Born Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio in Los Angeles, California, on November 11, 1974, he was recognized throughout the 21st century as a popular performer. His first name, Leonardo, was attributed to him by his mother as a consequence of the ‘kick’ he offered her at the time she was drawing at a museum in Italy in front of Leonardo Da Vinci. He is the son of George DiCaprio, an Italian-American comic book dealer, and Irmalin Idenbirkin, a former German legal secretary, who were both separated at the age of Leo in the first year. Leo spent his time in Echo Park, an especially filthy and impoverished, drug-dominated neighborhood of Los Angeles, after his parents were divorced, where he and his stepbrother,

Adam Farrar, were adopted by his mother and stepfather. Leo used to be a naughty and misbehavioral boy during his youth who was almost thrown out of the Romper Room training class he took when he was 3 years old. As any young boy of his generation, Leo spent time going around his everyday life, then entered school age and attended the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies before enrolling at Los Angeles John Marshall High School.

When he started his early acting career, it was never easy for Leo as he had already been refused by an agent who considered his name to be so exotic so that he was recommended to change his name to Lenny Williams. In January 1999, his lawyer also submitted an application for Leo to authorize him to trademark his “prestigious” mark, but he declined to do so and decided to use his name. After that rejection, Leo went on to cast “Parenthood” in the 1990s television sitcom drama series for the part of Garry Buckman, where he encountered fellow actor Tobey Maguire and so both have become best friends ever since. Also in 1990, Leo began to star as Mason Capwell in an American soap opera, Santa Barbara, which aired on NBC from July 30, 1984 to January 15, 1993 for 2137 minutes. In the sitcom “Growing Pains.” Leo was also busy portraying the part of a homeless kid, Luke Brower,

during that span of time. He was primarily notable for his appearances in cinematic motion pictures, mostly for his breakthrough role as Josh in “Critters 3” released in 1991, playing in a bunch of movies.
The career success of Leo came one year later, in 1992, when he played the part of Toby in the drama “This Boy’s Life” (1993), being in the same scene with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. Later on, his performance in the film led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to call him the runner-up for Best Supporting Actor, after which he got more offers and earned more recognition from acting in different films. In “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” the next year, Leo was invited to play a mentally retarded boy and his acting was so convincing that some viewers believed he really was. He was then given an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in A Supporting Role and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in A Supporting Role in A Motion Picture for Best Performance as a prize. This success brought good luck charm for Leo, who next played the lead part in the new iteration of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet.” revised in 1996.

“More and more film offers threatened Leo after the popularity of the flick, but it was the part of Jack Dawson he played in the 1997 romantic thriller film “Titanic” that really capitulated him into the galaxy of superstardom. Not only did it retain the record for the highest-grossing film of all time, earning over US$1.8 billion worldwide, but it also spent 15 weekends at the top of the weekend box office, rendering it second only to “E.T.” (16 weekends) as the film with the most weekends in that role. Other than that, Titanic was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won eleven, including the honor of Best Picture of 1997. In addition, it also earned Leo his 2nd Golden Globe nomination for an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Best Performance. This greatest success in the history of cinema immediately made Leo a household star while still winning him the tag of ‘teenage heart-throb’ and the icon of sex. From that moment on, it was no longer challenging for him to find a high profile and promising film projects to do.

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