Leonardo DiCaprio American Heart Throb

Leonardo DiCaprio is possibly the most well known face today. From his breakthrough role in the blockbuster Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio has been a heart throb for millions of fans, of all ages. It is not just his boyish charm but also his powerful performances that have made him hold his own in the competitive world of Hollywood.

Born in the year 1974, Leonardo DiCaprio was born to a German mother and an Italian father. His surname meant a man from Capri in Italy. According to Leonardos mother, while visiting a museum and standing in front of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci Leo had given his first kick. It is because of this that she chose to name her kid Leonardo, after the great painter.

His parents separated when he was only a year old and he lived mostly with his mother .He occasionally met his father George DiCaprio too he was a dealer in Comic books. Leonardo DiCaprios childhood was spent in visiting museums with his father, visiting his grandparents in Germany and living life in a poor neighborhood.

In his childhood Leonardo DiCaprio was interested in comic books, baseball cards and also museums, however he had quite a tough childhood with his mother working in several jobs to make ends meet. Leonardo had never taught of becoming an actor till he saw one of his cousinss appearing in a commercial.

In the year 1989 Leonardo DiCaprio acted in the role of Gary Buckman in a television production that was inspired by the film Parenthood. He played roles in Santa Barbara and also Growing Pains. His film debut came later with the film Critters3.The year 1993 proved to be lucky for him.

He went onto to be the runners up in the Best Supporting Actor category, by both the New York Film Critics as well as the National Society Film Critics. In the same year, Leonardo DiCaprio gave a powerful performance of a mentally handicapped boy in the movie, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape.

He was nominated for an Oscar for this power packed performance and he was only 19 years old. He was cast into the role which was supposed to be played by River Phoenix .However after his death the directors decided to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie, Total Eclipse the homosexual relationship of two artists, Leonardo playing the character of Arthur Rimbaud.

In the Basketball Diaries by director Jim Carrol he played the role of a drug addict. While the next year Leonardo DiCaprio started work on an ambitious project Romeo+Juliet that was considered to be a modern adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. Other career heights followed specially his professional bonding with the director Martin Sorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio