. I Think a Lot of People Who Talk About All That Crap Are Lying. Right Now I’m Just Trying to Maintain Happiness – That’s All I Really Care About. Anyway, When You’re My Age and Your Hormones Are Kicking In, There’s Not Much Besides Sex That’s on Your Mind.
I Hate Speaking in Front of a Large Audience. I Don’t Know Where It Came From… but Its Just This Gut-wrenching Fear of Slipping up and Doing Something Horrible.
One of My Passions Is to Meet People and Then Imitate Them. I Love Doing That.
I Have the Same Problem as Edward Furlong. I’m so Thin!
I’m Nothing Like Romeo in Real Life.
I’m Shy, but When the Time Comes to Be Wild, I’m Fun-loving, Adventurous, and Mysterious.
It’s Tricky Stuff. If You’re Not Perfect in Every Film, Then People Say See, He Was Just Lucky in One Role..
People Want You to Be a Crazy Out-of-control Teen Brat. They Want You to Be Miserable, Just Like Them. They Don’t Want Heroes. What They Want Is to See You Fall.
Everywhere I Go, Somebody Is Staring at Me. I Don’t Know If People Are Staring Because They Recognize Me or Because They Think I’m a Weirdo.
People Always Like to Make up Stories. I Am Not Planning on Getting Married. Then Again, I Might Wake up Tomorrow and Decide to Get Married!
If You Hear of Any Incident About Me – a Fight, a Change of Clothes, a Little Extra Gel in the Hair, Don’t Believe It Till You Talk to Me.
I Hate Being Selected as ‘Babe of the Month’ and Being Called ‘Hunk’.
Fame Is Not the Worst Thing. I Went to Dinner the Other Night, and the Girls in the Restaurant Ignored Me. It Was so Annoying.
I Insist on Keeping a Level Head. I’ve Maintained the Same Exact Home Life That I’ve Had for 20 Years. All I See Is More People Looking at Me Than Before. But, You Know, Who Cares? You Just Can’t Obsess Yourself with This Fame Stuff.
My God, No! I Hate This Whole Hunk Thing! I Feel When I See Myself in That, and These Other Cute Faces, That I’m Just Part of This Meat Factory, Like, Wow! Here’s the Hunk of the Month! This Month We’re Shoving Leonardo DiCaprio Down Your Throat! Isn’t He Cute. Let’s Put Him on the Cover and We’ll Sell so Many More Magazines… That’s Definitely Not What I Want to Be, and I’ve Tried Real Hard to Get Away from That Whole Situation.
Little-known facts about Leonardo DiCaprio — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
After finishing Revolutionary Road in 2008, DiCaprio purchased an inscribed gold ring for Kate Winslet, but she keeps the inscription confidential.
DiCaprio, along with Kate Winslet and director James Cameron, publicly pledged to support the financial future of the last living Titanic survivor, Millvina Dean, after she was forced to sell mementos to pay nursing home bills.
He is named after Leonardo Da Vinci because his mother first felt him kick while viewing Da Vinci’s artwork at the Uffizi Gallery; his father felt the name was apt. His paternal grandfather’s middle name happens to be Leon.
Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson are his favorite actors.
On December 26, 2012, he attended Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll’s wedding in a private ceremony in New York and gave the bride away.
He once said that playing Arnie in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape 1993 was ‘the most fun I’ve ever had’.
He was initially cast as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho 2000 for a reported $20 million, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Christian Bale took the role instead.
At age 10, his agent advised him to change his name to the more American-friendly Lenny Williams, but he did not follow that advice.
In a 2004 interview with Katie Couric, he mentioned that filming The Aviator brought back his own obsessive-compulsive disorder from childhood.
Kate Winslet considers him the best actor of her generation.
He purchased a 104-acre island off the coast of Belize in 2005 and plans to develop a resort with renewable energy; the purchase price for Blackadore Caye was estimated at $1.75 million.
He was childhood friends with Tobey Maguire and the late Christopher Pettiet.
He outbid Paris Hilton at a Cannes charity auction for a Chanel handbag, which he gave to his mother.
In March 1998, he sued Playgirl magazine over plans to publish pictures including full frontal nudity of himself.
In January 1999, his lawyers filed an application to allow him to copyright his own name.
Quentin Tarantino considered casting him as SS Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds 2009, but eventually chose Christoph Waltz.
In his childhood, he and his mother lived in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles, which he describes as Ghettos of Hollywood.
He voluntarily surrendered several works of art worth millions of dollars and an Oscar statuette that once belonged to Marlon Brando to the U.S. Government as part of an investigation into a money laundering operation connected to Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
In 2006, he named his ten favorite movies in The Independent: Bicycle Thieves, Taxi Driver, Lawrence of Arabia, 8½, The Third Man, Yojimbo, Sunset Boulevard, The Shining, and East of Eden.
He is an avid beekeeper.
He has said his two favorite performances are Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and James Dean’s Cal Trask in East of Eden.
Martin Scorsese is his favorite director.
He has worked with numerous acclaimed directors: Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Danny Boyle, Lasse Hallström, Baz Luhrmann, Sam Raimi, and Edward Zwick.
He considered starring in a movie about James Dean but turned down the role because he felt he wasn’t experienced enough.
As of 2016, he had been nominated for 38 different awards 6 Academy Awards, 4 BAFTA Awards, 11 Golden Globe Awards, 9 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 7 Critics’ Choice Awards, and 1 Emmy Award, winning 3 Golden Globes, 1 SAG Award, 1 BAFTA, 2 Critics’ Choice awards, and his first Oscar for The Revenant on February 28, 2016 on his fifth acting nomination.
In 1994, he became the seventh youngest actor ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 19, for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
He filed police charges after being attacked with a bottle by a Canadian ex-model while leaving a private party; the wound was close to his jugular vein but did not delay production.
He was considered for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2002, which went to Tobey Maguire.
He has appeared in twelve films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Titanic, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Inception, Django Unchained, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Don’t Look Up, Killers of the Flower Moon, and One Battle After Another. Titanic, The Departed, and One Battle After Another won.
His favorite actress of all time is Meryl Streep.
He campaigned for the role of John Dillinger in Public Enemies 2009, but Johnny Depp was cast.
He was offered the role of Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights 1997 at the same time as his role in Titanic; Mark Wahlberg took the part.
He was considered for the role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002, which went to Hayden Christensen.
He is good friends with actresses Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard and actors Tom Hardy and Vincent Gallo.
He is an environmental conservationist and often advocates for natural causes.
In a 2016 Entertainment Tonight interview at the Golden Globes, he stated that his long-time friend Kate Winslet is his favorite actress and he would love to work with her again.
After The Wolf of Wall Street 2013, he took a two-year hiatus from acting due to exhaustion; his next film, The Revenant, was released in 2015.
He is possibly the only actor to play a character in almost every decade spanning the last 165 years.
His father, George DiCaprio, is of German and Italian ancestry and is an underground writer and editor of comic books. His mother, Irmelin, is of German and Russian ancestry and a former legal secretary.
Blink-182 thanked him in the liner notes of their album Enema of the State.
As a child, his favorite films were Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971, Watership Down 1978, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1971.
He turned down the role of Max in Disney’s Hocus Pocus 1993 to star in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Leonardo DiCaprio.
Celebrities similar to Leonardo DiCaprio — same craft, ranked by reach.
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