I think it’s time you learned some interesting facts about Leonardo DiCaprio’s family! These are his parents, the woman is his step-mom.
|
Advertisement |
Here are some other interesting facts compliments of milliontalks.com.
1. Leonardo DiCaprio was named after a famous artist.
Leonardo was named after Leonardo DaVinci when his German mother, Irmelin, felt her unborn baby kick while standing in front of a painting of the great artist at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. “My dad [Italian comic book artist George DiCaprio], being the man that picks up on cosmic messages, said that ‘His name must be Leonardo,'” says the actor.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio’s proud to be a mommy’s boy.
Leo’s mom, Irmelin, is his biggest fan but he’s clearly fond of her too: She’s been his date to numerous awards show. “She loves taking part in my life,” he says.
And he takes after her too. “My mother came from war-torn Germany and they have a much more nuts-and-bolts attitude toward life,” says Leo. “A lot of things are black and white. I do have that in me and I’ve gotten that from her.”
3. Leonardo DiCaprio’s always been a performer.
“The earliest memory I have of myself as a child is me with this strange, almost sickening desire to perform,” reveals Leo, who landed an agent at 14, guested on TV’s Growing Pains a couple of years later, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape at 19 and became a heartthrob all over the world when he won Kate Winslet’s heart in Titanic at 23. “The earliest memory I have is me at some hippie concert with my dad and the band hadn’t come on. So he scooted me on stage. I don’t know how old I was, probably 3 or so, and I got up there and tap-danced for hundreds of people. I want to please this mass audience.”
4. Leonardo DiCaprio could have been a travel agent.
One of the biggest perks of being a movie star for Leonardo is that he gets to travel to the most exotic locations. “I remember, at one stage, wanting to be a travel agent so I could get out in the world,” he says. “I wanted to be able to get free trips.” And he’s still excited to explore new places. “I would never throw away my passport,” says Leo. “I love travel and it’s like having a key to the rest of the world.”
5. Leonardo DiCaprio’s wild about animals.
Leonardo has had pet dogs, frogs and a bearded lizard names Blizzard. “He carried his pet lizard with him on the set [of Titanic],” admits co-star Kathy Bates. And Leo loves seeing animals in their natural habitat. “I am regularly able to escape to watch wildlife in Africa and South America,” he says.
“Looking at lions, elephants and zebras in the wild is a passion. When watching whales, it brings it home what a wonderful world it is out there.”
6. Leonardo DiCaprio suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Like the man he portrayed in The Aviator, the eccentric Howard Hughes, Leo had OCD as a child. “I had the thing where I would walk to school and have to walk, you know, go back a block because I didn’t step on a crack,” he told Katie Couric in 2004. “And I felt like something was going to go wrong if I didn’t do that.” But the star has been able to talk himself out of his obsessive urges: “I’m able to say at some point, ‘OK, you’re being ridiculous, stop stepping on every gum stain you see. You don’t need to do that.”
7. Leonardo DiCaprio’s addicted to Jersey Shore.
Leo likes watching reality shows. “I find it the funniest and most entertaining stuff on TV,” admits Leo. “We’re so hilarious, when we don’t even try to be.” His favorite show right now? Jersey Shore. “It’s a funny show, you gotta admit it,” he told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush. “The cast all came up to me and said hello and I shouted some of the lines to them!” (He’s pictured above with J-Woww.)
8. Leonardo DiCaprio’s shared the screen with his heroes.
Leonardo’s five favorite movies of all time are The Bicycle Thief, Taxi Driver, 81/2, 2001: A Space Odyssey and East of Eden. As for his favorite actors, Leonardo is lucky to have worked with them. “I can’t think of anyone who’s got more memorable moments in cinema than Jack Nicholson,” he recently told Esquire about his Departed co-star. “He brings terror into what you thought was supposed to be a light moment and makes a light moment out of a cutthroat vicious line.” As for Meryl, he worked with her on Marvin’s Room. “She may be the greatest actor in the world,” he says.
9. Leonardo DiCaprio wants to make the world a better place.
Leo’s a long-time environmentalist. “I am an eco-geek,” admits the star, who flies commercial airlines instead of private jets and was one of the first Hollywood stars to drive around in a Toyota Prius in 2001. (He also owns a BMW H7 which runs on hydrogen). He founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to “support efforts to secure a sustainable future for our planet,” is on the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA and produced, co-wrote and narrated 11th Hour, a feature documentary about the climate crisis. “Thinking about the future got me started in the first place,” says Leo.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio’s finally ready to settle down.
Leonardo has dated some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Bridget Hall and Tom Brady’s now-wife Gisele Bundchen. But he’s finally ready to “get married and have children.” Dating Israeli model Bar Refaeli, 24, on and off since 2005, Leo admits, “In saying that I realize I am contradicting everything I’ve said before. What I definitely feel a need for is to make my life about more than just my career.”