Oscar Profile #339: Leonardo DiCaprio

Born November 11, 1974 in Los Angeles, California, Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is the son of a German born mother of German and Russian descent and a father of Italian and German descent. His mother worked as a legal secretary and his father as an underground performance artist. They separated when he was just a year old and divorced soon after. Although he lived mostly with his mother, he spent part of his childhood living with his maternal grandparents in Germany.

DiCaprio made his first TV appearance at the age of four in an episode of Romper Room. Ten years later he began showing up in featured roles on various TV shows. He made his film debut in 1991’s Critters 3 and drew attention in the TV series, Growing Pains during its 1991-1992 season. He became a star as Robert De Niro’s stepson in 1993’s This Boy’s Life and has remained one ever since, earning his first Oscar nomination for the same year’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in which he played Johnny Depp’s mentally handicapped brother. His received further critical acclaim for his performances in two 1995 films, Total Eclipse and The Basketball Diaires. He then starred in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet and co-starred with Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton in the same year’s Marvin’s Room.

The actor had his biggest early success opposite Kate Winslet in the Oscar winning 1997 blockbuster, Titanic. His next few films including 1998’s The Man in the Iron Mask and 2000’s The Beach were not major successes, but he rebounded with his work for stronger directors such as Martin Scorsese in 2002’s Gangs of New York and Steven Spielberg in the same year’s Catch Me If You Can.

DiCaprio earned his second Oscar nomination, his first in lead, for his portrayal of Howard Hughes in Scorsese’s 2004 film, The Aviator. Expected to be Oscar nominated again for Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar winner, The Departed, he was nominated instead for Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond that year. Reunited with Kate Winslet for 2007’s Revolutionary Road, for which both received Golden Globe nominations, he failed to make that year’s Oscar cut. He had two major successes in 2010 with Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Christopher Nolan’s Inception. He was again nominated for a Golden Globe for Clint Eastwood’s 2011 film, J. Edgar, but once again failed to receive an Oscar nod.

2012 found DiCaprio in a major supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, but despite another Golden Globe nomination, he failed once again to make Oscar’s list of nominees. In 2013 he starred in Baz Luhrmann’s remake of The Great Gatsby and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, earning his second Oscar nomination for lead actor and his first as producer of a Best Picture nominee for the latter. His next film, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s 2015 film, The Revenant would finally put him in Oscar’s winner circle.
DiCaprio has been a major environmentalist and philanthropist since he was first able to donate his time and money after the success of Titanic twenty years ago. His good works would take up another two pages to document. Suffice to say he is someone who puts money where his mouth is. Next up for the 42-year-old actor is the film version of Stephan Talty’s The Black Hand.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (1993), directed by Lasse Hallstrom

DiCaprio was already one of the year’s brightest film discoveries thanks to his sit-up-and-take-notice performance as abusive Robert De Niro’s rebellious 1950s step-son in This Boy’s Life earlier in the year. The year-end release of Gilbert Grape in which he played Johnny Depp’s mentally handicapped younger brother was the icy on the cake of his burgeoning career. Depp, DiCaprio and Darlene Cates as their morbidly obese mother formed one of the screen’s most compelling family units. Numerous year-end awards ensued including a much-deserved Oscar nomination for the 19-year-old.

TITANIC (1997), directed by James Cameron

A box-office phenomenon and for the next 22 years, the biggest money-making film in Hollywood history, this meticulously detailed reenactment of the 1912 sinking of the luxurious ocean-liner was at its heart a terrifically entertaining romance between teenage aristocrat Kate Winslet and third-class passenger DiCaprio. Both Winslet and DiCaprio emerged as superstars and 87-year-old Gloria Stuart as Winslet’s character at 101 had one of the most remarkable comebacks of all time. Nominated for 14 Oscars and winner of 11, only DiCaprio was left out of the All About Eve record-tying nominations.

THE DEPARTED (2006), directed by Martin Scorsese

If Robert De Niro was Scorsese’s early muse, DiCaprio, who emerged as a star opposite DeNiro in This Boy’s Life, is his late career muse. The two had already worked together on Gangs of New York for which Scorsese was Oscar-nominated and Aviator for which they were both nominated. Nominated for the sixth time as Best Director, Scorsese would finally win. DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg led the high-powered cast of this remake of Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs but only Wahlberg emerged as an Oscar nominee.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (1942), directed by Martin Scorsese

The culmination of the Scorsese-DiCaprio collaboration thus far, which also included Shuttered Island, earned DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination for Best Picture, having co-produced the film with Scorsese, as well as his fourth for acting. One of the first of the recent films centering on the life of a scoundrel, DiCaprio lets loose as Jordan Belfort, a wealthy stockbroker living the high life whose trading schemes are finally uncovered by the FBI leading to his eventual fall. The film also earned nominations for Scorsese as Best Director, Terence Winter for his screenplay and Jonah Hill for his supporting performance.

THE REVENANT (2015), directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

The odd title means one who has returned, as if from the dead. The gory film was based on the real-life legend of an 1820s-frontiersman left for dead after a bear attack. Speculated sight unseen all year-long to be the one to beat for 2015 Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor and Cinematography, the internet’s crystal ball readers proved prescient in three of those categories as the film did win for Cinematography, Direction (Inarritu’s second in a row after winning for Birdman the year before and finally, Best Actor for DiCaprio. The gory film lost Best Picture to the newspaper drama, Spotlight.