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leonardo wilhelm dicaprio was born on November 11th, 1974 in los angeles, california. his parents are george and irmelin dicaprio. leonardo dicaprio was raised in what he refers to as "the hollywood slums" by his parents, george and irmelin. leonardo was an only child but he does have a stepbrother named adam.

leonardo dicaprio's mother, irmelin, is german and leonardo's father, george, is italian and both had major influences on leonardo and his upbringing. george produced underground comic books and comic art from his garage and irmelin was a legal secretary. leonardo remembers guests such as comic book artist, robert crumb, writer, charles bukowski and novelist, hubert selby jnr. visiting his house as a child.

irmelin and george were seperated by the time leonardo turned "one" but they remain close and both of leonardo's parents were active in leonardo's upbringing including, all their decisions which included everything from politics to art.

leonardo attended the centre for enriched studies and john marshall high school, both located in los angeles. leonardo dicaprio made his acting debut at the age of "five" when he appeared on romper room. at the age of "ten", he was disillusioned with the business when an agent rejected him for having the wrong haircut and the wrong name suggesting that leonardo change his name to lenny williams but at the age of "fourteen" leonardo decided to give acting another try so he found an agent who liked his haircut and his name and soon leonardo would be starring in television commercials with extra parts on t.v. soap operas such as santa barbara as well as the new lassie. he then starred in his first movie, critters 3.

he made several education films which included mickeys safety club and how to deal with a parent who takes drugs. he then joined the cast of the long running sitcom, growing pains and for leonardo, it was short lived. in 1992, he made his debut in this boys life opposite robert deniro and ellen barkin. he crossed over to mainstream films with the hit film romeo and juliet alongside claire danes, paul sorvino, pete poselwaithe. he then went on to play a supporting role alongside meryl streep, diane keaton and robert deniro in marvins room where he played the role of hank but nothing was to prepare leonardo for what was awaiting him just around the corner.

leonardo dicaprio would be thrust into the limelight when he played jack in james cameron's blockbuster film titanic where he would be now cast as the romantic leading man. he kept this going with a dual role in the man in the iron mask alongside john malkovich, jeremy irons, gerard depardieu and gabriel byrne. he was also to star in woody allens celebrity. he finished off his year with the beach where he played richard, an american traveller who is given a map to a paradise on earth by a mysterious stranger known as daffy and played by robert carlysle.

leonardo then starred in "gangs of new york", a martin scorsese film which also starred cameron diaz and daniel day-lewis. he then went on to star in "catch me if you can", based on the real-life story of the youngest criminal to ever land on the fbi's 10 most wanted list.

he now has his own los angeles based production company called appian way and with initial entertainment group, leonardo will develop projects in which he will either produce and/or star. with award after award, leonardo is proving to be a favourite of many directors and seems to be high demand. his has, in recent weeks, picked up quite a few awards as well as being honoured by many hollywood institutions including, a golden globe award for his portrayal as the high flying howard hughes in "the aviator" winning the best actor in a drama award for his work.