The 41-year-old actor has come a long, long way since making his feature film debut in the direct-to-video 1991 film Critters 3, which was released when DiCaprio was just 16. Dozens of movies and six Oscar nominations later, he's now one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and his latest film, The Revenant, is up for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Actor, which DiCaprio is all but a lock to win. Here's a look at the evolution of an acting icon in the making.
Alamy; Twentieth Century Fox
After following his stepbrother Adam Farrar into acting, DiCaprio appeared in many TV commercials starting with a Matchbox campaign at age 14. His big break came when he was cast as rebellious teen Garry Buckman in the TV series Parenthood. It was an adaptation of the Ron Howard/Steve Martin film of the same name, with DiCaprio reprising the role in the film played by Joaquin Phoenix. Though the show was canceled after 12 episodes, it introduced DiCaprio to Hollywood.
Here’s a 16-year-old DiCaprio posing with the titular ‘Critter’ while promoting the direct-to-video horror feature Critters 3. The role marked his feature film acting debut. Coincidentally, one of the first film roles by his Titanic nemesis Billy Zane came in the original Critters.
Shortly after the release of Critters 3, DiCaprio starred as homeless student Luke Brower on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. The role made him a teen idol.
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Here’s DiCaprio going bowling with longtime pals Tobey Maguire and Alex Polinsky.
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DiCaprio was picked out of 400 kids to star opposite Robert De Niro as a troubled teen tormented by a strict, abusive father in This Boy’s Life. The film, which also served as the feature film acting debut of DiCaprio’s pal Tobey Maguire, saw De Niro impressed by a young DiCaprio, with the screen legend introducing the Padawan to filmmaker Martin Scorsese. The two would go on to make many movies together.
Alamy
DiCaprio starred as Arnie Grape, the mentally disabled younger brother of Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) in this touching drama. The role earned a then-18-year-old DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and announced the arrival of a Hollywood star in the making.
Here is 19-year-old DiCaprio attending his first Academy Awards ceremony in 1994 for What' sEating Gilbert Grape? Unfortunately, the young actor would lose out to screen vet Tommy Lee Jones for his wisecrackin’ FBI agent in The Fugitive. There was a lot of competition in the category that year, however, with deserving winners in Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List) and John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire), who played a psycho Nazi and a psycho assassin, respectively.
The actor is pictured here attending the New York premiere of The Basketball Diaries with co-star Mark Wahlberg on April 14, 1995. DiCaprio, 21, portrayed drug addict-cum-poet Jim Carroll in the gritty film, which served as his transition into more adult roles.
So ’90s. Here, DiCaprio is pictured attending the Los Angeles premiere of Romeo + Juliet with co-star Claire Danes. The actor played heartthrob Romeo in Baz Luhrmann’s stylized, contemporary version of the Shakespeare tragedy.
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DiCaprio starred as Jack Dawson opposite Kate Winslet’s Rose in James Cameron’s epic-at-sea. The film grossed a whopping $1.84 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie of all time (at the time) and making DiCaprio, then 23, one of the biggest stars on the planet, and the object of every teen girl’s affection.
Leonardo DiCaprio is flanked by airline stewardesses in a scene from Steven Spielberg’s comedy Catch Me If You Can. The actor played Frank Abagnale Jr., a real-life con artist/ace impersonator/seducer of women. Sadly, he was snubbed of an Academy Award nomination for his charming performance.
DiCaprio is pictured attending the 2005 Academy Awards with then-girlfriend Giselle Bundchen. The actor, then 30, was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of troubled industrialist Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. Bundchen dated DiCaprio for five years before the two split. She later, of course, married Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Martin Scorsese’s action-thriller The Departed. The film would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, though DiCaprio would be snubbed, failing to be nominated for Best Actor.
DiCaprio, 32, poses with former Vice President Al Gore at the 2007 Academy Awards. The two gave a speech at the ceremony about climate change, one of several environmental issues that DiCaprio remains very passionate about.
DiCaprio, 35, is pictured in a scene from the Christopher Nolan sci-fi thriller Inception. He played Cobb, a man who engages in corporate espionage by infiltrating subjects’ unconscious. The film was a smash hit, grossing over $825 million worldwide.
DiCaprio, 36, is pictured on a yacht at the 64th Cannes Film Festival with then-girlfriend Blake Lively on May 17, 2011. The two dated briefly, and she later romanced Ryan Gosling before marrying Ryan Reynolds. Homegirl can pull.
DiCaprio, 37, is pictured alongside pals Lukas Haas, Kevin Connolly, and Tobey Maguire at the Mobli 2.0 Launch Party in Austin, Texas, on March 10, 2012. In their teenage years, the hard-partying fellas were referred to by the press as “The Pussy Posse” for their rakish ways.
Here, DiCaprio is pictured sharing a smooch with his Revolutionary Road co-star Kate Winslet (and flanked by Elton John and Charlize Theron). The 2008 film marked the first time the two appeared in a film together since Titanic, as an unhappy couple in 1950s suburbia.
The 39-year-old actor has become a symbol of the American Dream-gone-haywire, starring as bootlegging millionaire Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, as well as shady stockbroker Jordan Belfort in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. Both films were released in 2013, and both characters have sprawling Long Island estates.
Warner Brothers/ Paramount Pictures
A bearded DiCaprio, who serves as a UN Messenger of Peace, is pictured speaking during the opening session of the Climate Change Summit at the United Nations in New York Sept. 23, 2014, in New York. The actor has been a longtime proponent of climate change awareness.
That beard, we’d later learn, was for DiCaprio’s turn in the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu epic The Revenant. It's the story of Hugh Glass, a fur trapper in the early 19th century who’s ravaged by a bear. While he's recovering, his son is murdered in front of his very eyes by John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), prompting Glass to cross the wilderness and survive unspeakable hardships in order to seek revenge. The film is nominated for 12 Academy Awards (the most of any film), including Best Picture and Best Actor for DiCaprio.
