- Bought Kate Winslet an inscribed gold ring, after they finished filming Revolutionary Road (2008) together. However, Winslet keeps the inscription a secret.
- DiCaprio, along with Kate Winslet and director James Cameron, publicly pledged to support the financial future of the last living Titanic survivor, Millvina Dean, after it was reported that she had been forced to sell her mementos to pay for nursing home bills. (May 2009)
- Is named after Leonardo Da Vinci because he first kicked in his mother's womb when she saw Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork at the Uffizi Gallery, his artist father felt it was apt. His paternal grandfather's middle name happens to be Leon.
- Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson are his favorite actors.
- (December 26, 2012) Attended Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll's wedding in a private ceremony in New York. He also gave the bride away.
- (December 23, 2004) Mentioned in an interview with Katie Couric that while filming The Aviator (2004), it brought back his own obsessive-compulsive disorder that he had as a child.
- He once said that playing Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) was "the most fun I've ever had".
- Was initially cast as "Patrick Bateman" in American Psycho (2000) - for which he was reputedly offered over $20 million - but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Christian Bale took the role instead.
- At age 10, his agent advised him to change his name to a more American-friendly Lenny Williams. Needless to say, he did not follow that advice.
- In January 1999, his lawyers filed an application to allow DiCaprio to copyright his own name.
- Kate Winslet considers him the best actor of his generation.
- In March 1998, he sued Playgirl magazine over plans to publish pictures -- including full frontal nudity -- of himself.
- He purchased a 104-acre island off the coast of Belize in 2005 and plans to develop a resort with renewable energy sources. Purchase price for the island, Blackadore Caye, was estimated to be $1.75 million.
- Is an avid beekeeper.
- Outbid Paris Hilton at a Cannes charity auction for a Chanel handbag, which he gave to his mother.
- Childhood friends with Tobey Maguire and the late Christopher Pettiet.
- In his childhood, he and his mother lived in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles which he describes as "Ghettos of Hollywood".
- Quentin Tarantino considered casting Leo as SS Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009), but he eventually chose Christoph Waltz to play the role instead.
- Has said his two favorite performances are Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) and James Dean's Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955).
- Was considering starring in a movie about actor James Dean, but turned down the role because he felt he wasn't experienced enough to do the film. (1996)
- Martin Scorsese is his favorite director.
- Has worked with numerous acclaimed directors: Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Danny Boyle, Lasse Hallström, Baz Luhrmann, Sam Raimi, and Edward Zwick.
- In 2006 in "The Independent", he named his ten favorite movies as: Bicycle Thieves (1948), Taxi Driver (1976), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 8½ (1963), The Third Man (1949), Yojimbo (1961), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Shining (1980) and East of Eden (1955).
- In 1994, he became the seventh youngest actor ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 19. He was nominated for his performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).
- As of 2016, Leo has been nominated for 38 different awards (6 Academy Awards, 4 BAFTA Awards, 11 Golden Globe Awards, 9 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 7 Critics' Choice Awards and 1 Emmy Award), but has only won 3 Golden Globes (the first was for The Aviator (2004) in 2005, the second for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) in 2014 and the third for The Revenant (2015) in 2016), 1 SAG Award (for The Revenant), 1 BAFTA award (for The Revenant) and 2 Critics' Choice awards (the first for The Wolf of Wall Street in 2014 and the second for The Revenant in 2016). He won his first Oscar for The Revenant on February 28, 2016, on his fifth acting nomination and 22 years after his first nomination for What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).
- Voluntarily surrendered several works of art worth millions of dollars and an Oscar statuette that once belonged to Marlon Brando to the U.S. Government, as part of its ongoing investigation into a money laundering operation connected to Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
- He is an environmental conservationist and often advocates and supports natural causes.
- Was considered for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man (2002), which went to Tobey Maguire.
- His favorite actress of all time is Meryl Streep.
- Was offered the role of the porn star Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights (1997) at around the same time as he was offered his role in Titanic (1997). The Dirk Diggler role eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.
- Filed police charges after being attacked with a bottle by a Canadian ex-model while leaving a private party. Although the wound was very close to his jugular vein, it was not expected to delay production on his latest movie. (June 2005)
- Campaigned for the role of John Dillinger in Public Enemies (2009), but Johnny Depp was cast in the role instead.
- He has appeared in eleven films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Titanic (1997), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Inception (2010), Django Unchained (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Revenant (2015), Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), Don't Look Up (2021) and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). Titanic and The Departed won in the category.
- Was considered for the role of Anakin Skywalker for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), which went to Hayden Christensen.
- Very good friends with actresses Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard and actors Tom Hardy and Vincent Gallo.
- His father, George DiCaprio, is of German and Italian ancestry and is an underground writer, editor and distributor of comic books. His mother, Irmelin DiCaprio, is of German and Russian ancestry and a former legal secretary.
- Possibly the only actor to play a character in almost every decade spanning the last 165 years.
- After The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), took a 2 year hiatus from acting, citing exhaustion. His next film The Revenant (2015) was released more than two years after The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
- Thanked by Blink-182 in the liner notes of their album "Enema of the State".
- While being interviewed by Entertainment Tonight at the red carpet of the 2016 Golden Globes, he stated that his long-time friend Kate Winslet is his favorite actress in the industry and he would love to work with her again.
- When he was a child, his favorite films were Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Watership Down (1978), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).
- Perhaps one of the most outrageous on-camera introductions ever given to a person (celebrity or otherwise) was the one co-host Tina Fey bestowed on DiCaprio during the 2014 Golden Globes telecast when she asked the audience to give him the same type of warm welcome he's used to receiving from "supermodels' vaginas.".
- While attempting to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia to attend the International Tiger Conservation Forum as a guest of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), but he was held up not once, but twice by flights. The first, Delta Flight 30, which departed from JFK bound for Moscow, was forced to make an emergency landing back at JFK shortly after takeoff due to engine flame out and malfunction, later his replacement flight had to make an unscheduled landing in Helsinki, Finland to refuel due to strong winds over the Atlantic ocean that used up the plane's fuel. Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who hosted the event, acknowledged that a lesser man, "could have read it as a sign - that it was not worth going," but instead Leo, who's late grandparents were Russian, made it to the summit and gained Putin's respect. The summit's aim is to double wild tiger populations worldwide from 3,500 to 7,000 by 2022. While in St. Petersburg, DiCaprio committed $1 million to WWF for urgent tiger conservation efforts through his Fund at the California Community Foundation. (November 2010)
- In 2012, he was featured on Kate Winslet's book "The Golden Hat: Talking Back To Autism", with celebrity self-portraits to raise awareness and support for autism.
- As a board member with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), he has traveled to such places as Bhutan, Nepal and Russia.
- His first Oscar win in February 28, 2016 broke the internet and generated 440,000 Tweets per minute, making it the most-tweeted moment of an Oscars telecast ever, surpassing Ellen DeGeneres' selfie from the 2014 ceremony.
- Turned down the role of Max in Disney's Hocus Pocus (1993) in order to star in the indie flick What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).
- Auditioned for the role of Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman Forever (1995), which went to Chris O'Donnell.
- Owns a production company - Appian Way Productions.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content