Born: Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
Birth Date: November 11, 1974
Birth Place: Hollywood, California, USA
Leonardo DiCaprio is an award-winning actor and a three-time Academy Award® nominee. He recently starred in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “Inception,” and in the dramatic thriller “Shutter Island,” which marked his fourth collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. DiCaprio is currently filming the title role in “The Great Gatsby,” under the direction of Baz Luhrmann.
DiCaprio earned his latest 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, he garnered Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award and SAG Award nominations for his role in the Oscar – winning Best Picture “The Departed,” directed by Scorsese. He also shared in a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast Performance as a member of the ensemble cast of “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 and BAFTA Award nominations. He was also honored with two SAG Award® nominations, one for Best Actor and another for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast Performance as part of the “The Aviator” cast.
In addition to his acting work, DiCaprio created his own production company, Appian Way. Under the Appian Way banner, he wrote, produced and narrated the acclaimed environmentally themed documentary “The 11th Hour.” Among Appian Way’s other productions are the aforementioned “Shutter Island” and “The Aviator,” as well as “Orphan,” “Public Enemies,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Gardener of Eden” and “The Assassination of Richard Nixon.”
He also served as executive producer on George Clooney’s current political drama, “The Ides of March.”
Born in Hollywood, California, DiCaprio started acting at the age of 14. His breakthrough feature film role came in Michael Caton-Jones’ 1993 screen adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s autobiographical drama “This Boy’s Life.” That same year, he co-starred 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.” 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. He also joined an all-star ensemble cast in “Marvin’s Room,” sharing in a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast Performance.
In 1997, DiCaprio starred opposite Kate Winslet 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. 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,” receiving a Golden Globe nomination; “Gangs of New York,” which was his first film for director Martin Scorsese; Ridley Scott’s “Body of Lies”; and Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” which reunited DiCaprio with Winslet and brought him his seventh Golden Globe nomination.
DiCaprio is well known for his dedication to the environment on a global scale. By launching the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, producing creative projects such as the documentary “11th Hour,” and spearheading numerous public awareness campaigns with select organizations, he has helped foster awareness and action on environmental issues. In early 2008, the DiCaprio Foundation joined the California Community Foundation, and is now known as The Leonardo DiCaprio Fund at CCF. Additionally, DiCaprio serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund, NRDC, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Global Green USA.
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