Leonardo DiCaprio
Born in Hollywood, California, DiCaprio started acting at the age of 14. Following small parts on television, commercials and in films, he landed a regular role on the hit sitcom Growing Pains. His breakthrough feature film role came when director Michael Caton-Jones cast him in the coveted role of Tobias Wolff in the screen adaptation of Wolff's autobiographical drama, This Boy's Life, in which DiCaprio starred with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.
DiCaprio then starred with Johnny Depp in 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, garnering his first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his performance as a mentally handicapped young man. In addition, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's New Generation Award.
In 1995, DiCaprio had starring roles in three very diverse films, beginning with Sam Raimi's Western The Quick and the Dead, with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. Continuing to challenge himself, DiCaprio received praise for his performance as drug addict Jim Carroll in the harrowing drama The Basketball Diaries, and then portrayed the disturbed pansexual poet Arthur Rimbaud in Agnieszka Holland's Total Eclipse.
The following year, DiCaprio starred in Baz Luhrmann's contemporary screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. That same year, he joined an all-star ensemble cast, including Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro, in Marvin's Room, sharing in a SAG Award nomination for Best Ensemble Cast.
In 1997, DiCaprio starred in the blockbuster Titanic, for which he earned a Golden Globe Award nomination. The film shattered every box office record on its way to winning 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, and is still the top-grossing film of all time. He subsequently played dual roles in The Man in the Iron Mask, and then starred in The Beach and Woody Allen's Celebrity.
DiCaprio gained his third Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of con man Frank Abagnale in 2002's Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg. Also that year, he starred in the drama Gangs of New York, which marked his first collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. DiCaprio most recently starred in Scorsese's The Departed, with Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.
Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
| Birth Name | Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Birthday | November 11, 1974 (35) |
| Sign | Scorpio |
| Birthplace | Hollywood, California, USA |
| Height | 6' 1" (1m85) |
| Awards | 2005 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (for The Aviator) |
| 1998 MTV Movie Awards: Best Male Performance (for Titanic) |
Selected Filmography
| The Departed (2006) |
| The Aviator (2004) |
| Catch Me If You Can (2002) |
| Gangs of New York (2002) |
| The Beach (2000) |
| The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) |
Titanic (1997)  as Jack Dawson (breakthrough) |
| William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (1996) |
| Quick and the Dead (1995) |
| The Basketball Diaries (1995) |
| What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) |