Leonardo DiCaprio
☼ Born on 11 December 1974, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s, as the hunky lead actor in movies such as Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997), to then become a leading man in Hollywood blockbusters, made by internationally renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Irmelin DiCaprio (née Indenbirken) and former comic book artist George DiCaprio. His father is of Italian and German descent, and his mother, who is German-born, is of German, Ukrainian and Russian ancestry. His middle name, "Wilhelm", was his maternal grandfather's first name. Leonardo's father had achieved minor status as an artist and distributor of cult comic book titles, and was even depicted in several issues of American Splendor, the cult semi-autobiographical comic book series by the late 'Harvey Pekar', a friend of George's. Leonardo's performance skills became obvious to his parents early on, and after signing him up with a talent agent who wanted Leonardo to perform under the stage name "Lenny Williams", DiCaprio began appearing on a number of television commercials and educational programs.
DiCaprio began attracting the attention of producers, who cast him in small
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roles in a number of television series, such as Roseanne (1988) and The New Lassie (1989), but it wasn't until 1991 that DiCaprio made his film debut in Critters 3 (1991), a low-budget horror movie. While Critters 3 (1991) did little to help showcase DiCaprio's acting abilities, it did help him develop his show-reel, and attract the attention of the people behind the hit sitcom Growing Pains (1985), in which Leonardo was cast in the "Cousin Oliver" role of a young homeless boy who moves in with the Seavers. While DiCaprio's stint on Growing Pains (1985) was very short, as the sitcom was axed the year after he joined, it helped bring DiCaprio into the public's attention and, after the sitcom ended, DiCaprio began auditioning for roles in which he would get the chance to prove his acting chops.
Leonardo took up a diverse range of roles in the early 1990s, including a mentally challenged youth in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), a young gunslinger in The Quick and the Dead (1995) and a drug addict in one of his most challenging roles to date, Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), a role which the late River Phoenix originally expressed interest in. While these diverse roles helped establish Leonardo's reputation as an actor, it wasn't until his role as Romeo Montague in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) that Leonardo became a household name, a true movie star. The following year, DiCaprio starred in another movie about doomed lovers, Titanic (1997), which went on to beat all box office records held before then, as, at the time, Titanic (1997) became the highest grossing movie of all time, and cemented DiCaprio's reputation as a teen heartthrob. Following his work on Titanic (1997), DiCaprio kept a low profile for a number of years, with roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and the low-budget The Beach (2000) being some of his few notable roles during this period.
In 2002, he burst back into screens throughout the world with leading roles in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Gangs of New York (2002), his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. With a current salary of $20 million a movie, DiCaprio is now one of the biggest movie stars in the world. However, he has not limited his professional career to just acting in movies, as DiCaprio is a committed environmentalist, who is actively involved in many environmental causes, and his commitment to this issue led to his involvement in The 11th Hour, a documentary movie about the state of the natural environment. As someone who has gone from small roles in television commercials to one of the most respected actors in the world, DiCaprio has had one of the most diverse careers in cinema. DiCaprio continued to defy conventions about the types of roles he would accept, and with his career now seeing him leading all-star casts in action thrillers such as The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), DiCaprio continues to wow audiences by refusing to conform to any cliché about actors.
In 2012, he played a mustache twirling villain in Django Unchained (2012), and then tragic literary character Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013) and Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
DiCaprio is passionate about environmental and humanitarian causes, having donated $1,000,000 to earthquake relief efforts in 2010, the same year he contributed $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
In the role of actor
Killers of the Flower Moon (25/10/2023)
A man and his Osage wife are at the centre of a series of murders in 1920s Oklahoma in Killers of the Flower Moon. After oil was found on their Oklahoma reservation, the Osage people became wealthy from the development that happened in the county. After returning from the First World War, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo […]
Don’t Look Up (10/12/2021)
Two astronomers try to warn the world about a comet on route to impact with Earth in Don’t Look Up. Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) is an astronomy grad student, who discovers a comet in the trajectory of Earth. When her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discovers that the comet is on route to collide […]
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (28/07/2019)
Quentin Tarantino brings us back to 1969 Los Angeles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In February 1969, fading 1950s television star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is struggling to find work for himself and his stuntman best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), other than the various villain of the week roles on TV pilots. […]
Gilbert (02/05/2017)
Take a peak into the private life of comedian Gilbert Gottfried in Gilbert. In his public persona as a standup comedian, Gilbert Gottfried is known for his squinty-eyed appearance and his very crude and politically incorrect jokes. However, at home Gottfried is a very shy and softspoken guy, who has been adjusting for the last decade […]
The Revenant (12/01/2016)
An injured frontiersman left for dead seeks revenge on the man who killed his son in The Revenant. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an experienced hunter and part of a group of fur trappers lead by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). Glass is critically injured in a bear attack and Henry instructs John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), Bridger (Will Poulter), and […]
The Wolf of Wall Street (29/12/2013)
The latest film by Martin Scorsese is loosely based on the true story of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a Wall Street stockholder who became a self-made millionaire, using less-than-legal tactics. Using the knowledge he learned from his mentor Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), Belfort is able to quickly make a lot of money by selling penny […]
The Great Gatsby (11/05/2013)
Director Baz Luhrmann (Romeo+Juliet, Moulin Rouge) returns with this new visually stunning adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. In the film, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) recalls the summer he became acquainted with the reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Gatsby throws extravagant parties every weekend at his New York mansion, […]
Django Unchained (28/12/2012)
Quentin Tarantino fully embraces his love of Spaghetti Westerns (with a Southern twist) with his latest film Django Unchained. The film stars Jamie Foxx as the title character, a slave who is freed and trained by a German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Together they set out to free Django’s wife Broomhilda […]
Hubble 3D (02/07/2011)
This weekend, I am going to post two reviews that can be looked side-by-side at the ways the IMAX film format is used. Today is an example of the classic use. The Ontario Place Cinesphere is the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre and it is the best example of the format’s classic use – the […]
Inception (18/07/2010)
Christopher Nolan has developed into one of my favourite directors and while his work on the Batman films have made him popular, I always like the other projects he does on the side. Inception is a very interesting science fiction/action film about the world of dreams and the difference between fantasy and reality. It’s a bit […]
Shutter Island (21/02/2010)
I have to say that there were a few moments in Shutter Island in which I was feeling a bit confused. It was not until the end of the film when I was able to piece everything together. If anything, this film proves that Martin Scorsese had the power to direct anything he wanted after […]
Revolutionary Road (18/01/2009)
This film will probably be the final film in my 2008 catch-up and I was spurred to it after Kate Winslet won Best Actress for it at the Golden Globes. I did not know what to think of the the film at first. I did agree that Winslet’s performance was good, but I didn’t get […]
Wall-E (09/07/2008)
Even though I missed the film when it came out a couple weeks ago, I finally managed to see Wall-E today. I would probably compare this film to The Incredibles in the fact that even though it is animated, it stands on its own as a sci-fi adventure in the same way The Incredibles stood […]
Once (11/06/2007)
It’s time once again for my monthly look at independent film. This month, I went to see the Irish film Once. This film can be classified as a romantic musical. However, unlike most musicals, where singing starts for no apparent reason, this is a more realistic type of musical. The romantic part of the film […]