He's one of the rare Hollywood actors whose magazine heartthrob status did nothing to keep him away from awards season prestige. He's also one of the few Hollywood actors to really pick and choose his projects, never busying himself up too much and always considering who he's working with. He's Leonardo DiCaprio, and safe to say, you've heard of him before.
Named after the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci because his mother felt him kick during her pregnancy while looking at a da Vinci painting in Italy, DiCaprio grew up working class poor in Los Angeles neighborhoods like Echo Park and Los Feliz. He began his acting career in the 1980s, working on children's shows and in TV commercials for Kraft cheese and Bubble Yum. His first big break was on the TV sitcom Parenthood (based on the 1989 movie), and later had another recurring gig on the show Growing Pains as homeless boy Luke Brower. In 1991, DiCaprio made his film debut in the horror-comedy Critters 3. It's not quite "the rest is history," but safe to say it's the movies where DiCaprio became widely known.
