Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack)  
  Leonardo DiCaprio was born in Hollywood, CA, on November 11, 1974 to Irmelin and George DiCaprio. Leonardo was an only child (though he does have a stepbrother named        Adam), and his parents divorced each other within a year after his birth.            His mother is German and his father is Italian, and their backgrounds had a        major influence on his upbringing. His father produces underground comic books        and comic arts out of his garage. His mother was a legal secretary (before she        began managing Leonardo's affairs.) When he was three, Leonardo appeared in an educational program entitled "Romper Room" and was almost kicked out because of uncontrollable behavior. At the age of fourteen, Leonardo struggled to break into the movie industry        through obscure commercials and educational films such as "How to Deal With a        Parent Who Takes Drugs" and "Mickey's Safety Club." He took part in over thirty        commercials in all, and eventually procured guest appearances on such television        shows as Lassie, The Outsiders, Roseanne, and Parenthood. In 1990, Leonardo was a regular on the short-lived "Parenthood" series and, in 1991, played Luke Brower in the final season of "Growing Pains." He played the part of Josh in Critters 3 and a small role in Poison Ivy in 1992. The following year, he starred opposite Robert De Niro in This Boy's Life. Leonardo played a wonderful part as  as Arnie Grape in 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape. In this film, he played a mentally disabled boy, the brother of Gilbert Grape (played by Johnny Depp). Leonardo was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Next, Leonardo starred in a twenty-minute short film released by Touchstone Pictures entitled The Foot Shooting Party. In 1995, Leonardo played Kid in The Quick and the Dead, also starring Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. The Basketball Diaries was next, also in 1995. In this movie, Leonardo played a poet/rocker hooked on heroin. It had a short life in the theater, but People magazine said of Leonardo's performance, "Leonardo DiCaprio proves yet again that he's the most promising actor around. DiCaprio's performance is flawless. The real pleasure is observing how naturally he carries himself in front of the camera."  Leonardo's next role was very controversial. He played Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse, a homosexual teenage poet in nineteenth-century France. It focused on Rimbaud's relationship with poet Paul Verlaine (played by David Thewlis). Total Eclipse was the biggest risk Leonardo had ever taken. The movie bombed out in the theater. His next movie was Romeo + Juliet. Leonardo played Romeo opposite Claire Danes as Juliet. For this film, he won Best Actor at the Berlin Internation Film Festival and Favorite Actor-Romance at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama and Best Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards. Leonardo next played Hank in  Marvin's Room in 1996, he finds himself in a mental institution after setting fire to his mother's house. Titanic was the next of Leonardo's films to appear. Before filming, he stated, "I've never done anything like this before. I never planned to do a movie like this, but I agreed to do it, and it should be really interesting. It's an epic love story that goes backwards and forwards in time." In  my opinion, Leonardo is a wonderful and talented actor. He is my favorite actor. I hope to see him in many more films.  Back To Titanic