LEONARDO DiCAPRIO (Billy), a two-time Academy Award nominee, earned his most recent Oscar nod for his portrayal of Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed 2004 biopic “The Aviator.” For his performance in that film, DiCaprio also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama, and received Critics’ Choice Award and BAFTA Award nominations. In addition, he was honored with two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations, one for Best Actor and another as part of the “The Aviator” cast, nominated for Best Ensemble. In 2004, DiCaprio was also named the Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film Festival.
Born in Hollywood, California, DiCaprio started acting at the age of 14.
Following small parts on television, commercials and in films, he landed a regular role on the hit sitcom “Growing Pains.” His breakthrough feature film role came when director Michael Caton-Jones cast him in the coveted role of Tobias Wolff in the screen adaptation of Wolff’s autobiographical drama, “This Boy’s Life,” in which DiCaprio starred with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.
DiCaprio then starred with Johnny Depp in 1993’s “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” garnering his first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his performance as a mentally handicapped young man. In addition, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s New Generation Award.
In 1995, DiCaprio had starring roles in three very diverse films, beginning with Sam Raimi’s Western “The Quick and the Dead,” with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. Continuing to challenge himself, DiCaprio received praise for his performance as drug addict Jim Carroll in the harrowing drama “The Basketball Diaries,” and then portrayed the disturbed pansexual poet Arthur Rimbaud in Agnieszka Holland’s “Total Eclipse.”
The following year, DiCaprio starred in Baz Luhrmann’s contemporary screen adaptation of “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet,” for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. That same year, he joined an all-star ensemble cast, including Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro, in “Marvin’s Room,” sharing in a SAG Award nomination for Best Ensemble Cast.
In 1997, DiCaprio starred in the blockbuster “Titanic,” for which he earned a Golden Globe Award nomination. The film shattered every box office record on its way to winning 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, and is still the top-grossing film of all time. He subsequently played dual roles in “The Man in the Iron Mask,” and then starred in “The Beach” and Woody Allen’s “Celebrity.”
DiCaprio gained his third Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of con man Frank Abagnale in 2002’s “Catch Me If You Can,” directed by Steven Spielberg. Also that year, he starred in the drama “Gangs of New York,” which marked his first collaboration with director Martin Scorsese.
DiCaprio next stars in the drama “Blood Diamond,” directed by Edward Zwick, which is due out this December.
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