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Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio is an award-winning actor and a three-time Academy Award nominee. He most recently garnered a 2009 Best Actor Golden Globe nomination for his work as Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road.

He earned his most recent Oscar nod in 2007 for his performance in Edward Zwick's drama Blood Diamond, also receiving Golden Globe, Critics' Choice and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations for his work in the film. That same year, DiCaprio garnered Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award and SAG Award nominations for his role in the Oscar-winning Best Picture The Departed, which marked his third collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. He also shared in a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Cast Performance with his castmates from The Departed.

He previously earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Scorsese's acclaimed 2004 biopic The Aviator. DiCaprio's portrayal of Howard Hughes in that film also brought him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama, as well as Critics' Choice Award and BAFTA Award nominations. In addition, he was honored with two SAG Award nominations, one for Best Actor and another for Outstanding Cast Performance as part of the film's cast.

This past year DiCaprio also starred in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies. Born in Hollywood, California, DiCaprio started acting at the age of 14. His breakthrough feature film role came when director Michael Caton-Jones cast him as Tobias Wolff in the 1993 screen adaptation of Wolff's autobiographical drama This Boy's Life, in which he starred with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. That same year, DiCaprio co-starred with Johnny Depp in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, earning 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 for his work in the film.

In 1995, DiCaprio had starring roles in three very different films, beginning with Sam Raimi's Western The Quick and the Dead with Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe. He also garnered praise for his performance as drug addict Jim Carroll in the harrowing drama The Basketball Diaries, and for his portrayal of 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. In addition, he joined an all-star ensemble cast in Marvin's Room, sharing a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Cast Performance with his fellow cast members, including Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro.

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 remains the top-grossing film of all time. His subsequent film work includes dual roles in The Man in the Iron Mask; The Beach; Woody Allen's Celebrity; Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, for which he earned another Golden Globe nomination; and Gangs of New York, which was his first film for director Martin Scorsese.

Apart from his acting career, DiCaprio is well known for his dedication to helping the environment on a global level. By launching the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 and later LeonardoDiCaprio.org, he has collaborated with other organizations to foster awareness of the environment. The Foundation places particular emphasis on the issues of global warming, alternative and renewable energy sources and the preservation of the planet's biodiversity. He serves on the boards of the NRDC and Global Green USA. In 2007, he wrote, produced and narrated the acclaimed environmentally themed documentary The 11th Hour.

In early 2008, the DiCaprio Foundation joined the California Community Foundation, and is now known as The Leonardo DiCaprio Fund at CCF. The fund will continue to support environmental causes through grant-making and active participation.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2010.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Leonardo DiCaprio Facts

Birth NameLeonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
OccupationActor
BirthdayNovember 11, 1974 (49)
SignScorpio
BirthplaceHollywood, California, USA
Height6' 1" (1m85)  How tall is Leonardo DiCaprio compared to you?
Awards2005 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) user recommendation 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)
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