Leonardo DiCaprio biography

Synopsis

Profile

Actor. Born Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio on November 11, 1974, in Los Angeles, California, to parents Irmelin and George DiCaprio. The couple's only child, DiCaprio was just a year-old when his parents separated, leaving the young boy to largely be raised by his mother, a legal secretary born in Germany.

Despite his parents' early divorce, DiCaprio remained close to his father, a comic book artist and distributor. With his parents urging Leonardo explored his creative side. Acting caught his attention early and at the age of five he landed a spot on the children's television show, Romper Room. Commercial work soon followed.

"I knew I didn't want to be one of the set things they said I should be at school," DiCaprio told The New York Times in 1993. "Doctor, lawyer, blah blah blah." He signed with an agent who recommended DiCaprio change his name to Lenny Williams. But in an early sign that the actor would push to do things his own way, Leonardo didn't bite.

His stubbornness paid off. By the early 1990s, DiCaprio began landing regular television work. The credits included programs like The New Lassie, Roseanne, and the short-lived Parenthood.

In 1991, DiCaprio took a leap forward when he was cast as a semi-regular on the ABC comedy, Growing Pains. That same year, he made his film debut in the low-budget horror flick, Critters 3.

Two years later, DiCaprio proved to the critics that he was more than a good looking teenager, when he played opposite Robert De Niro in This Boy's Life, a role he'd secured after beating out 400 other actors. That same year he turned heads again and earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his role as a mentally disabled child in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?.

His performance solidified DiCaprio's reputation as a serious actor and a heartthrob. Other movies followed, including a pair of 1995 releases, The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse.

Then came 1997 and the mammoth movie (Titanic) about a mammoth boat that turned DiCaprio into a mammoth star. Co-starring Kate Winslet, Titanic smashed box office records on its way toward raking in more than $600 million in ticket sales. The film also pushed its male lead toward a level of celebrity that few actors could be ready for.

"I got to be wild and nuts," DiCaprio told Rolling Stone in 2010. He added: "I didn't care what anyone thought."

Still, DiCaprio was levelheaded enough to know there were certain pitfalls to avoid. Enough of that had been drilled into him a few years