Leonardo DiCaprio: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

| awards = '''[[National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor|NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor]]''' 1993 ''[[What's Eating Gilbert Grape]]'' '''[[National Board of Review Award for Best Cast|NBR Award for Best Cast]]''' 2006 ''[[The Departed]]'' '''[[Berlin International Film Festival|Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor]]''' 1996 ''[[William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet|Romeo + Juliet]]''

}}

Line 18 ⟶ 16:

==Biography==

===Childhood===

DiCaprio was born in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], the son of [[George DiCaprio]], an [[underground comix]] artist and distributor of [[~~toilet~~comic ~~plungers!~~books]], and Irmelin Indenbirken, a former [[Paralegal|legal secretary]]. His mother moved from [[Oer-Erkenschwick]], [[Germany]], to the U.S. during her childhood, while his father is of half [[Italian people|Italian]] and half [[Germans|German]] descent.<ref name="DiCaprio1"/> DiCaprio's parents met while attending [[college]] together and subsequently moved to Los Angeles.<ref name="DiCaprio1"/> He was named after artist [[Leonardo da Vinci]], as his pregnant mother was standing in front of a da Vinci painting at a museum in [[Italy]] when DiCaprio first kicked.

DiCaprio’s parents divorced when he was one year old. He lived mostly with his mother, although his father was also around. During his childhood, he attended Canterbury Elementary School. He was interested in [[baseball card]]s, [[comic book]]s and frequently visited [[museum]]s, with his father.<ref name="DiCaprio1"/> He also spent part of his childhood in Germany, where his maternal grandparents, Wilhelm and Helene, still lived, and still speaks German fluently. DiCaprio and his mother lived in several neighborhoods, such as [[Echo Park, Los Angeles, California|Echo Park]].

Line 25 ⟶ 23:

DiCaprio was inspired to become an actor after Adam Starr, a stepson of his father’s from his father's re-marriage, began appearing in commercials.<ref name="DiCaprio1"/> DiCaprio began looking for an agent at the age of twelve, but was initially turned down several times; one agent suggested that he [[Anglicization|anglicize]] his name to “Lenny Williams”, which DiCaprio rejected.<ref name="DiCaprio1"/>

===Early career===

DiCaprio’s acting career began in 1989 when he was cast in the role of Garry Buckman on the TV version of the film ''[[Parenthood]]'', where he met [[Tobey Maguire]], with whom he remains close friends. In that same year, DiCaprio appeared on the [[soap opera]] ''[[Santa Barbara (TV series)|Santa Barbara]]'' in the role of Mason Capwell (in flashbacks as a teenager). From 1991 to 1992 he had the role of Luke Brower, a homeless boy, on ''[[Growing Pains]]''.

However, DiCaprio is most famous for his roles in motion pictures. His debut role was as Josh in ''[[Critters 3]]'' (1991), a film with a limited theatrical release, which was released on video soon after.

Two years later, his breakthrough came with the role of Toby in ''[[This Boy's Life (film)|This Boy's Life]]'' (1993) co-starring with [[Robert De Niro]] and [[Ellen Barkin]], which led the [[New York Film Critics]] and the National Society of [[Film criticism|Film Critics]] to name him [[runner-up]] for [[Best Supporting Actor]]. In the same year he also portrayed a [[mental retardation|mentally handicapped]] boy in ''[[What's Eating Gilbert Grape]]'' (1993). The role earned him an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination at the age of 19.

In 1995, he starred in ''[[Total Eclipse (film)|Total Eclipse]]'', a fictionalized account of the passionate and violent [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] relationship between the two 19th century [[List of French language poets|French poets]], [[Paul Verlaine]] ([[David Thewlis]]) and [[Arthur Rimbaud]] (Leonardo DiCaprio). [[River Phoenix]] was originally cast as the lead in the film, but after his 1993 death, DiCaprio was cast.

The black-and-white movie ''[[Don's Plum]]'', a low-budget drama featuring the actor and some of his friends (including [[Tobey Maguire]]) was filmed between 1995 and 1996. Its release was later blocked in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] by DiCaprio and Maguire, who argued they never intended to make it a theatrical feature. Nevertheless, it later premiered on [[February 9]], [[2001]] in [[Berlin, Germany|Berlin]].

In 1995 he starred as [[Jim Carroll]], a heroin addict in ''[[The Basketball Diaries (film)|The Basketball Diaries]]''. In 1996, DiCaprio also played the male lead in ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'', a slick and updated modern-day version of [[William Shakespeare]]'s play, directed by Australian director [[Baz Luhrmann]]. DiCaprio was reportedly so dedicated to the project, he flew coach class, for free to [[Australia]] a year before production started to workshop the film. Following ''Romeo + Juliet'', in 1996 DiCaprio starred in ''[[Marvin's Room]]'' along side [[Meryl Streep]] and [[Diane Keaton]].

===Superstardom and "Leo-Mania"===

Line 363 ⟶ 374:

{{s-bef|before=[[Jack Nicholson]] for ''[[A Few Good Men]]''}}

{{s-ttl|title=[[National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for ''[[What's Eating Gilbert Grape?]]''|years=1993}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Sean Penn]] for ''[[Mystic River (film)|Mystic River]]''}}

Line 372 ⟶ 383:

==References==

==External links==

*[http://www.leonardodicaprio.com/ Leonardo DiCaprio Official Website]

*[http://www.leonardodicaprio.org/ Leonardo DiCaprio Official Eco-site]

*[http://www.myspace.com/leonardodicaprio Leonardo DiCaprio Official MySpace]

*[http://www.11thhourfilm.com Official DiCaprio Environmental Eleventh Hour film site]

*{{imdb name|id=0000138|name=Leonardo DiCaprio}}

*{{people.com}}

*{{tvtome person|id=6167}}

[[Category:American environmentalists]]

[[Category:American film actors]]

[[Category:American television actors]]

[[Category:American soap opera actors]]

[[Category:American child actors]]

[[Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film)]]

[[Category:German-Americans]]

[[Category:Italian-Americans]]

[[Category:People from Los Angeles]]

[[Category:California actors]]

[[Category:California Democrats]]

[[Category:1974 births]]

[[Category:Living people]]

[[ar:ليوناردو دي كابريو]]