Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t need an introduction. He’s one of the most loved actors around, and his good looks and charm made everyone swoon back when he appeared in Titanic. But even though the role of Jack led him to become a leading man in Hollywood blockbusters, during his 30-year-long career, he’s only starred in 29 movies.
After we at Bright Side discovered that Leo has starred in significantly fewer movies compared to his colleagues, we got an itch we had to scratch and wanted to find out more about his life.
1. He was named after the Renaissance genius, Leonardo da Vinci.
While Leo’s mom was pregnant with him, she felt his kicks for the first time while staring at Leonardo da Vinci’s painting in the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy. His parents considered this some kind of sign, and that’s why they decided to name him Leonardo.
2. But his agent believed that his foreign-sounding name would prevent him from landing a job.
At the beginning of his career, Leo had difficulty finding an agent, and when he finally did, the agent suggested changing his name to Lenny Williams to appeal more to the American audience. Leo refused, but that didn’t go in his favor, as he was jobless for a year and a half, even after attending 100 auditions. But thankfully, 2 years later, Leo finally found an agent that accepted him with his name, and luck finally smiled back at him.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio has been struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder all his life.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder where an individual feels the need to repeat a certain action to “cope” with their obsessions. However, Leo doesn’t want his condition to take over his life and tries hard to fight against it. He constantly fights urges to walk through doorways several times and forces himself not to step on every chewing gum stain when walking along sidewalks.
4. In 2009, Leo bought an island with the intention of creating an environment-friendly resort.
Leo paid a whopping $1.75 million with a plan for a resort to be entirely self-sustaining and contain 36 villas that would rely on natural energy only. However, his plan didn’t go very smoothly, but after several construction delays, building permits were issued.
5. Leo adopted, from a distance, a South African girl while he was in the country filming the movie, Blood Diamond.
Although he didn’t bring her home to Los Angeles, he sends checks and supports her and the group home where she currently lives.
6. He once won an award for being the “worst actor.”
Throughout his career, Leo has won several awards, including a Razzie. In 1999, he won the “Worst Screen Couple” award for portraying the role of King Louis in the movie The Man in the Iron Mask.
7. Leo rescued his dogs from a frozen lake.
This happened on set while filming the movie, Don’t Look Up. First, he saw one of his dogs in the lake, and when he jumped to the rescue, his other dog followed him into the river too. Thankfully, the 3 of them were all safe and sound in the end.
8. His dating history suggests he has never dated a woman older than 25.
Even now, at age 47, he doesn’t seem bothered by the age gap he shares with his girlfriends. He is currently dating Camila Morrone, 22 years his junior, who he’s been with for 4 years. But this isn’t the first time he’s dated a much younger woman.
He also dated Nina Agdal, Kelly Rohrbach, Toni Garrn, Erin Heatherton, Blake Lively, Bar Refaeli, Gisele Bündchen, and others, with none of them being older than 25 at the time.
9. He and Kate Winslet helped pay nursing home fees for the last living Titanic survivor so she wouldn’t have to sell her mementos.
Millvina Dean, Titanic’s youngest passenger and the last living Titanic survivor, started living in a nursing home when she broke her hip. But she didn’t have enough resources to pay the fees, so she was forced to sell Titanic memorabilia to raise funds. A fund on her behalf was launched, and Kate and Leo donated $30,000 to pay the nursing home fees.
Do you know other lesser-known facts about Leonardo DiCaprio?
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