Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (/diˈkæprioʊ, dɪ-/ ^ⓘ; Italian: [diˈkaːprjo]; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. As of 2019,^[update] his films have grossed over $7.2 billion worldwide, and he has been placed eight times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actors.

Born in Los Angeles, DiCaprio began his career in the late 1980s by appearing in television commercials. He had a recurring role in the sitcom Parenthood (1990–1991), and had his first major film part as author Tobias Wolff in This Boy's Life (1993). He received critical acclaim and his first Academy Award nomination for playing a developmentally disabled boy in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). DiCaprio achieved international stardom with the star-crossed romances Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997). After the latter became the highest-grossing film in the world at the time, he reduced his workload for a few years. In an attempt to shed his image of a romantic hero, DiCaprio sought roles in other genres, including the 2002 crime dramas Catch Me If You Can and Gangs of New York; the latter marked the first of his many successful collaborations with director Martin Scorsese.

DiCaprio continued to gain acclaim for his performances in the biopic The Aviator (2004), the political thriller Blood Diamond (2006), the crime drama The Departed (2006), and the romantic drama Revolutionary Road (2008). He later made environmental documentaries and starred in several high-profile directors' successful projects, including the thrillers Inception and Shutter Island (both 2010); the western Django Unchained (2012); the romantic drama The Great Gatsby (2013); the biopic The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); the survival drama The Revenant (2015), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor; the comedy-drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); and the crime dramas Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) and One Battle After Another (2025).

DiCaprio is the founder of Appian Way Productions—a production company that has made some of his films and the documentary series Greensburg (2008–2010)—and Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting environmental awareness. A United Nations Messenger of Peace, he regularly supports charitable causes. In 2005, he was named a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contributions to the arts, and in 2016, he appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. DiCaprio was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine.

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born on November 11, 1974, in Los Angeles, California. He is the only child of Irmelin Indenbirken, a German legal secretary, and George DiCaprio, an American underground comix artist and distributor. The couple met while attending college and moved to Los Angeles after graduating. George's paternal grandparents, Salvatore Di Caprio and Rosina Cassella, were Italian, while his mother, Olga Anne Jacobs, was of German descent. Irmelin's father, Wilhelm Indenbirken, was German, while her mother, Helene Indenbirken, was a Russian immigrant living in Germany. Some sources have falsely claimed that Helene was born in Odesa, Ukraine; there is no evidence that DiCaprio has any relatives of Ukrainian birth or heritage.

DiCaprio got his name because a pregnant Irmelin first felt him kick while she was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy. When he was one year old, Irmelin and George divorced after the latter fell in love with another woman and moved out. To raise DiCaprio together, Irmelin and George moved into twin cottages with a shared garden in Echo Park, Los Angeles. George lived with his girlfriend and her son, Adam Farrar, with whom DiCaprio developed a close bond. DiCaprio and Irmelin later moved to other neighborhoods, such as Los Feliz. He has described Irmelin and George as "bohemian in every sense of the word" and as "the people I trust the most in the world". DiCaprio has mentioned growing up poor in a neighborhood plagued with prostitution, crime and violence. He was raised Catholic. Attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years and later Seeds Elementary School, DiCaprio later enrolled at John Marshall High School. He disliked public school and wanted to audition for acting jobs instead. He dropped out of high school later, eventually earning a general equivalency diploma.

As a child, DiCaprio wanted to become either a marine biologist or an actor. He eventually favored the latter; he liked impersonating characters and imitating people, and enjoyed seeing their reactions to his acting. According to DiCaprio, his interest in performing began at the age of two when he went onto the stage at a performance festival and danced spontaneously to a positive response from the crowd. He was also motivated to learn acting when Farrar's appearance in a television commercial earned him $50,000. DiCaprio has said in interviews that his first television appearance was in the children's series Romper Room, and that he was dismissed from the show for being disruptive. The show's host has denied that any children were removed from the show in this way. At the age of 11, DiCaprio almost quit acting in order to pursue breakdancing, having gotten second place in a competition in Irmelin's native Germany. At the age of 14, he began appearing in several commercials for Matchbox cars, which he calls his first role. DiCaprio later appeared in commercials for Kraft Singles, Bubble Yum, and Apple Jacks. In 1989, he played the role of Glen in two episodes of the television show The New Lassie.

At the beginning of his career, DiCaprio had difficulty finding an agent. When he found one, the agent suggested DiCaprio change his name to Lenny Williams to appeal to American audiences, which he declined to do. DiCaprio remained jobless for a year and a half, although he had 100 auditions. Following this lack of success, DiCaprio was going to give up acting but George persuaded him to persevere. Motivated by George and by the prospect of financial security, DiCaprio continued to audition. After a talent agent, who knew Irmelin's friend, recommended him to casting directors, DiCaprio secured roles in about 20 commercials.