DiCaprio, Leonardo

▪ 2001

      After a two-year absence from the big screen, American actor Leonardo DiCaprio made his much-anticipated return to theatres in 2000, starring in The Beach, a dark film about a young backpacker's search for paradise. It was the first movie he chose to do after Titanic (1997) vaulted him to international stardom, and it was in sharp contrast to the sentimental romance set aboard the doomed ocean liner. Though flooded with offers to appear in blockbusters and other mainstream fare after Titanic, DiCaprio instead embraced roles that featured the complex and unconventional characters that had come to define his career. While The Beach's mixed reviews and less-than-titanic performance at the box office might have ended DiCaprio's reign as “king of the world,” his daring choice of roles and innate talent placed him among acting's elite. In late 2000 he began work on his next film, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a period piece about gangsters in New York City in the mid-1800s.

      Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born on Nov. 11, 1974, in Los Angeles. He first acted at the age of five, performing on the children's television show Romper Room, and as a teenager made numerous commercials and educational films. In 1988 he began appearing on a series of television shows, including The New Lassie and Santa Barbara, and in 1991 he landed a recurring role on Growing Pains. That year he also made his big-screen debut in Critters 3, a low-budget horror film. DiCaprio's breakthrough came in 1992 when he beat out 400 other hopefuls to act opposite Robert De Niro in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio earned rave reviews, and for his next film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), he received an Academy Award nomination for his realistic portrayal of a mentally disabled teenager. Several independent movies followed, including The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Total Eclipse (1995), which focused on poet Arthur Rimbaud's homosexual relationship with Paul Verlaine. Although the films had little success at the box office, they proved DiCaprio a fearless and gifted actor.

      In the mid-1990s DiCaprio began to attract a wider audience with more mainstream movies. He became a teen heartthrob after starring in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996), a modern retelling of the classic love story, and with the release of Titanic, he was firmly established as a leading man. His good looks and his poignant portrayal of Jack Dawson, a penniless artist who falls in love with an upper-class passenger, helped make Titanic the highest-grossing film ever. One of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, he proved his star power by propelling The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), a movie made before the release of Titanic, to box-office success despite mixed reviews. Described as an avid partygoer in the media, DiCaprio parodied his reputation in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998). In 2000 he recast his public image as that of an environmental activist, hosting Earth Day festivities and interviewing U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton for a television special on global warming.

Amy Tikkanen

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▪ American actor and producer

in full  Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio 

born Nov. 11, 1974, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.

 

 American actor and producer, who emerged in the 1990s as one of Hollywood's leading performers, noted for his portrayals of unconventional and complex characters.

      DiCaprio first acted at age five, performing on the children's television show Romper Room, and, as a teenager, he made numerous commercials and educational films. In 1990 he began appearing on a series of television shows, including The New Lassie and Roseanne, and in 1991 he was cast in a recurring role on Growing Pains. That year DiCaprio also made his big-screen debut in Critters 3, a low-budget horror film.

      DiCaprio's breakthrough came in 1992 when he beat out 400 other hopefuls to act opposite Robert De Niro (De Niro, Robert) in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio earned rave reviews, and for his next film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), he received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his realistic portrayal of a mentally disabled teenager. Several independent movies followed, including The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Total Eclipse (1995), which focused on poet Arthur Rimbaud (Rimbaud, Arthur)'s homosexual relationship with Paul Verlaine (Verlaine, Paul).

 In the mid-1990s DiCaprio began to attract a wider audience with more mainstream films. He became a teen heartthrob after starring in Baz Luhrmann's screen-adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996), a modern retelling of the classic love story. In 1997 DiCaprio was launched into international stardom with the release of James Cameron's epic Titanic. His good looks and poignant portrayal of Jack Dawson, a penniless artist who falls in love with an upper-class passenger (played by Kate Winslet), helped make Titanic the highest-grossing film ever.

 Though flooded with offers to appear in blockbusters and other mainstream fare, DiCaprio instead embraced roles that featured the complex characters that had come to define his career. In 2000 he starred in The Beach, a dark film about a young backpacker's search for paradise. Two years later he appeared in Martin Scorsese (Scorsese, Martin)'s Gangs of New York, a period piece about gangsters in New York City in the mid-1800s. That year he also starred opposite Tom Hanks (Hanks, Tom) as the real-life con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr., in Steven Spielberg (Spielberg, Steven)'s Catch Me If You Can. Reteaming with Scorsese, DiCaprio portrayed a young Howard Hughes (Hughes, Howard) in The Aviator (2004), for which he received a best actor Academy Award nomination.

      DiCaprio's later works include a third collaboration with Scorsese, The Departed (2006), and Blood Diamond (2006). Both films garnered DiCaprio some of the best reviews of his career, and he earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a diamond smuggler in the latter film. In 2008 he starred as a CIA agent hunting down a terrorist on the run in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies. DiCaprio again paired with Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008), an adaptation of the novel by Richard Yates that depicts a young couple struggling to reconcile their unconventional aspirations with a stifling existence in 1950s suburbia.

      DiCaprio also became active in a number of causes, most notably those involving environmental issues. In 2000 he hosted Earth Day festivities and interviewed U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton for a television special on global warming. In 2004 DiCaprio joined the boards of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA. The 11th Hour, an environmental documentary that he wrote and narrated, premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2007.

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