Leonardo DiCaprio: Snapshot

Name
Leonardo DiCaprio
Date of Birth
November 11, 1974
Birth Place
Hollywood, Calif.
Teen fans sobbed when Leonardo DiCaprio, with his beguiling, baby-faced good looks, slipped into watery oblivion in 1997's megahit Titanic. However, the formerly hard-partying heartthrob with a penchant for supermodels has also shown his acting range and talent by taking on risky, challenging roles.

In 2006, his dramatic performances in Blood Diamond and The Departed put DiCaprio in competition with himself for the Best Actor Golden Globe, and he collected his third Oscar nomination for Diamond.

The star is private about his personal life, which includes romances with supermodel Gisele Bündchen, Israeli beauty Bar Refaeli and actress Blake Lively. He does, however, speak out about environmental issues, raising awareness of global warming.

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Leonardo DiCaprio: Five Fun Facts

  1. Leonardo DiCaprio made his film debut in the campy horror film Critters 3.
  2. At 3, Leonardo DiCaprio was fired from his first gig on the children's show Romper Room for being disruptive.
  3. In junior high, Leonardo DiCaprio did impersonations and scared his teachers with his imitation of murderer Charles Manson.
  4. Sharon Stone reportedly gave up part of her salary to get Leonardo DiCaprio cast in the western The Quick and the Dead. "I was dying to have him be in this movie," Stone told EW. "I would have carried the boy on my back to the set every day if that's what it would have taken."
  5. On the first day of filming Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio walked into Kate Winslet's dressing room to find her preparing for their nude scene, in the buff. Winslet tells PEOPLE: "He saw me and went 'Whooa!' and I said 'We're going to spend the whole day like this; we might as well get over it now.' That broke the ice."

Leonardo DiCaprio: Biography

1988

Leonardo DiCaprio

Higher Learning

While attending John Marshall High School in L.A., DiCaprio follows his older stepbrother, Adam Farrar, into TV commercials. He signs with an agent and does an ad for Matchbox cars at 14. Though he completes high school with a tutor, he tells the San Francisco Examiner, "life is my college."

1991

Leonardo DiCaprio

February 20

Bum Role

After making his film debut in the campy horror film Critters 3, DiCaprio lands a recurring role as a homeless kid on Growing Pains. "I thought that on my gravestone they were going to write, 'This was the guy from Growing Pains,'" DiCaprio says in 1993. The show's star Alan Thicke requests to expand DiCaprio's role, which proves futile.

1993

Leonardo DiCaprio

April 09

This Boy's Break

DiCaprio beats out hundreds of actors for the role of Robert De Niro's stepson in This Boy's Life. In 1996, he reunites with De Niro, who handpicks him to play a troubled teen in Marvin's Room. "He's always so compelling," costar Meryl Streep tells PEOPLE. "You can't watch anything else when he's acting."

Read More on Leonardo DiCaprio's Life

Photo Credits

Top Left: Peter Youngblood Hills/JBGPhoto

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): ABC/Photofest; Everett Collection

Edited by Janet Mock and Julia Wang

Leonardo DiCaprio

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