Leonardo DiCaprio
He was born Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio on the 11th of November, 1974, in Hollywood, to Italian-American comic distributor George DiCaprio and his German-American wife Irmalin, a legal secretary who’d go on to become Leonardo’s manager. The boy’s unusual name was chosen when he kicked his pregnant mother from the inside while she was viewing a Da Vinci in the Uffizi, the Wilhelm coming from a German relative – and not some dubious tribute to the Kaiser.
DiCaprio acted in his first real play and began doing commercials, educational films, and the occasional stint on the Saturday morning show The New Lassie. In 1990, after securing his first full-time agent at the age of 15, DiCaprio landed a role as a teenage alcoholic on the daytime drama Santa Barbara. He also continued to appear on other TV shows, such as The Outsiders and Parenthood, and made his film debut in the 1991 horror film Critters 3. The actor got the first of many big breaks with a recurring role on the weekly sitcom Growing Pains. His portrayal of a homeless boy won him sufficient notice to get him an audition for Michael Caton-Jones’ upcoming screen adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life. DiCaprio won the film’s title role after beating out 400 other young actors and it proved to be his career breakthrough. The 1993 film, and DiCaprio’s performance, won raves and the actor further increased the adulation surrounding him when, later that year, he played Johnny Depp’s mentally retarded younger brother in Lasse Hallström’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. DiCaprio won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, and at the tender age of 19, found himself being hailed as an actor to watch.
Filmography
Blood Diamond (2006)
The Departed (2006)
The Aviator (2004)
Catch Me If You Can (2003)
Gangs Of New York (2003)
Concert For New York City (TV, as himself) (2001)
Don’s Plum (2001)
The Beach (2000)
Celebrity (1998)
The Man In The Iron Mask (1998)
Titanic (1997)
David Blaine: Street Magic (TV, as himself) (1996)
Marvin’s Room (1996)
Romeo And Juliet (1996)
Total Eclipse (1995)
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
The Quick And The Dead (1995)
The Hundred And One Nights Of Simon Cinema (1995)
The Foot Shooting Party (short) (1994)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)
This Boy’s Life (1993)
Poison Ivy (1992)
Growing Pains (TV series) (1991-1992)
Critters 3 (1991)
Roseanne (TV series, one episode) (1991)
Parenthood (TV series) (1990)
The Outsiders (TV series, one episode) (1990)
The New Lassie (TV series, one episode) (1989)
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