To point out Titanic and the films of Martin Scorsese would not describe the full power of Leonardo DiCaprio’s art. It is practically impossible to contain his filmography in a succinct one-paragraph thesis. He definitively became one of the greats of the history of acting shortly after his forties, and although since then he has devoted himself much more to production roles, documentaries and his climatic activities, he managed to excel in three more significant feature films even before his fifties.
Almost every DiCaprio role would be worth a separate analysis. As an 18-year-old, he conquered the film world with the role of a 17-year-old in Hallström’s socio-critical classic, four years later he dominated male Hollywood in Cameron’s Titanic, but he also shined in the lesser-known film The Man in the Iron Mask, in which he portrayed two extremely different personalities of the royal twins.
In the same year, he was “borrowed” by Woody Allen for one film, and his important stage with Scorsese took place in quick succession, interspersed with blockbusters from Boyle, Spielberg, Mendes, R. Scott, Nolan and Eastwood. It also appeared in two Tarantino films, and in the meantime he finally received an Oscar statuette after five other nominationsthree of them in the category of the main male role.
Among all his colleagues, Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio has perhaps the most symbolic date of birth. He was born on November 11, 1974 in the suburb of Los Angeles, which is called Hollywood. His parents are of German descent, and his grandparents are of Russian and Italian descent. Since he was a child, he “sewed devils”, he entertained the wider family with his pieces, which indicated great performance skills.
His downright galactic career after two minor roles he started in the drama From the Life of a Boy (1993), directed by Michael Caton-Jones. He played alongside the famous Robert de Niro, with whom he was later connected by “court” acting for Martin Scorsese. In that year, he also brilliantly portrayed a mentally disabled boy in a film by Swedish director Lasse Hallström.
For his performance in the superbly tuned drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? received his first Oscar nomination. She was an actor in a supporting role, because the main one (Gilbert Grape) was similarly excellently played by Johnny Depp.
The offers for DiCaprio poured in, and in 1995, the Fast and the Dead (1995) directed by Sam Raimi and Total Eclipse by Agnieszka Holland were added to his account. A year later Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann) and the main role of a rebellious lover brought him an award at the Berlinale film festival.
He gained even greater fame in 1997 for Titanic, a blockbuster directed by James Camerona disaster drama about the sinking of a legendary luxury liner. Paradoxically neither he nor Kate Winslet as his partner in the main roles received an Oscar, although the film itself has won a record eleven so far (together).. Leonard did not miss the nomination in competition with the winning Nicholson and Duvall, Damon, Fonda and Hoffman.
Even in the following years, the popular and obviously skilled acting superstar did not get his way with the “film academics”. At the same time, DiCaprio excelled in distinctive films under the baton of world-famous directors.
True, the year 1998 gave him two less successful films, but in The Man in the Iron Mask (dir. Randall Wallace) he authentically portrayed two different personalities of one face, and Celebrity was directed by the unique Woody Allen. Danny Boyle’s colorful film The Beach (2000) did not charm the critics, but the general public did and the Hollywood master performed one of his most memorable roles in it.
In 2002, the first of numerous fruitful collaborations with Martin Scorsese took place. The American super director cast him in Gangs in New Yorka drama that earned 9 nominations at the Academy Awards, but failed to win once. Again, DiCaprio was not even shortlisted. It wasn’t until two years later, when the star duo brought the film The Aviator to cinemas, which received 5 awards out of 11 nominations. among them Cate Blanchett for a supporting role. However, the most desirable statuettes, i.e. the film, the director and the main actor, went into the hands of others.
Similarly, two more years later, when DiCaprio’s nomination for the film Blood Diamond (dir. Edward Zwick) was not enough for the award. The cynical paradox was that in the same period, the in-demand actor also managed the main role in the excellent thriller Hidden Identity, which won the Oscar as a film and Scorsese as a director. Meanwhile, the still young Leonardo starred in the entertaining “biography” Catch Me If You Can (2002) directed by Steven Spielberg.
In 2008, Sam Mendes “brushed off” the collaboration between DiCaprio and Winslet in the powerful drama Emergency Exit. In the same year, Ridley Scott directed the high-quality spy thriller Labyrinth of Lies, Scorsese in the 2010 mystery thriller Cursed Island (2010) and Christopher Nolan’s successful sci-fi Inception.
But not even four significant leading roles brought DiCaprio even a nomination for the most important acting trophy. In 2011, he confirmed his ability to perfectly play any real-life historical figure in the biographical drama J. Edgar (dir. Clint Eastwood) and In 2012, Quentin Tarantino cast him in a supporting role in Django Unchained.
And the journey of the producer, to which the charismatic actor was invited by his friend Martin Scorsese, did not lead to the desired prize either. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) he was nominated in the shortlist in three main categories (Leonardo and as an actor), but again the statuette was not made. Another paradox – the superhero was favored by “academics” for his performance in the adaptation of Francis S. Fitzgerald’s literary classic The Great Gatsby (dir. Baz Luhrmann), but the extremely anticipated picture, although it was not unsuccessful, remained in the shadow of several others.
But in 2015, it was a surprise in the opposite guard, and Leonardo DiCaprio was waiting. Alejandro Iñárritu made a tough, nearly three-hour action drama with western elements, and although The Revenant Resurrection didn’t win it overall, the director won the second Oscar in a row and helped the actor to it, who, according to some critics and many fans, should have received it earlier and not for an unconventional role in a year of weaker competition.
In the following years, he took a break from acting in feature films. However, he was not idle, he devoted himself primarily to developing his production career. In 2019, however, Tarantino “broke” him for his next unusual project and in an acting explosion he met Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt. Then in Hollywood, a colorful and somewhat dark comedy set against the backdrop of the Manson gang murders, earned DiCaprio his seventh Oscar nomination and fifth in the leading actor category (Pitt won in a supporting role).
Two years later, he played the main role in the catastrophic-political dark satire K zemi hľaľ! (dir. Adam McKay). A big thing happened last year when director Scorsese’s great collaboration with two of his favorite actors, DiCaprio and De Niro, hit theaters. Western crime drama Killers of the Moon of Flowers earned up to 10 nominations for the Oscar, and although it did not turn into an award, it earned wide recognition for the creators and actors.
In 2005, an incident at a big party in Los Angeles threatened the stellar and increasingly promising career of an actor. DiCaprio was attacked for no reason with a broken glass in her hand by a former model who later received a two-year prison sentence for her actshe confessed to the attack. She was allegedly called to leave the event before the incident.
The actor was taken to the clinic with numerous injuries on his face and neck, and his wounds were sewn up with 17 stitches. Paradoxically, an idol who is still single and he dated multiple women, did not know the attacking model and was a disinterested victim.
DiCaprio has in addition to the film interests also in the sphere of environmental and animal protection. He is one of the leading representatives of activism in the fight against the pollution of the planet, communicates about it on social networks and, depending on time, also speaks at international forums. His foundation donates large sums of dollars to the fight against climate change or to save areas such as the endemic Galapagos archipelago.
He does not avoid philanthropy either, as a self-donor or a significant participant in campaigns supported people affected by earthquakes in Haiti, hurricanes in the USA, fires in Australia, the war in Ukraine, or a fund for poor children in Armenia.
