Actor’s Spotlight: Leonardo DiCaprio

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Leonardo DiCaprio is a veteran actor on the small and the big screen. He’s starred in top heavyweight movies such as Titanic (1997), Django Unchained (2012), The Great Gatsby (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2014) and many others.

He was born in 1974 in Los Angeles, California and with the influence of his parents to dive deeper into his creative side, DiCaprio began looking for work as an actor. However, his career as an actor didn’t begin until he reached his early teens. He started making appearances on television shows such as The New Lassie and Roseanne, as well as the short lived program, Parenthood. He became a semi-regular cast member on the hit show Growing Pains and made his first film debut in the low budget horror flick, Critters, that same year.

But it was DiCaprio’s role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape that made his talent a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. His role as a young kid with a mental disability in the 1993 film placed him alongside Johnny Depp as an actor who was much sought after. DiCaprio’s role earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category and solidified his reputation as an exemplary thespian. He continued to make films with heavy hitters well into his career. In 1996 he starred in Baz Luhrmann’s, Romeo and Juliet and made fans shed a tear with his role as Jack Dawson in the movie classic, Titanic, which was released the following year.

In 2006 he starred in The Departed, a dramatic thriller co-starring Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. The film earned DiCaprio his third Academy Award nomination. In 2012 DiCaprio played a slave owner in Quentin Tarrintino’s action packed western, D’Jango Unchained, co-starring Jamie Foxx. The following year he appeared in Luhrmann’s remake of the classic novel, The Great Gatsby as Jay Gatsby.

His recent film, The Revenant was difficult to shoot due to the weather, however, DiCaprio’s performance has stunned audiences and critics worldwide and he was awarded a Golden Globe in the Best Actor category for the role. The Revenant is up for 12 Oscar nominations this year and Leo’s fans are hoping he scores his first one.