He received his first Oscar nomination when he was a teenager, and the film “Titanic” made him famous around the world. Today, Leonardo DiCaprio is 50 years old.
Keystone/Paul Zinken
Leonardo DiCaprio was just 19 years old when he made his Hollywood debut with two films. Robert de Niro had chosen the teenager as his co-star from a group of young suitors for the family drama “This Boy’s Life” (1993). Swedish director Lasse Hallström then cast the newcomer as the disabled younger brother whose older brother (Johnny Depp) must care for in “Gilbert Grape – Somewhere in Iowa.” DiCaprio thus immediately obtains his first nomination for the Oscar for best actor.
But it was the role of penniless, lovestruck Jack Dawson on the sinking “Titanic” that suddenly made the actor a star in 1997, at the age of 23. The naval drama directed by James Cameron has made cinema history. Eleven Academy Awards were awarded to “Titanic,” and with grossing more than $2.2 billion, it remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The iconic image of the young couple Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (DiCaprio), arms outstretched at the bow of the ship, is unforgettable.
Total loss of privacy
Since then, DiCaprio, who turns 50 on November 11, has been in the spotlight. He prefers to compartmentalize his private life and rarely grants interviews. He was exceptionally talkative last January in the British newspaper “The Guardian”, while promoting the Martin Scorsese film “Killers of The Flower Moon” with his co-star Lily Gladstone.
Would media interest in him bother him? The “total loss” of his privacy is one of the byproducts of his acting career, DiCaprio says. But he felt called to become an actor from a young age. Since then, he feels like he won the lottery. He absolutely doesn’t want to complain, you just have to accept it and get used to it.
The paparazzi are constantly on their heels for Hollywood’s coveted bachelor, especially when there’s a woman by his side. His preference for young models is well known. His girlfriends once included Gisele Bündchen, Bar Refaeli and German supermodel Toni Garrn. His current girlfriend is the Italian model Vittoria Ceretti (26) whom he met in 2023 at the Cannes film festival, as reported by American media.
Declaration of love to his mother
But at award shows and festivals, DiCaprio most often relies on his family to accompany him. His mother Irmelin Indenbirken, from Oer-Erkenschwick in North Rhine-Westphalia, gave birth to her only child in Los Angeles.
In February 2016, when the actor won the best actor award for his role in “The Revenant” at the Bafta ceremony in London, he made a declaration of love for her on Valentine’s Day: “I grew up in a very rough neighborhood in East Los Angeles. This woman drove me three hours a day to another school to give me a chance,” the Hollywood star said at the awards gala.
The American’s mother, now 81 years old, moved to the United States in the 1950s and met George DiCaprio, of Italian origin. A year later, his parents separated and Leonardo DiCaprio was raised primarily by his mother. “I grew up very poor,” the Hollywood star told the “Los Angeles Times” in January 2014. As a child, he would have encountered drug addicts and prostitutes in the street.
For ‘The Revenant,’ DiCaprio Eats Raw Bison Liver
After the breakthrough of “Titanic,” the actor continued to get roles and new chances at an Oscar. The next nomination for Hollywood’s highest award came with Martin Scorsese’s film “Aviator” (2005), in which DiCaprio shines as eccentric millionaire and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes.
In 2007 he convinced as a diamond smuggler in the thriller “Blood Diamond”, and in 2014 as an asexual and pretentious financial juggler in “The Wolf of Wall Street”. This Scorsese film earned the star two Oscar nominations as lead actor and producer.
But it was not until his sixth attempt – at age 41 – that his almost silent role as a bearded adventurer, under the direction of Mexican Alejandro González Iñárritu, earned him gold. It was the hardest shoot of his life, he said at the time of the survival-revenge thriller “The Revenant.” He played fur hunter Hugh Glass, torn to pieces by a grizzly bear and left half-dead by other trappers in the snowy wilderness. Filming took place in severe snowstorms and icy rivers, and DiCaprio had to eat raw bison liver on camera.
United Nations Peace Ambassador
DiCaprio plays the role of an environmental activist with as much passion as his on-camera roles. In 1998, he created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundationwho has worked with other associations mainly in the fields of global warming, renewable energies, drinking water and the protection of ecosystems.
As a producer, DiCaprio has released documentaries like “The 11th Hour” on global warming, “Virunga” and “Before the Flood.” In 2014, he was appointed United Nations Peace Ambassador. With its last organization Re:wildit supports indigenous people around the world.
When it comes to climate policy, he also sided with Democrat Kamala Harris in a video message broadcast at the end of October on the occasion of the US presidential elections. On his Instagram account, where more than 61 million people follow him, it mainly concerns nature protection projects.
However, he continued his work in Hollywood. DiCaprio has accepted numerous projects, including two others with the famous director Scorsese. Together they want to film the story of a historical drama of survival off the coast of South America. Additionally, the duo is working on the film “Roosevelt” about the life of the former US president.
Barbara Munker, dpa
