Leonardo DiCaprio has been a star for most of his 35 years, ricocheting between teen idol and serious actor. He’d prefer to be known as the latter, of course, but he did himself no favors with years of bad-boy behavior. Shutter Island, and now Christopher Nolan’s Inception, opening July 16, indicate the still-baby-faced Leo is finally a man. Here’s how he grew.
Dicaprio by the Numbers
• Total lifetime box office: $4.1 billion
• Worldwide gross of Titanic: $1.8 billion
• Age when he first shoplifted bubblegum: 9
• Number of times DiCaprio was quoted using the word dawg in 2000 Time magazine cover story: 3
• Oscar nominations: 3
• Oscar wins: 0
• MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss nominations: 3
• MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss wins: 0
• Number of films: 24
• Length of his 2000 ABC News gig as journalist, interviewing President Clinton: 2 minutes, 40 seconds
• Number of films with Martin Scorsese: 4
• Number of women he’s been linked with in tabloids: INCALCULABLE
• Number of times he threw manure at paparazzi: 1
• Recent donation to Haiti relief effort: $1 million
The Roles He Missed
Few actors have rejected as many projects—or been rumored to be attached to so many. A sampling of what could have been.
The Film A biopic of James Dean (never made)
The Part: Dean
The Film Batman Forever
The Part: Robin (Chris O’Donnell)
The Film Boogie Nights
The Part: Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg)
The Film The Godfather 4 (never made)
The Part: A young Sonny Corleone
The Film Alexander the Great (Baz Luhrmann, never made)
The Part: Alexander
The Film Star Wars: Episodes II and III
The Part: Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen)
The Film American Psycho
The Part: Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale)
The Film The Patriot
The Part: Gabriel Martin (Heath Ledger)
The Film All the Pretty Horses
The Part: John Grady Cole (Matt Damon)
The Film Harvard Man
The Part: Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier)
The Film Spider-Man
The Part: Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)
The Film The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Part: Tom Ripley (Matt Damon)
The Film A biopic of Chet Baker (never made)
The Part: Baker
The Film Inglourious Basterds
The Part: SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz)
The Real Leo, According to the 1998 Fan Bio
Leonardo Dicaprio: The Unofficial Biography
LIKES
“playing pool, sea animals, the music of Harry Connick Jr., pasta, lemonade.”
APPEAL
“Leonardo DiCaprio has the kind of face that could melt the hardest of hearts, the kind of blazing blue-green eyes and blond hair that could sink the Titanic and raise it again. Possibly the most remarkable thing about [Leo] is just how normal he is.”
RELATABILITY
“Offscreen, Leo is refreshingly down-to-earth, open, and honest.”
WHAT HE LOOKS FOR IN A WOMAN
“Because he laughs a lot, he likes to be with someone with a good sense of fun, and he enjoys going on long walks on the beach with a person who is special to him.”
THE FUTURE
“The twenty-first century holds every promise that he will achieve all the ‘best actor of his generation’ accolades. So if you thought he was good in the twentieth century, just wait for the next!”
Photos: Gianfranco Gasparro/Liaison/Getty Images (DiCaprio in 1970s); Universal Pictures/Everett Collection (Parenthood); Warner Brothers/Everett Collection (Growing Pains, Inception); Paramount/Everett Collection (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic); New Line Cinema/Everett Collection (The Basketball Diaries); Everett Collection (Marvin’s Room); 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection (Romeo + Juliet, The Beach); Miramax/Everett Collection (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Celebrity); AMPAS/Darren Decker/Everett Collection (DiCaprio and Bundchen); Charles Sykes/Rex Features/Everett Collection (Catch Me If You Can); Kevork Djansezian (DiCaprio and Rafaeli); Dreamworks/Everett Collection (Revolutionary Road)