Leonardo DiCaprio

Biography

DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of George DiCaprio, a distributor of comic books, and Irmelin Indenbirken, a former legal secretary. His father's father was of Italian descent, while the remainder of his ancestry is German. DiCaprio's name came about because his pregnant mother was standing in front of a Leonardo da Vinci painting at a museum in Italy when he kicked, which made her decide to name him after the famous artist. His parents divorced when he was a year old. He grew up at the borderline of the Los Feliz district, a neighborhood DiCaprio described as the 'Hollywood slums', despite the fact that his home was situated in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the USA (90027). In 1998, He and his mother donated $35,000 for a state-of-the-art "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (1874 Hillhurst Avenue) which happens to be the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, opened in early 1999. There are commemorative placards and curious fans are welcome at the library.

DiCaprio attended the Browning School in New York City.

At age five, he appeared on his favorite television series, Romper Room, and was almost fired for misbehaving. He attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. He was rejected by an agent early in his career for having a name that sounded too foreign, suggesting that it should be changed to Lenny Williams, but DiCaprio refused.

Early career

His acting career began in 1989 when he was cast in the role of Peter Puffer on the TV version of the hit film Parenthood, where he met his best friend Tobey Maguire. In that same year, DiCaprio appeared on the soap opera Santa Barbara in the role of Mason Capwell (in flashbacks as a teenager). From 1991 to 1992 he had the role of Luke Brower, a homeless boy, on Growing Pains.

However, DiCaprio is most famous for his roles in motion pictures. His debut role was as Josh in Critters 3 (1991), a film with only a limited theatrical release, soon after released on video.

Two years later, his break-through came with the role of Toby in This Boy's Life (1993) co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin, which led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor. In the same year he also convincingly portrayed a mentally handicapped boy in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). The role earned him an Academy Award nomination at the age of 19.

In 1995, he starred in Total Eclipse (film), a fictionalized account of the passionate and violent homosexual relationship between the two 19th century French poets, Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The black-and-white movie Don's Plum, a low-budget drama featuring the actor and some of his friends (including Tobey Maguire) was filmed between 1995 and 1996. Its release was later blocked in the United States and Canada by DiCaprio and Maguire, who argued they never intended to make it a theatrical feature. Nevertheless, it later premiered on February 9, 2001 in Berlin.

In 1995 he starred as Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries and in 1996, DiCaprio also played the male lead in Romeo + Juliet, a slick and updated modern-day version of Shakespeare's play, directed by Australian director Baz Luhrmann.

Superstardom & 'Leo-Mania'

The move from 'star' to 'superstar' came when DiCaprio played Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997). The highest grossing movie ever (in nominal terms - unadjusted for inflation - it is the sixth highest), it received eleven Academy Awards. Over the course of the next few years he would become a household name worldwide, synonymous with labels such as 'teenage heart-throb' and sex symbol. With a status that spawned fantasy crushes and hysteria worldwide, E! Online described him as the most gorgeous celebrity on the planet, while his co-star Kate Winslet said she agreed with others in deeming him the "most beautiful man on Earth". At the peak of his celebrity in 1998, DiCaprio fronted scores of magazine covers ranging from Vanity Fair to Rolling Stone, and was once the most searched for personality in the early years of the Internet. DiCaprio agreed to play the spoof role of his real life 'teen idol' persona during this period, in Woody Allen's satirical parody, Celebrity.

Perhaps overrun or overhyped by fame from what became known as 'Leo-Mania' the world over - from the shores of Thailand all the way to Afghanistan (where the government there banned 'DiCaprio style' haircuts amongst the youth) and Australia (where in Tullamarine, Victoria, a restaurant called "DiCaprio's" was established in 1998 which is still there to this day ), what came apropos with fame were tales in the tabloids of excesses and indulgence. In the Japanese media, he was referred to as Leo-sama (レオ様), with the "sama" suffix in its context given to mean either someone who has done great things and is revered and respected or is a member of royalty. Time magazine summed up the fame superhighway and its trappings in an interview with the actor in 2000, reporting: 'DiCaprio still thinks of himself as an edgy indie actor, not the Tiger Beat cover boy. "I have no connection with me during that whole Titanic phenomenon and what my face became around the world.", also commenting "I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to, It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

Nonetheless, the headlines and controversy failed to let up, peaking when he starred in a project by Danny Boyle based on Alex Garland's backpacker culture classic, The Beach that year. Because of clashes with the Thai authorities over the use of the island of Ko Phi Phi in 1999, the film garnered more bad press than expected. It was reported that permission granted to the film company to physically alter the environment inside Phi Phi Islands National Park was illegal. In the end, the film also did not score as well as expected at the box office, losing mainstream commercial appeal due to its content. Also, fans of the original novel claimed it did not do justice to Garland's work .

Critically acclaimed acting

In 2002, DiCaprio began a concerted shift away from his stereotypical image and moved to engage himself with critically acclaimed directors by starring in two epic movies; Catch Me If You Can (directed by Steven Spielberg), and Gangs of New York (directed by Martin Scorsese). Both films were very well received by critics. Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of American businessman Howard Hughes in The Aviator, a film that scored DiCaprio a second Academy Award nomination, for Best Actor.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese (some claim him to be Scorsese's 'new De Niro') in the 2006 film The Departed as a tense undercover cop in the Boston mafia. His next film, Blood Diamond, was released on December 15, 2006. He is also reported to have purchased the rights to 'Blink,' Malcolm Gladwell's book on the power and validity of first impressions, in order to produce a film based on it.

He was attached to star in Robert De Niro's history-of-the-CIA film The Good Shepherd, but dropped out and was replaced by Matt Damon, his The Departed co-star.

Cruise-Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City, about a serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair. Meanwhile, DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

On December 4, 2006 He and Djimon Hounsou were invited on the Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about his new film Blood Diamond.

In the same year, the Golden Globes nominated DiCaprio twice in the same category: Best Actor for Blood Diamond and The Departed, which is an extremely rare honor for actors. Also in the same year, he received two nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a lead actor nomination for Blood Diamond and a supporting actor nomination for The Departed.

On December 27, 2006, TheMagazine named DiCaprio as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.

Personal life

He is best friends with actor Tobey Maguire, whom he beat to get roles in Roseanne and This Boy's Life. He is also good friends with Lukas Haas, Kevin Connolly and Kate Winslet. He has been romantically linked to fashion models Kristen Zang, Amber Valletta, Helena Christensen, Alexandra Gay, Eva Herzigova, Naomi Campbell, Carmen Kass and Gisele Bi¼ndchen. He is currently dating Israeli model Bar Refaeli, since winter of 2005.

DiCaprio sued Playgirl magazine to stop the New York-based monthly magazine from publishing unauthorized nude photos of him in its July 1998 issue. Some reports claim the photos were secretly taken while the actor was lounging in the nude, while others say they came from stills of his nude scenes in, or from outtakes of, the movie Total Eclipse. The case was settled on June 29, 1998 for an undisclosed amount.

A registered Democrat in California, DiCaprio has been active in promoting moderately progressive causes, and in 2004 supported Senator John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign.

DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for opting to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets (and therefore using more fuel). He has also mentioned that his house has solar panels, that he owns a Toyota Prius, and has bought hybrids for family members.

Filmography

Awards and nominations