Leonardo DiCaprio began his acting career when he was in his teens and has been unstoppable ever since. He first appeared in television commercials and then had a couple of recurring roles on television shows, before quickly moving into film. Leo has been in a number of award-winning movies, including Titanic, which was the highest-grossing film at the time.
Leo has known he wanted to be an actor since he was in elementary school, often begging his mom to let him skip school and attend auditions instead. He didn’t like public school and he also wanted to help his family out financially. Leo ended up dropping out during his junior year of high school. He opted to get his GED.
Here are 15 surprising things fans don’t know about Leonardo DiCaprio.
15 Leonardo DiCaprio Almost Wasn’t His Name
When Leonardo DiCaprio was 10 years old, at the beginning of his acting career, his agent suggested that he would land more roles if he changed his name. Leo’s agent explained that his name sounded too ethnic and advised him to use a new name, which was Lenny Williams. Thankfully, Leo decided against the name change!
14 He Has An Adopted Daughter
Leonardo DiCaprio has an adopted daughter, but not in the conventional sense. While filming Blood Diamond in South Africa, Leo met and became attached to a young orphan girl and decided to adopt her. Instead of moving to America with him, he supports her from afar and makes sure she is well taken care of!
13 Young Leo Was Really Cheap
We’ve all heard stories of rich celebrities being extremely cheap, and have even seen receipts of their tips, or lack thereof. Leo was one of those celebrities in his younger days and even admitted that he was well-known for not tipping. He has since changed his cheapskate ways and is generous when he needs to be.
12 German Is His Second Language
Leonardo DiCaprio’s mother, Irmelin Indenbirken, was born in Germany and often spoke German to him while he was growing up. On top of that, his parents split up when he was younger, which meant that he spent a lot of time with his German grandmother. During his childhood, he learned to speak German fluently.
11 He Is Named After Leonardo Da Vinci
While talking with NPR, Leonardo DiCaprio explained that his father used to tell him that he was named after Leonardo da Vinci. His mom and dad were looking at a da Vinci painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy when Leo started kicking in the womb. So they decided Leo would be their son’s name.
10 Charity Is Extremely Important To Him
Leonardo DiCaprio has the money and the name to do anything he wants in the world. Luckily, he uses both to benefit others. Leo is no longer cheap and donates money frequently to causes he believes in.
A few notable donations include $3 million to save ocean wildlife, $60,000 to support gay rights, and his charity auction, which raised $31 million to fund global conservation.
9 He’s Never Done Drugs
While doing press for The Wolf of Wall Street, in which Leo plays a man who does a lot of drugs, Leo confessed that he has never touched the stuff. Leo’s upbringing wasn’t a walk in the park, and he would be at parties as young as three years old, so he learned to say no from an early age.
8 He Is An Eco-Warrior
Environmental activism is extremely important to Leonardo DiCaprio and he is one of the biggest celebrity supporters of the climate change movement. He even produced two Web documentaries, Water Planet and Global Warning.
Personally, he tries to limit his use of cars, aircraft, and large yachts, due to their carbon footprints. You'll often see him driving around in a Prius!
7 He Has His Own Line Of Fair Trade Coffee
If you needed more proof that Leonardo DiCaprio supports environmental causes, he also created his own line of fair trade coffee. Every cent of profit is donated to charities that support environmental causes and it’s a great way to raise awareness of the biggest environmental issues plaguing our society today.
6 A Shark Almost Bit Him
After a diving expedition in South Africa went awry, Leonardo DiCaprio was very afraid of sharks. In 2006, Leo was in Cape Town, observing marine wildlife from the safety of a cage, when a Great White shark got partly stuck in his cage. The shark had been chasing a tuna. Luckily, Leo escaped unscathed, but he won’t be doing that again!
5 He Helped The Last Survivor Of The Titanic
When Titanic sank in 1912, Millvina Dean was aboard the ship at only nine weeks old. To pay for her nursing home fees, Dean began auctioning off Titanic memorabilia. This was when Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet heard about her. Together, they helped pay for the 97-year-old’s nursing home care.
4 A Woman Assaulted Him With A Wine Glass
While at a party in 2005, Leonardo DiCaprio got in the middle of a friend’s argument and ended up getting hit in the face with a wine glass. Leo was badly injured, needing 17 stitches along his neck and ear. The woman who attacked him was sentenced to two years in jail.
3 He Is Concerned With Saving Tigers
Apparently, Leonardo DiCaprio has a thing for tigers. He donated $3 million to saving tigers in Nepal in 2013 and then another $1 million in 2010. Vladimir Putin even praised Leo for his efforts saying, “If wildlife and tiger conservation is in the hands of people with such character, we are destined to succeed.”
2 His Oscar Win Was The Most Tweeted Moment
For decades, Leonardo DiCaprio was praised as one of the greatest actors of our time but somehow he never received an Oscar. In 2016, Leo finally got the coveted golden statuette for his role in The Revenant.
His Oscar win generated 440,000 tweets per minute, making it the most-tweeted moment of the Oscars at the time.
1 He Once Helped With An Ongoing Investigation
Leonardo DiCaprio assisted the US Government in a money laundering case against the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2017. Leo voluntarily handed over an Oscar won by actor, Marlon Brando (for his role in On the Waterfront), as well as several other expensive pieces of artwork. The artwork alone cost over $12 million.
Sources: PopSugar