Leonardo Wilhelm Dicaprio was born to George and Irmalin DiCaprio on November 11, 1974 in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Los Feliz, California, which Leo describes as “the ghettos of California". He is an only child, though he has a step brother named Adam. His parents divorced each other within a year after he was born. Leonardo gets his Italian background from his father George, who produces underground comic books and comic arts out of his garage. George now helps Leo sift through the many scripts and discarding all of the mainstream roles that most actors take to gain quick fame. Leo prefers the darker more challenging roles. He gets his German background from his Mother Irmalin who was a legal secretary until she began managing her son’s rising career.
Leo was educated at the center fo Enriched Studies and John Marshall High, both located in Los Angeles. He did not like school, and often cheated. He was more interested in entertaining his classmates than doing work. His raucous behavior often got him in trouble. He was kicked off the set of Romper Room at age 5 for is uncontrollable behavior.But his troubles with school didn’t stifle his aspiration to be an actor. He appeared in over 30 commercials, the first being Matchbox Cars, and at 14years old he was finally signed.
He was discouraged, however, when his agent told him his name was too long and ethnic sounding (his Mother named him Leonardo after he swiftly kicked inside the womb while she was looking at a Da Vinci painting in La Louvre in Paris) and suggested he change his name to Lenny Williams. Leonardo refused. He did many educational films such as"How to Deal With Parents who Take Drugs", and “Mickey’s Safety Club",and appeared in many TV shows like Lassie and The Outsiders. He landed his first screen role in 1991 on Critters III (though he’d like to forget that).
At 16,Leo landed the role as a homeless boy named Luke on the last two seasons of Growing Pains. Finally, Leo got his big break in the “coming of age movie This Boy’s Life as Tobias Wolf, opposite Robert DeNiro.Now, at 23, Leonardo DiCaprio has earned his fame. Has completed over 11 motion pictures,including What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best-Supporting Actor) The Basketball Diaries, The Quick and the Dead, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Marvin’s Room and this winters blockbuster Titanic.
Titanic has already grossed over $6 million worldwide, and has boosted Leo’s popularity to the top. Looking at all the different roles Leo has portrayed over the years shows his great capability of playing many different kinds of roles and his natural acting skills. He know show to bring emotion and reality to his roles, and has touched the hearts of millions of people all over the world.