Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. In the early 1990s, DiCaprio began his career by appearing in television commercials, after which he had recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom, Growing Pains. In 1993, DiCaprio began his film career by starring as Josh in Critters 3, before starring in the film adaptation of the memoir This Boy's Life (1993) alongside Robert De Niro. DiCaprio was praised for his supporting role in the drama What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and gained public recognition with leading roles in the drama The Basketball Diaries (1995), and the romantic drama Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame with James Cameron's epic romance Titanic (1997), which became the highest-grossing film to that point.