Heartthrob. Environmentalist. Oscar winner (Finally). Since first appearing on screen in 1979, Leonardo DiCaprio has carved out an powerful career in television and film, rocketing to international fame after playing Jack in the epic romance Titanic. Since then, he has earned critical approval for his work in a range of genres including Gangs of New York, Wolf of Wall Street, and The Revenant. Here are 27 little-known facts about Leonardo DiCaprio.
1-5 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
1. Robert De Niro allegedly hand-picked DiCaprio from some hundreds of boys for the role of Toby in the film, This Boy’s Life. It was the breakthrough movie in Leo’s career.
2. His mother, Irmelin Indenbirken named him Leonardo because when she was pregnant and staring at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum when Leo first kicked.
3. During the dinner scene in Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio slammed his fist on the table, breaking glass and cutting his hand severely. However, DiCaprio never broke character and finished the scene with real blood dripping down his hand.
4. DiCaprio’s first onscreen appearance was within the children’s TV program Romper Room, but he was fired for being too disruptive.
5. At the age of 10, When Leo first started as an actor, his agent suggested him to change his name to Lenny Williams to sound “more American.”
But, Leo wisely declined.
6-10 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
6. Quentin Tarantino wanted DiCaprio to play the role of the Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, but DiCaprio said no, and the role went to Christoph Waltz, who won his first Oscar for his marvelous performance.
7. While filming Blood Diamond in South Africa, DiCaprio “adopted” a South African daughter that he met at an orphanage. He sends her a cheque once a month and talks on the phone together with her regularly.
8. He smokes only e-cigarettes.
9. In 2005, Aretha Wilson, a model, hit him over the head with a broken bottle at a party. The injury was so lethal that Leo needed 17 stitches to close up his face and ear.
In 2010, She was declared guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail.
10. Leonardo Dicaprio, magician David Blaine, actor Tobey Maguire, and writer/director Harmony Korine formed an entourage and was nicknamed “[nickname for female genitalia] Posse,” and their deeds were famously detailed in a New York magazine profile of the actor by writer Nancy Jo Sales.
11-15 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
11. As of 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio’s net worth is over $260 million.
Read more: 22 Actors Who Turned Down Famous Movie Roles
12. In 2010, DiCaprio donated a whopping $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society at Russia’s tiger summit. Despite multiple plane delays, DiCaprio persisted in making it to the event, which prompted Vladimir Putin to describe him as a “real man.”
13. In 2007 there was a fierce bidding war for a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skull (A close relative to the T-Rex). Since it was the largest dinosaur skull to ever be auctioned, the numbers were monstrous. Ultimately, there were only two men left feverishly bidding, actors Nicholas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio. But Cage ended up with the winning bid for $270,000 and is now the proud owner of a 67 million-year-old skull.
14. DiCaprio was also considered for the role of Peter Parker in Sony’s Spider-Man (2002). But the role chose his childhood friend Tobey Maguire.
15. In 2011, he bought a Salvador Dali painting for $1.2 million. At that very same auction, he was bidding on Picassos but apparently really wanted the Dali.
16-20 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
16. He was called a “spoiled punk” by James Cameron when he refused to go to the Oscars even when Titanic had been nominated that year.
17. When Kate Winslet found out she had to go topless in ‘Titanic’, she flashed young Leo to prepare him for what he was going to encounter later.
18. In 2009, Kate Winslet along with Leo helped pay nursing home fees for the last living Titanic survivor so she wouldn’t have to sell her belongings.
19. Leo and his best pal Toby Maguire made one movie (‘Don’s Plum’) together, and it was so bad that Leo had to take legal action for it to never be released in neither theatres or on DVD in the U.S.
20. He has a pretty unusual pet, a giant tortoise.
21-27 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts
21. Leo has never done drugs and had to talk to a drug expert to help him prepare for Wolf of Wall Street.
22. Leo’s mother was born in Germany, and her heritage has always been extremely important to her. For that reason, she taught her son to talk to her native German early in life. So, yeah Leo is fluent in German.
23. He owns an island off the coast of Belize, which he plans to turn the island into an eco-friendly resort.
24. In 2004, Leo portrayed the autobiography of billionaire and businessman Howard Hughes in The Aviator, which was suffering from a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Leonardo was able to play the role brilliantly, what most of Leonardo’s fans do not know that he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder throughout his life, which he sometimes had to cross the entrances several times and to foot his foot on any gum he saw.
25. Hugh Gas’s role in The Revenant is one of the most challenging and challenging roles for DiCaprio. The film was filmed in regions of Argentina and in Canada with a temperature of 25 degrees below zero, under conditions similar to those experienced by the real Gas. The challenging role made Leo eat a raw bison liver and he even had to spent the night in the corpse of an animal.
26. The iconic line “I’m the king of the world!” from Titanic was actually improvised by Leonardo DiCaprio.
27. Sharon Stone reportedly paid DiCaprio’s entire salary herself, for 1995’s The Quick and the Dead.
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