[Amazing] 25 Things You Might Not Know About Leonardo DiCaprio
On February 28, 2016, after a long 22 years and 6 nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his first Oscar for best actor in “The Revenant”. As his ultimate triumph was expected and celebrated by millions of his fans and it became one of the highlights of the 88th Academy Awards; we decided to pay tribute to this phenomenal actor by compiling a list with some cool and little known things you might not know about Leonardo DiCaprio. Whether you liked Leonardo in his role as Jack Dawson in the 1997 epic romance “Titanic”; as Frank Abagnale in the 2002 crime drama “Catch Me If you Can”; as Jordan Belfort in the 2013 black comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street”; or as Hugh Glass in the 2015 Oscar-winning survival western thriller “The Revenant”, DiCaprio is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most famous contemporary Hollywood actors to date.
However, aside from his Hollywood fame, Leonardo DiCaprio is also a committed environmentalist and philanthropist. He gave $3 million to help save the tigers in Nepal in 2013, another $3 million to ocean conservation the following year, and in 2010, he also donated $1 million to relief efforts in Haiti. No wonder he was chosen by People Magazine as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World”. Leonardo is constantly in the spotlight so we’re sure you might be somewhat familiar with this beautiful human being. However, we’re almost positive that there are a couple of things you might not know about Leonard Dicaprio in spite of his fame. From his first appearance on screen to his near death encounter with a shark, these are 25 things you might not know about Leonardo Dicaprio.
Congratulations Leo! It’s about time your hard work was formally recognized. And by the way, your speech was EPIC!
Leonardo DiCaprio featured image by Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com
Leonardo was born in California as an American but his origin is far more complex. His mother Irmelin was born in Germany, his father George is half-Italian and half-German and one of his grandmothers was Russian. In an interview in Russia, DiCaprio even referred to himself as "half Russian".
Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: flickr.com
A dedicated environmentalist, Leonardo gave $3 million to help save the tigers in Nepal in 2013, and another $3 million to ocean conservation the following year. In 2010, he also donated $1 million to relief efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake.
Source: vogue.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
Leonardo was named after Leonardo Da Vinci (famous Italian polymath and universal genius) because he first kicked in his mother's womb when she saw Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and his artist father felt it was apt.
Source: imdb.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
When Leonardo started his acting career, his agent advised him to change his name to a more American-friendly Lenny Williams. Needless to say, he did not follow that advice.
Source: www.celebsnow.co.uk, image: en.wikipedia.org
Leo has an adopted daughter. While filming the movie “Blood Diamond”, he worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children’s Village in Mozambique. There was one little girl he made a close connection with and he decided to adopt her. He sends her money each month for living expenses and food, and is said to call her regularly to stay in touch.
Source: therichest.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
In 2009, Leo and Kate Winslet helped pay nursing home fees for the last living Titanic survivor so she would not have to sell her mementos.
Source: quora.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
Leo was offered the role of Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho” but he didn’t take it because all of his fans were teenage girls at the time.
Source: buzzfeed.com, image: pixabay.com
In 1997, DiCaprio was offered the role of the porn star Dirk Diggler in “Boogie Nights” but around the same time, he was also offered his role in “Titanic”. The Dirk Diggler role eventually went to his friend Mark Wahlberg.
Source: www.collegetimes.com, image: image: en.wikipedia.org
Rather than splurging on expensive cars, Leonardo owns just one vehicle – the eco-friendly Toyota Prius. Also, unlike others of his level of fame and wealth, he consistently chooses to fly commercial instead of having a private jet, to both save money and protect the environment from unnecessary emissions.
Source: therichest.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
A Time journalist once dubbed DiCaprio boring, for the actor’s ability to reel off the names of 20 endangered species from memory.
Source: theguardian.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
Leonardo´s 10 favorites movies are: Bicycle Thieves (1948), Taxi Driver (1976), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 8½ (1963), The Third Man (1949), Yojimbo (1961), Sunset Blvd. (1950), The Shining (1980) and East of Eden (1955).
Source: independent.co.uk, image: commons.wikimedia.org
After they finished filming “Revolutionary Road” (2008), Leo bought his good friend Kate Winslet an inscribed gold ring. Winslet keeps the inscription a secret though.
Source: imdb.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
These days, DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg are good friends but in a 2013 Hollywood Reporter profile, Wahlberg revealed that he and DiCaprio initially hated each other when cast in 1995’s “Basketball Diaries”.
Source: theguardian.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
In 2006, Leo had a close and dangerous encounter with a shark. He was on a diving expedition in Cape Town, South Africa, where he ended up coming face-to-face with a Great White. Fortunately, Leo was able to keep enough distance in the cage he was in and made it out without a scratch.
Source: therichest.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
Leo also almost died once while skydiving. His parachute wouldn’t open and luckily an instructor was close enough to save him.
Source: therichest.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
DiCaprio first appeared on screen at the age of five in the children’s TV show Romper Room, but was fired for being too disruptive.
Source: theguardian.com, image: youtube.com
In 1998, Leonardo was chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World".
Source: www.boomsbeat.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
Leo´s favorite actress of all time is Meryl Streep.
Source: imdb.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
DiCaprio is a devoted liberal Democrat who has been both personally and financially involved in the campaigns and elections of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama.
Source: en.wikipediaorgm, image: commons.wikimedia.org
Leonardo has dated a number of renowned models including Bar Rafaeli, Erin Heatherton, Naomi Campbell, Toni Garn and – most famously – Gisele Bundchen.
Source: independent.ie, image: commons.wikimedia.org
Leo is a keen sportsman and he loves to play basketball, hockey, football, rollerblade, and go surfing.
Source: www.boomsbeat.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
At a tiger summit in Russia, Vladimir Putin called Leo a real man. Putin said: “Here, in Russia, we call such a person a real man. If wildlife and tiger conservation is in the hands of people with such character, we are destined to succeed.”
Source: www.collegetimes.com, image: commons.wikimedia.org
After Leo´s parents divorced, he grew up mostly with his mother and German grandmother who often took him to Germany. This is also why he is fluent in German.
Source: therichest.com, image: flickr.com
In 2009, Leo bought an island off mainland Belize on which he is planning to create an eco-friendly resort.
Source and image: en.wikipedia.org
In 2005, DiCaprio's face was severely injured when model Aretha Wilson hit him over the head with a broken bottle at a Hollywood party. After pleading guilty in 2010, Wilson was sentenced to prison for two years.
Source and image: en.wikipedia.org
